Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
Todd Wolfson wants the century-old American Association of University Professors to be a “fighting organization.” Since he took charge in July, the AAUP has caused a stir: It reversed its longstanding categorical opposition to academic boycotts, endorsed diversity criteria in faculty hiring, and issued a statement labeling Vice President-elect JD Vance as a “fascist."
Many faculty members are cheering the bold pronouncements from the group. However, the AAUP's new vision is also prompting a reevaluation of the definition and defense of academic freedom.
Research shows that college students are more likely to experience food insecurity compared to the general population of the United States, which can be due in part to a lack of resources, social stigma, and students’ busy schedules. Food can also cost more in a college town or at on-campus dining facilities.
To improve students’ health and wellness and, in turn, promote student persistence and completion, more colleges and universities are implementing creative avenues for easier access to inexpensive, nutritious food.
For years, conservatives have seen colleges and universities as unwelcoming and disdainful of their values, with tensions between Republicans and higher education rising over questions of free speech, the cost of college, diversity, race, and more.
The election of Donald Trump to a second term as U.S. president was the major higher education news story for 2024, with potential implications for almost every aspect of college operations. However, other significant developments took place as well, affecting colleges and universities throughout the country.
Here’s a synopsis of some of the most important higher education stories of 2024.
Ndilei Lukulay was skeptical when an email from Western New England University offered her admission—and a scholarship—before she had even submitted her application. But the news was real.
Western New England University is part of a growing number of colleges offering direct admissions, a little-known practice that gives students a fast track to college, bypassing essays, recommendation letters, and sometimes even the application itself. The practice is gaining steam among colleges hoping to balance their enrollment in a time when higher education is facing a skeptical public and fewer high school grads are going straight to college.
This fall, the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid was released in phases to test how well it works, and the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed an act requiring the FAFSA to be released by Oct. 1 every year.
But some states are proposing to work around the FAFSA altogether and find ways to automatically award financial aid to families who need it.
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