Illustration: Delcan & Co./Danielle Del Plato

When Desirée Vanderloop walks across the stage next May to receive her bachelor’s degree at Morgan State University, she’ll join a growing number of returning adult students who are being encouraged back by programs designed specifically for people like them.

What’s happening at Morgan State reflects an emerging trend in higher ed nationwide as more advisors and registrars reach out to former students and help piece together fragments of launched and abandoned college careers.

Photo: Miami Dade College

The United States is home to millions of people who primarily speak Spanish. Yet, only a few colleges and universities offer bilingual and dual-language programs, as well as programs taught almost entirely in Spanish. 

The reasons these programs are still uncommon in higher ed include a lack of bilingual instructors, leadership buy-in, and the difficulty of developing a Spanish-only college-level curriculum. Meanwhile, workforce and education leaders say demand for bilingual professionals in the U.S. labor market is growing.

The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that it will grant automatic forgiveness of $3.9 billion in student loan debt for 208,000 students who attended the now-defunct for-profit ITT Technical Institute. 

The action brings the total amount of loan discharges approved under President Joe Biden to nearly $32 billion.