Lumina Foundation is working to increase the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity.
When the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over the Texas Dream Act in June, Jose, a rising junior at the University of Houston, worried that his future was about to be derailed. In a matter of hours, Texas sided with the federal government, and a court order killed the law that granted in-state tuition to Jose and other undocumented students at the state’s public colleges and universities.
The move left him with a hard choice: drop out, because he could no longer afford tuition, or transfer to a private institution that could offer financial help.
Across the United States, men and women stepped into top executive roles at colleges and universities during a summer when strategic planning encompassed everything from emerging programmatic needs to new demands from policymakers and the public.
In this interview, three new college presidents who represent different sectors of higher education identify some of the elements they share as leaders of one of the most demanding jobs in the country.
A sweeping new survey of campus free speech reveals that nearly two-thirds of American colleges and universities are failing to foster environments supportive of open dialogue, with conservative students increasingly joining their liberal counterparts in opposing controversial speakers on campus.
The 2026 College Free Speech Rankings, released by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, awarded failing grades to 166 of the 257 institutions surveyed—a stark indicator of declining tolerance for diverse viewpoints across higher education.
As President Donald Trump continues to threaten to crack down on the nation’s colleges and universities, Rutgers University’s new president says he has no plans to publicly battle the Republican administration.
Instead, William Tate IV says he will focus on how New Jersey’s state university can maintain its standing as a major research institution amid looming federal funding cuts.
President Donald Trump’s administration has taken aim at a series of elite colleges and universities during his second term, marking a key effort to exert control over higher education—and one that has required targeted schools to respond accordingly.
While the institutions targeted with canceled federal funding have responded with varying levels of what some see as capitulation or pushback, they have also adopted a quieter defense strategy—spending millions of dollars to hire Trump-allied lobbyists and lobbying firms in Washington.
For college senior Mianfeng Lu, Kansas City is a welcome change of pace from his bustling native Beijing. But Lu, who’s getting a film degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, worries he—and other international students—will ultimately be forced to leave.
The Trump administration's clampdown on student visas is starving U.S. colleges and universities of some of their more lucrative and high-achieving students, just as American schools have been increasingly banking on students from overseas to compensate for slumping domestic enrollment.
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