While almost every sector of higher education is seeing fewer students registering for classes, many trade school programs are booming. 

Many young people who are choosing trade school over a traditional four-year degree say that they are doing so because it’s much more affordable and they see a more obvious path to a job. But that doesn’t necessarily mean these students won’t later go on to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Photo: Maddison Hwang

When someone calls from prison, everything stops in this film class at University of California-Santa Cruz.

The class is a collaboration between Georgetown University and University of California-Santa Cruz in which teams of students focus on a single wrongful conviction case. The Georgetown students research and fact find while the Santa Cruz students create a documentary. In some instances, the students’ work can even help pave the way to freedom for those behind bars. 

Photo:  Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post

The expansion of Pell Grants to more incarcerated people offers an opportunity to make college in prison more available while also maintaining best practices in a rapidly growing field, writes Mneesha Gellman of Emerson College in this essay.

Such practices include little things, like the labels used to refer to students, and big things, like ensuring that those who draw Pell Grants enroll in rigorous programs where they get a quality education and earn a degree.