Lumina Foundation is working to increase the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity.
For Amanda Garcia, the memories are still fresh. An alum of the University of Texas at Austin, she recalls how her campus changed after a state law dismantled diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Many students felt like they were no longer wanted or welcomed.
The Trump administration has made ridding U.S. college campuses of diversity, equity, and inclusion a top priority. What can be learned from a university in Texas, where a state DEI ban is already in place?
Advocates for apprenticeship programs came into a second Trump administration with a rosy outlook on their future. Historically, these on-the-job training programs have enjoyed bipartisan support, and apprenticeships featured prominently in Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint put forth by the Heritage Foundation. The plan encourages the expansion of apprenticeships, lauding the programs as a meaningful alternative to “the woke-dominated system of public schools and universities.”
But now, apprenticeship proponents are divided on how hopeful to feel.
Scott Carlson and Ned Scott Laff know a thing or two about higher education trends. Carlson is a veteran education reporter, while Laff has more than 35 years of experience in college and university settings. They're also the authors of Hacking College, a new book that contends many students unknowingly move through college with empty degrees that fail to connect to the life that comes after graduation.
On this episode of Work Forces, Carlson and Laff offer insight on crafting a college experience that intentionally links student learning to future work and career success.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, one in five people who should be paying their federal student loans are more than 90 days overdue, nearly double the rate of delinquent borrowers since the pandemic started and the government paused payments.
Delinquencies are soaring as Republicans fight in court to end efforts that make student loan payments more affordable and loans easier to forgive. The ongoing legal battle has shut borrowers out of federal plans designed to help them manage their debt and stay out of default.
State lawmakers have Florida’s public universities in their sights as they—and Gov. Ron DeSantis—look to scale back spending with their own DOGE-style efforts.
The move comes as the GOP-led Legislature and DeSantis call for a thorough sweep of university budgets to find potential savings, leaving state funding at risk while campuses simultaneously brace for federal research cuts by the Trump administration.
If higher education is struggling to look ahead in 2025, it’s not difficult to understand why: Ascertaining what’s happening in the here and now is a full-time job. In less than two months in office, President Trump’s administration has unleashed a blizzard of executive orders, government cutbacks, and other pronouncements that have cast many of the sector’s basic operating principles into doubt.
What signals should colleges be tuning in to amid all the noise? Here are six trends to monitor closely.
