The impact of COVID-19 on students and colleges will be felt for a generation to come. Many colleges lost much of their financial reserves as campuses emptied out for months. Lower-income students and families were hit even harder by the pandemic. 

Now more than ever, it's important for colleges to demonstrate their value to students and society as a whole. Washington Monthly's latest college-ranking list rates the schools that do the best job of promoting social mobility—and those that don't.

Higher education is funded based on “tradition,” with public resources mainly allocated to colleges based on the number of students enrolled, the credits they accumulate toward graduation, and the amount of time and money it takes to teach them. Yet, we are not living in a traditional time.

On this podcast, two community college presidents discuss ways in which more flexible funding structures could help them better serve today's students.

The current crop of sophomores, the collegiate class of 2024, is one of particular interest to colleges and universities across the country. COVID-19 shaped their milestones. Their senior year of high school was marked by a shift to online learning, followed by an anything-but-typical first year of college.

For institutions like the College of Wooster, that means trying to figure out how to keep students engaged and enrolled.