Two prominent education associations—the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators—are teaming up on a joint initiative to reimagine the admissions and financial-aid system. Their goal: redesign those processes to promote racial and ethnic equity in higher education.

In a year in which the nation was confronted with racial injustice and a divisive presidential contest inflamed its partisan divide, advocates fighting to reinstate affirmative action programs in the deep-blue state of California saw the November election as their best opportunity in decades.

But that hope evaporated when election returns showed voters soundly rejected Proposition 16. Experts weigh in on why the measure failed—and what the future holds.

Joe Biden’s victory promises a reprieve for the hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers who have benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

A reinstatement of DACA would provide immediate relief to new would-be applicants for the program. But advocates for undocumented students emphasize DACA is a stopgap solution and what's really needed is a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship.