Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
Despite receiving five life sentences, Michael Mariscal, 32, believes he "can still live a meaningful life" in prison.
Mariscal’s words exemplify everything officials at Cal Poly Humboldt hoped to accomplish when they set out to create a satellite campus at one of the most notorious prisons in the country. They knew that earning a degree could help some men shorten their sentences and possibly land well-paying jobs once released. But they also hoped that the classes, and the camaraderie fostered there, would pay immediate dividends, lessening violence at Pelican Bay State Prison and improving students’ daily behaviors.
College-going rates have increased over recent decades, but the same cannot be said of completion rates. Mike Larsson wants to change that.
Larsson is the co-founder and CEO of Duet, an organization collaborating with Southern New Hampshire University to provide on-the-ground coaching and physical space for students. On this podcast, Larsson explores the significance of wraparound supports in encouraging more students to complete their degrees, strategies for re-engaging students who have dropped out, and the emergence of the "hybrid college."
The economy was an important issue in the 2024 presidential election, helping to propel Donald J. Trump to victory. But for borrowers, concerns about their finances extend beyond inflation to include their student debt. Just ask Savannah Britt.
Britt owes about $27,000 on loans she took out to attend college at Rutgers University, a debt she was hoping to see reduced by the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness efforts. Her payments are currently on hold while courts untangle challenges to the loan forgiveness program. But as the weeks tick down on Biden’s time in office, she could soon face a monthly payment of up to $250.
When Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016, Trinity Washington University president Patricia McGuire didn’t hold back how she felt about his policies. She let him have it—publicly, sharply, and often.
Now the country is headed into a second Trump presidency at a time when many education advocates and students are experiencing a great deal of anger, grief, shock, fear, and feelings of hopelessness over what the future may hold. In this interview, McGuire shares how she plans to approach Trump’s second term and how she thinks higher education leaders should respond to what’s bound to be an eventful four years for the sector.
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s anti-immigrant stances and pledges of mass deportation are heightening uncertainty and anxiety among undocumented, international, and first-generation immigrant students and their advocates, as his America First policies again have the potential to affect college campuses.
Still, immigration experts and advocates caution against overreacting to the election outcome. “This is really a time for preparation and not panic,” says Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
On paper, the residential college experience looks like a laboratory custom built to facilitate human connection. Students bunking together in dorms, eating together in dining halls, throwing Frisbees on the quad. So it might sound baffling that so many college students today say they feel isolated on their campuses.
Public health officials are sounding an alarm about this issue, and colleges are responding with a flurry of programs and interventions. But here’s the thing: Loneliness is part of the human condition. It’s something everyone can expect to feel in life. How much, then, should colleges be talking about it? Is there a risk of telling students that loneliness is a problem that needs to be solved?
