Photo: Amanda J. Cain

Advocates say work requirements for public assistance programs not only leave college students hungry, but could discourage Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients who are not already in college from enrolling.

Changing SNAP rules to encourage education, rather than just employment, could help more people improve their circumstances, critics of work requirements say.

It’s true that high school graduating classes are shrinking in many communities. But the number of adult learners between 24 and 50 is growing exponentially.

If we shift our focus away from worrying about the enrollment cliff, we can reimagine how our campuses can serve all learners, especially adults, whether they’re 18 or 35. We can dedicate resources to community outreach, holistic student support, flexible class schedules, and hybrid course offerings, write Lumina Foundation's Katy Launius and Mary Laphen Pope in this essay.

The current political storms hovering over diversity, equity, and inclusion hark back to the inception of DEI work on college campuses. DEI was formed and reshaped by political crises. 

What we know as DEI today emerged from the smoke, fire, and ash of hundreds of urban uprisings following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1968. The killing of the country’s most visible civil-rights leader forced higher education to reckon with both the demands of minorities, in that case Black Americans, and its own legacy of racism.