Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
The idea of free community college has gained considerable traction over the last decade, with nearly 30 states now offering a variety of different tuition-free community college plans.
In this interview, economist David Deming talks about how a growing national movement to eliminate community college tuition may be reshaping the country’s workforce development policies.
Fifteen years after a broad coalition of foundations, nonprofits, and educators launched a bold effort to reform traditional remedial education, just 25 percent of colleges and universities have revised their offerings “at scale,” according to a 2020 report by the educational consultancy Tyton Partners.
The many obstacles to change include an insistence on faculty autonomy, dependence on the jobs and revenue that remediation generates, and perceptions of students’ needs—along with plain old inertia.
The journey to reimagine higher education transfer and credit mobility is complex, but it is essential for meeting the needs of today’s learners, observers say.
By breaking away from outdated models and embracing innovative approaches, higher education can create systems that truly support student success and prepare learners for the challenges of the future, writes longtime higher education practitioner Marty Alvarado in this perspective piece on what a new post-degree and post-completion agenda world might look like.
Campus closures during the academic year mean more than just a loss of room and board; as disruptive as that always is, it also means a loss of security for many students. Consider the story of "Jerome." Coming to Harvard University, even with all of his misgivings, had been a great gift. It was the first time Jerome had the stability of having a place—a room with four walls and a roof.
What happens when a campus closes raises a crucial question: Do colleges know how to truly support a diverse class of students, or do they just know how to foot the bill for one?
University officials nationwide are grasping for different approaches as they brace for renewed protests over the Israel-Hamas war, along with a bitterly contested presidential election. Many are establishing strict codes and mandatory training after protests rocked American campuses toward the end of the last academic year.
College leaders contend they are trying to be clear. Others say they are trying to suppress speech.
With their open enrollment policies and low tuition, community colleges offer crucial access to higher education. These institutions educate 41 percent of all undergraduates in the United States. And when those students enroll, 83 percent plan to transfer to four-year schools.
But that transfer process can be fraught with challenges, including structural barriers that force students to spend time and money taking extra classes.
