Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza worked as a peer adviser during his time as a student at the University of California at Davis, so he was familiar with guiding low-income students through the financial-aid process. Even so, he didn’t know until close to graduation that financial-aid decisions could be appealed.

Today, Ramirez-Mendoza is a higher-education policy analyst for The Education Trust. He's also the lead author of a new report that describes why the financial aid system, as currently practiced, could discriminate against first-generation low-income and minority students.

The latest fall college enrollment figures released this month tell a startling story that alarms educators: The sharp declines at community colleges—far larger than at four-year colleges—are due mostly to disappearing male students. Where are they? Community college leaders have several theories.

Many young men were forced to take jobs to help their families. Others were always academically fragile students prone to put off college or drop out and the pandemic pushed them over the edge. Yet others were derailed by online applications and courses or lacked technology to cope.

Photo: Jon Marchione 

The nation’s student debt crisis is back on the agenda in Washington. Monthly payments on $1.6 trillion federal student loans have been suspended since late March, but that coronavirus break is scheduled to expire at the end of January.

The question now is whether 43 million borrowers will have to resume monthly payments in February or if Washington will act on bolder proposals not simply to postpone but to cancel student debt altogether.