Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
Federal Pell Grants often assist students like Ernesto Reyes Velasco in attending college and earning degrees. But nationally, just under half of these students graduate from four-year institutions within six years, compared with more than two-thirds of students who receive neither Pell Grants nor direct subsidized loans.
With so many Pell Grant students falling short of the program’s goal—and schools complicit in that failure—what can colleges do to turn it around? It’s a stubborn and complicated question—and four universities may have an answer.
Emma Chaput, a transfer degree program lead and a biology professor at Central Oregon Community College, had longed dreamed about starting a degree program in a local prison just as Pell Grant funding became reinstated. Now hers is among the first programs where incarcerated students can receive the grants.
In this interview, Chaput talks about what access to Pell Grants means for the future of her program and its students.
There are roughly 10 million people enrolled in community colleges across the United States today. That accounts for 38 percent of the undergraduate population, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. In the swing state of Pennsylvania alone, there are 15 community colleges and 80 campuses.
Despite their prominence, community college students have been largely ignored by national get-out-the-vote campaigns. That may be changing.
College presidents are under fire for what they say about issues such as systemic racism, abortion access, the war in the Middle East, and what they do—or don’t do—about campus protests.
Why would anyone want to be a college president? And does it even matter to a student or a parent who the college president is? Current and former presidents weigh in on the challenges and pitfalls of life at the top of the academic ladder.
When a college student’s GPA dips below 2.0—lower than a C average—schools often send a notice meant to serve as a wake-up call: Improve your grades or risk losing financial aid and being kicked out of college.
But the way that universities and colleges deliver this wake-up call could be backfiring and pushing students to give up on higher education altogether, according to new research.
With its 96 percent acceptance rate, California State University-San Marcos is not the type of school where affluent, educated parents usually hope to send their children. However, the leaders at CSUSM remain unfazed. Like most regional public universities, CSUSM focuses on helping students achieve the middle-class American Dream. And, for the most part, they’ve succeeded.
In this interview, CSUSM President Ellen Neufeldt reflects on partnerships with K-12 schools and community colleges, what it takes to keep students on track, and the public good.
