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.
When he was mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, Jim Newberry worked closely with the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University, and Bluegrass Community Technical College and came to understand the importance of the institutions to the city. He built close relationships with leaders at all three colleges and says he admires the broad mission of higher education: to educate and train the next generation.
In this interview, Newberry discusses how he is helping his clients navigate the uncertainty in federal regulations, what advice he’d give to college presidents who might want to speak out, and why he took Project 2025 at its word.
The University of Delaware is one of a growing number of colleges with plans to develop an AI-literate campus. Institutions are coalescing around the belief that, as artificial intelligence reshapes the world, it will reshape what it means to be college-educated. Exactly how remains to be seen.
But AI literacy, say some college leaders, may be a way to break down barriers between those who see the technology as ripe with potential and those who see it as profoundly harmful.
Financial aid staff at California’s colleges and universities have a cautiously optimistic message to share. Federal aid for Pell Grants and work-study aid has already been disbursed. Universities are processing files from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for next fall on schedule. In turn, colleges are sending prospective students preview offers of grants and other support they are eligible to receive if they enroll.
But trepidation is also building about what’s ahead as university officials worry that cuts to the U.S. Department of Education could mean major disruptions in the not-so-distant future.
Wittenberg University in Springfield is in financial distress, according to the Higher Learning Commission. That means it has more debt than income. In 2023, the university owed $25 million. Since then, university president Michael Frandsen says the school has cut staff and programs to make up its shortfall.
Wittenberg isn’t the only Ohio college facing financial woes. Kathryn Mobley, an education and politics reporter with WYSO in Dayton, breaks down the state's higher education landscape and explains how some universities are attempting to survive.
The push to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts has already had ripple effects with organizations aimed at supporting and increasing the number of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.
Now, some experts say the fear of anti-DEI backlash among philanthropies and corporate sponsors could lead funders to distance themselves from STEM-related initiatives altogether.
The ink may be barely dry on the higher education overhaul known as Senate Bill 1, but Ohio lawmakers have more changes in mind for the state's universities and colleges.
Changes added to Ohio's two-year budget bill would give university trustees "unilateral and ultimate authority" over new academic programs, schools, colleges, institutes, departments, and centers—including those like the new "intellectual diversity" centers that Republican lawmakers approved in 2023.
