Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
There’s a half-billion-dollar federal program that is supposed to help students with disabilities get into the workforce when they leave high school, but most parents—and even some school officials—don’t know it exists.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of students who could be exploring and training for careers and establishing a pathway to independence after high school are missing out. New Jersey had the nation’s lowest proportion—roughly two percent—of eligible students receiving these services in 2023.
Utah’s HB 265 took one step forward last week, passing out of the House Education Committee by a 10-3 vote. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Karen Peterson (R-Clinton), would require the state’s public universities to create reinvestment plans that reallocate some of their funding to strategic priorities.
HB 265 has been the subject of ongoing debate in the state, but its unique approach, involving the reallocation and subsequent reinvestment of millions of appropriated dollars, might take on national significance if other states consider it a model for similar bills.
The first weeks of the second Trump administration brought disruption and uncertainty to higher education through a torrent of executive orders. The specifics, logistics, and legality of those actions are changing by the day, but the sense of chaos in—and federal hostility toward—the sector seems to be here to stay.
Employer demand for AI-related skills is rising across industries, and community colleges are stepping up to meet that need. These institutions, which have long served as key hubs for workforce development, play a critical role in training workers in an evolving job market.
As these efforts grow to encompass the full range of education and training, from K-12 to applied baccalaureate degrees, policymakers and college leaders can further enhance their offerings by listening to the voices of those enrolled in the programs.
Federal budget scorekeepers are providing both good news and bad news for the Pell Grant program. The good news is that more students are qualifying for grants, and many are receiving larger ones. These expansions largely stem from eligibility changes made in the FAFSA Simplification Act of 2020.
The bad news is that this increased student eligibility has created substantial financial pressures on the program. Pell Grants are now slated to run a deficit for the current fiscal year (FY) 2025, which funds grants starting in July.
Over the last few months, University of California officials say they admitted the most racially diverse class ever to their sprawling system. They have managed to do this despite a 28-year-old state ban on considering race in college admissions, known as Proposition 209.
Now, a new group is suing, arguing the university system is cheating.
