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.
The microcredential landscape is often called a “wild west” in higher ed circles. The field is crowded with tens of thousands of program providers, in and outside of academia, online and in person. Short-term programs vary widely, from certificates to badges to boot camps, spanning weeks to months to over a year. And while some programs offer high returns, others yield little to none or insufficiently track outcomes.
Now, two accrediting agencies are stepping into that murky terrain, hoping to bring some order—and branch out into a new market.
College campuses are definitely not operating as normal these days. A global backlog of student visas has led to a decline in international enrollments this fall. The question is, by how much?
Days, and even weeks, after classes have begun, many foreign students are still struggling to get visa appointments, holding out hope of salvaging the semester. Meanwhile, institutions are simultaneously striving to reassure those stranded in their home countries that their American educational dream remains intact, albeit postponed. They are offering online courses and activities to keep students engaged and on track to enroll when bottlenecks ease.
Approximately 65 percent of the 1.2 million active-duty service members in the U.S. armed forces have less than an associate degree level of education, according to 2023 data; many of them hold some college credits but no degree. Federal aid programs make enrolling in college and earning a degree more accessible for military-affiliated students, but not every student is aware of academic interventions that can help them complete a credential sooner, including Credit for Prior Learning, or CPL.
In this interview, three experts from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education discuss efforts to expand CPL opportunities among military-affiliated students and adult learners more broadly.
Like many colleges and universities across the country, the University of Wyoming, Sheridan College, Northwest College in Powell, and Central Wyoming College in Riverton all receive TRIO Student Support Services funding to help low-income, first-generation, and disabled students navigate the twists and turns of college. Many of these students are working part-time and juggling their pursuit of getting a degree with the demands of a family and a job.
Now, with TRIO being one of many programs up for debate as Congress hashes out the federal budget this fall, the future education plans of countless students could be in jeopardy.
A survey of higher education faculty in the South found that professors are most worried about political influence, with many considering employment elsewhere. According to the same study conducted last year, salary ranked as faculty members' primary motivation for quitting.
In August, the American Association of University Professors conducted a survey among approximately 4,000 faculty members. Respondents are members of the association's chapters in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. About 200 were from Louisiana.
As the second overtime legislative session of the year drew to a close, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the influential leader of the Texas Senate, took some time to bid farewell to his colleague, Sen. Brandon Creighton.
The architect of a recent bevy of laws reshaping higher education in Texas—from the ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to limits on protests and faculty’s influence on campuses—is stepping down to take a new job overseeing those very changes at Texas Tech University.
