Daily Lumina News 021424

Latino students are enrolling at low rates in bachelor’s degree programs at California’s community colleges. But many of those who do enroll are graduating quickly and finding work after leaving college.
That’s one takeaway from a new study on the outcomes of Latino students in baccalaureate programs at 15 of the state’s community colleges. An increasing number of community colleges now offer such programs, which aim to give students a simpler path to a four-year degree.

When Adrienne Hunter was an undergraduate transitioning from male to female, there was one place on the University of Texas at Austin campus that she knew she could go to for judgment-free support: the Gender and Sexuality Center.
Advocates fear that future students may not be so fortunate following the implementation of a new state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public colleges in Texas.

A technical glitch is blocking students who are U.S. citizens—but whose parents aren’t—from completing their federal financial aid applications, and the problem is causing panic in California.
For many of these college applicants, it’s a crisis not only preventing them from applying for federal grants and loans, but also from applying for free tuition at the University of California and California State University or partial tuition waivers at private colleges in the state.

A three-year moratorium on government student loan debt brought relief to many graduates in the first years after the 2020 pandemic. Now that payments have resumed, some are working overtime and cutting back to make ends meet.
New programs offered by the federal government are designed to help by decreasing monthly payments and forgiving portions of debt. But many, including borrowers with private loan debt and those stalled in the application process for government aid, feel they are still drowning.

California is one of 31 states without a Historically Black College or University, but civil rights advocates in San Francisco are hoping to change that by partnering with an existing HBCU to open a satellite campus there.
The plan is still in its exploratory stages, but the city’s Human Rights Commission recently held a summit with HBCU and local university administrators to discuss the idea further. Mayor London Breed, who was at the event, has expressed support for the project.

Starting this year, employers can match employees’ student loan repayments as 401(k) contributions, a new federal policy that experts say can be a game changer for Black women, who have the highest student loan debt on average.
Signed into law in 2022, the contribution option comes at a time when many Americans are burdened with student loan debt. Here's how it works.