North Carolina officials plan to use more federal dollars to help two groups that are important to the state’s future: community college students and new teachers.

Finish Line Grants are the centerpiece of this plan. The program, created in 2018, provides grants to community college students who are at least halfway to their certificates but facing significant and unexpected expenses that might interfere with that coursework.

Photo: Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post

Around the country, colleges divided sharply last year on whether to require vaccination. That split endures. 

The University of California at Berkeley, for instance, mandates the coronavirus vaccine and, for those who are eligible, a booster shot. The University of Texas at Austin doesn’t require them but “strongly encourages” them. Meanwhile, some colleges are also reminding students to be on guard against a new threat, monkeypox. 

Millions of borrowers are anxiously waiting to hear whether President Joe Biden will extend the pause on federal student loan payments, which is set to expire August 31, or possibly forgive any of their debts.

The answer may happen this week. Appearing on Face the Nation, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona offers an update on where student loan debt forgiveness currently stands.