Like many parents who attend college while raising children, Nicole Lynn Lewis had to navigate a system that wasn’t built with her needs in mind. At orientation, Lewis, who is Black, felt out of place walking around the predominantly white campus of the College of William & Mary in her Walmart flip-flops. 

Lewis later founded Generation Hope, a nonprofit group that helps teen parents get to and through college while raising children. In this interview, she addresses the stigma of teenage pregnancy, the disconnection many student parents experience, and why colleges must do more to help them succeed. 

For decades, companies have offered more or less the same deal to Americans in search of office jobs: You pay for your own higher education and skills training, and then we’ll consider employing you.

But with corporations unable to hire and hold on to enough workers to fill jobs in IT, cyber security, and software development, a shift may be underway. More companies are assuming the costs and risks of preparing people for entry-level technology roles with the offer of apprenticeships.

President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan is a game-changer for community colleges and minority-serving institutions, campus leaders say. The $1.8 trillion proposed plan could bring a much-needed windfall to institutions serving students most hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Larry Galizio heads an organization that represents campus leaders in California's state community college system. He calls the Biden proposal a “transformative shift in policy” after decades of underfunding for underresourced institutions. Still, he views it as just a beginning step.