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.
While individual colleges and universities have been relatively quiet as the Trump administration issues a volley of executive orders and policy directives aimed at higher education, groups like the American Council on Education and the American Association of University Professors are taking up the fight in the courts.
Though it may not be an explicitly articulated plan, the approach of letting associations assume the lead seems to have settled into a kind of consensus, even as critics bemoan the relative silence of college presidents.
Despite making up a significant portion of undergraduate enrollment, students with children often fall short of earning a degree or credential. The reasons vary, but many parenting students struggle with college because of family obligations, financial challenges, and isolation on campus.
To address student parents’ success, Austin Community College in Texas created the Parenting Students Project, which provides wraparound assistance to young adult learners with dependents. Since launching in 2021, the program has seen a positive impact on participants’ academic outcomes, sense of belonging, time management, and financial security.
Amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, a small but powerful documentary series quietly captures one of the most defining student experiences of our time. “The Class,” now airing on PBS, follows college advisor "Mr. Cam" and his students at Deer Valley High School as they navigate the complexities of college admissions during the first year of the pandemic.
Executive produced by actor and musician Daveed Diggs and Lafayette College's Nicole Hurd, the series underscores the enduring power of mentorship, community, and resilience when the usual rules—and supports—suddenly disappear.
The Trump administration’s primary financial impact on higher education has so far been cutting funding to institutions and the sector. However, more financial pain could be coming.
Specifically, President Trump and Republicans in Congress are floating proposals to make colleges pay the government, including through substantial expansions of a tax on college endowments. If passed, such a tax would fundamentally alter the relationship between the government and many nonprofit colleges, as well as between those institutions and their donors. It would be equally hard on students, research programs, and college operations.
With massive staff reductions, a rollback of key civil rights regulations, and a stunning shift of student loan collection authority to the Small Business Administration, higher education institutions now face a regulatory landscape unlike any before.
On this podcast, Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies provides a real-time update on the evolving legislative, regulatory, and administrative actions that are reshaping the U.S. Department of Education and its role in postsecondary education.
President Donald Trump and his administration are putting colleges and universities in impossible situations amid federal funding cuts and crackdowns on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, writes longtime university president Elaine Maimon in this op-ed.
But many higher education institutions are doing their best in an impossible situation, Maimon contends—and students must turn their attention to the policymakers threatening higher education, not the institutions that are fighting to protect it.
