Daily Lumina News 030323

Nearly one in three Black students and one in four Hispanic students have been unable to register for classes due to an institutional hold.
Many colleges use institutional holds to force a student to do something, such as pay a late bill or get required advising. But sometimes this backfires. For example, a student who hasn’t completed an advising requirement doesn’t register for the next semester at all. Others with a financial hold may drop out because of fees they can’t afford to pay.

The United States is home to more than 400,000 undocumented students in higher education. This includes 181,000 students who are beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
But unlike other college students, undocumented students must often navigate complex rules and regulations to access a higher education—solely on account of their immigration status. States and institutions have the capacity to help.

Electricians, the essential workers in the transition to renewable energy, are in increasingly short supply. They are needed to install the electric-car chargers, heat pumps, and other gear deemed essential to address climate change.
Electricians say they are booked several months out and struggling to find enough workers to keep up with demand. Many are raising wages and prices and worried that they won’t be able to keep up as government climate incentives kick in.

Julie Peller from Higher Learning Advocates, Lumina Foundation's Paola Santana, and several state leaders offer their thoughts on the major state and federal policy themes of 2022 and their expectations for 2023.
Among the conversation's highlights: bridging the divide between higher education and the workforce, credit for prior learning, stranded credits, student debt forgiveness, and more.

Less than 50 percent of graduates from public high schools in Milwaukee enroll in postsecondary education immediately following graduation, and only one-third of college students in the region graduate within the expected time frame.
To fortify this “leaky” education pipeline from high school to college, Wisconsin higher education leaders are shifting from a culture of competition toward one of collaboration with each other and nonprofit organizations.

As colleges’ online catalogs grow, so too has the push to develop standards of quality for those courses. But are in-person classes getting the same attention?
If you ask many online-education advocates, the answer is “no.” And the solution, many say, is for colleges to adopt standards and policies that set consistent expectations for quality across all courses, whether they’re remote or in a classroom.