Illustration: Delcan & Co./The Chronicle

Like a lot of today's undergraduates, Yulianna Estrada arrived at college excited about her major. What didn’t particularly interest her? Fulfilling general-education requirements. She's not alone.

On many campuses, general ed still takes the shape of a checklist: two courses from this category, three from that. Because there is no overarching design to this approach, students often flock to courses with the easiest requirements, or the ones that check the most boxes, rather than those that genuinely interest or challenge them.

Photo: Angelica Edwards/Tampa Bay Times

In the face of a campus takeover at the hands of Gov. Ron DeSantis, New College of Florida students, with help from alumni, are hosting a private graduation ceremony this week separate from the school’s official commencement.

Students, who raised $100,000 for the event, say they want to hold a ceremony “on their terms” after school officials tapped Scott Atlas, a top adviser to former President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic, to speak at their commencement.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona confirmed this week what many already expected: The pause on federal student loan payments is still set to end later this year. The pandemic-related moratorium has been in place for more than three years and extended eight times.

When the pause ends, roughly 44 million people will have to restart making payments on their federal student loans, and there is some concern about whether the process will go smoothly.