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.
As student demographics and needs continue to evolve, colleges are realizing that supporting success extends well beyond tutoring and advising. Institutions are investing in a wide range of supports, from mandatory academic interventions to free childcare and basic needs services.
Four campuses—Ferrum College, LaGuardia Community College, Stony Brook University, and Coppin State University—have each taken a different approach to student success, yet they share a common belief: helping students graduate often means removing barriers that exist outside the classroom.
Roslyn Clark Artis will tell you that not every student will be able to graduate from Benedict College. About 79 percent of those who attend the small, Historically Black Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, are from low-income families eligible for Pell Grants. Many are first-generation.
But Artis says she’s determined to graduate as many students as she can. Since assuming the post in 2017, Artis has also woven a tighter net to try to catch students when they fall. That means meeting their basic needs and making some bold—and, at times, unpopular—choices. But Artis doesn’t mind being unpopular.
On July 16, the Department of Homeland Security announced a final rule ending the “duration of status” system that has governed international students for nearly half a century. The rule is scheduled to take effect on September 15, 2026. DHS describes the change as an effort to end “foreign student visa abuse."
The department points to people who entered as students or exchange visitors and remained in those classifications for decades. Those extreme cases deserve scrutiny, experts say. But the new rule does not narrowly target sham enrollment, inactive records, or schools that tolerate immigration violations. It places legitimate international students on a fixed federal clock and turns an ordinary academic delay into an immigration proceeding.
Monajah Williams built her first website just a few months ago. Before then, she didn’t know how to code or use HTML. After years of unstable jobs in retail and food service that left her feeling drained and unmotivated, Williams, 25, said she’s finally seeing a glimmer of hope for her career. At Hopeworks’ new training room in Newark, Williams is learning to code, build websites, and use artificial intelligence as she prepares for a career in tech.
The program is betting that young workers like Williams, between 17 and 26, can hold their own in an evolving and increasingly competitive job market being redefined by AI and emerging technologies.
The Trump administration is exploring how to launch a new student loan program—without the U.S. Department of Education, an agency the president has promised to dismantle.
Administration officials, who have been discussing the idea in small industry groups, are trying to attract the private sector, according to two people who participated in one of the meetings. The plan, they say, involves having the Small Business Administration spearhead the program, even though the agency was passed over as the new home of the nation’s student loan portfolio.
Washington’s high school students would be required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the state equivalent to graduate under a new proposal from Gov. Bob Ferguson. Last week, Ferguson unveiled his plan to create the new requirement for graduating seniors, with the goal of increasing the share of students accessing aid. Students could opt out of the requirement by signing a form.
Around a dozen states have a version of a universal FAFSA requirement for graduating high schoolers, including three of the five top FAFSA-completing states. However, not every state that has adopted a universal FAFSA requirement for high school seniors has kept the policy in place.
.jpg?width=500&upscale=true&name=istockphoto-1158076174-612x612%20(1).jpg)
