Izzy Cervantes, 17, faces challenges many white college applicants do not. Her parents grew up in Puerto Rico and Mexico and are not familiar with college applications and financial aid here. At Ohio State, her top pick, just one in 20 students is Hispanic. More than seven out of 10 are white.

And this year, Cervantes is confronting a new source of anxiety: a Supreme Court ruling released in late June with potentially huge implications for students of color.

Turnitin is a software used by more than 16,000 academic institutions across the globe to spot plagiarized text and, since April, to flag AI-generated writing. But is it reliable and fair?

Some higher ed watchers have their doubts. They believe international students are having their writing incorrectly flagged as AI-generated. Now, new research reveals why: AI detectors are "inherently biased" against non-native English speakers. 

Illustration: Thomas Fuchs

A long-awaited, supposedly user-friendly version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form will be unveiled for the 2024-25 school year. Along with updating the form, the federal government is expanding eligibility for federal aid in the biggest overhaul in decades.

But some families with more than one child in college at the same time may qualify for less assistance. That’s because the overhaul also tweaked the form’s underlying aid formula, effectively eliminating a “sibling discount.”