Daily Lumina News 092222

College graduation ceremonies are big events, meant to symbolize the size of the life achievement of getting a degree. But for returning adult students, the degree often means something different.
For them, it's not so much about emerging from a cocoon of isolated study. It’s about being able to pick up knowledge while juggling school and family and work—and keep learning even as life happens.

As recently as a decade ago, the concept of “value” rarely found its way into discussions regarding federal and state policymaking about higher education. Now it’s unusual to hear a meaningful conversation that doesn’t raise the issue.
On this episode of The Key, higher ed leaders and federal policy experts discuss how the concept of value is factoring into state and federal policy, what’s driving that trend, and whether an overdependence on economic outcomes can lead to unintended consequences.

Quiet quitting is becoming more popular among U.S. workers, due in part to pandemic-related burnout.
Now, new research shows college students are hopping on the trend as one-third of these individuals report putting less effort into schoolwork in order to preserve their mental health.

It’s hard to convince outsiders to come teach in places like Campo, Colorado. The pay is low. And few people realize just how remote the area is.
Rural schools have struggled with staffing issues for years. And it has consequences for students who aspire to go to college after high school. Enter Robert Mitchell.

Without Lois Dickson Rice, the Pell Grant “would not have come into existence.” That’s how Clay Pell IV, whose grandfather sponsored the creation of the grants, described Rice’s role in the development of the Pell Grant upon her death in 2017.
As the program celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and President Joe Biden’s administration offered Pell Grant recipients $20,000 in student debt relief, Rice is finally receiving much deserved credit for her efforts.

When the federal government started doling out COVID relief money to colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities received a windfall. Many are taking the opportunity to use the funds in ways that will serve students for years to come.
Some HBCUs are paying off student debt and offering free summer classes. Others are giving free textbooks to all students, housing and dining discounts for residential students, and free iPads for freshmen.