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.
This year's Gallup survey on confidence in higher education says Americans are asking colleges to demonstrate that graduates are prepared for meaningful careers. The public wants credentials that create economic opportunity. They believe students need to develop durable skills that will remain valuable as technology reshapes work. And the investment of time and money must prove worthwhile.
Earning confidence in this environment requires more than communicating value, says Lumina Foundation's Courtney Brown. It requires demonstrating it through stronger student outcomes, clearer connections between education and opportunity, greater transparency about costs, and evidence that graduates are prepared for the future of work.
Economists are warning that all the talk about artificial intelligence taking jobs is actually masking a different challenge. They say there will be enough jobs, but the United States is already facing what’s projected to be the biggest shortage of workers in its history.
Among the trends that have been leading to this moment: a mismatch between the careers college graduates are pursuing and the kinds of jobs employers are struggling to fill. Both government and independent sources project that there will be shortages of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of nurses, physicians, teachers, engineers, pharmacists, mental health counselors, construction workers, and airplane mechanics. And most are jobs AI generally can’t do.
July has brought many changes to how the federal government handles student loans. That includes how much students are able to borrow. Now the government is assessing loans through a test based on how much money students make after graduating.
Could this ever-shifting landscape change what students plan to study and the professions they enter? Experts weigh in.
Since the 2024 election, there’s been a lot of discussion about the attitudes and experiences of young men. Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization, wanted to ground that conversation in what young men themselves have to say. It recently released findings from a survey and focus groups that capture the opinions of men age 18 to 34 on many issues, including higher education.
What Public Agenda found is alarming. Too many young men don’t think college is for them. Beyond the empirical data, the research presents a striking portrait of disaffection: Many in the focus groups expressed sentiments of loneliness, social pressure, and deep doubt about the motives of others.
Today’s students have watched college tuition climb over the course of their lifetimes. Lately they've also had front-row seats to a tough early-career job market that the rise of artificial intelligence is further affecting.
Rather than despair, however, a growing number of young people have concluded that skilled trades like welding, plumbing, and construction might be a pragmatic way forward. Sure, AI can write an email, the thinking goes. But can it install a sink? How about soldering a ball valve?
Jessie Schook remembers when communication gaps across the Kentucky Community & Technical College System’s campuses made it difficult to track local industry demands. Multiple siloed conversations meant, for example, a pitch for a customized training project occurring simultaneously with a funding request.
KCTCS and its 16 member colleges eased these operational headaches with the launch of a systemwide business mapping system in spring 2022. Today, the initiative aggregates employer engagement across multiple college departments, creating a single point of contact that emphasizes interdepartmental cooperation, supporters say.
