Daily Lumina News 111722

At Red Rocks Community College, staff members discovered that some students were sleeping in cars and struggling for days to buy food. They were too overwhelmed or embarrassed to ask for help.
The school stepped up, revamping current food and housing supports and adding new ones. Many colleges are following a similar path and redesigning their roles for the post-pandemic world.

Employers in South Carolina are voicing a concern that is being echoed around the country: They can’t find enough skilled talent to fill open jobs.
Apprenticeship Carolina, a division of the South Carolina Technical College System, is listening—and getting employers the workers they need, while putting young people on a career pathway.

A four-year college degree may not be the only option for Connecticut high schoolers looking to further their education. Some students are opting for pre-apprenticeships or work-based learning programs—even before they finish their high school degree.
Reporter Erica Phillips of The CT Mirror discusses why career and technical education is gaining ground in Connecticut—and how it might be the key to workforce development.

Admissions policies that give applicants the option of whether to submit their standardized test scores have been growing steadily over the years, sparked by long-running concerns about how the tests can contribute to racial and socioeconomic inequality and more-immediate pandemic-driven logistical challenges.
Now, a sea change appears to be happening in higher education, with more colleges and universities making test-optional admissions permanent.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan went to great lengths to finance his college degree. He took out loans, worked part time, and even did magic shows to help pay for college.
But it was another bit of magic that helped the Wisconsin Democrat avoid too much debt when he left University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in journalism: the federal Pell Grant program.

Demanding better pay, more benefits, and job security, tens of thousands of University of California graduate assistants, postdoctoral fellows, and academic researchers are continuing to hold a systemwide labor strike at all 10 UC campuses.
Undergraduates appear divided in their reaction. Some are worried about the impact on their grades and studies. Others are skipping class and joining the picket line in solidarity with the strikers.