One in five college students is a parent, according to an Aspen Institute initiative on postsecondary education. These learners are balancing two demanding worlds: the challenge of managing coursework and classroom deadlines while also meeting the needs of their children, often with little sleep and few breaks. Even in the open access, low-cost com...

As concerns about college affordability and the economic burden of student loan debt grow, some experts say it might be time not only to boost the budget for federal financial aid but also to go back to the drawing board on how that aid is allocated. Currently, the federal government awards the Pell Grant to…

In the fall of 2019, after years of declining enrollment, higher education institutions in New Mexico were seeking a new way to attract adult learners in the hopes of matching the state’s peak head count of around 154,000 postsecondary students, last achieved in 2010. A year later, the state made great gains toward doing just that after estab...

Two-thirds of the 3.3 million college students eligible for federal food assistance in 2020 didn’t access it, the Government Accountability Office found in a report released Wednesday. Requested by Democratic lawmakers in 2021, the report comes as Congress is in the midst of updating the Farm Bill, a sprawling piece of legislation that sets po...

If you’ve heard the phrase “today’s students” used to describe the many adults and other so-called nontraditional students who make up a huge share of the population now attending college, you’ve got Julie Peller to thank for the nomenclature. She helped to make the term popular while at the Lumina Foundation and then at Higher…

Lately, Englewood native Brenda Brooks has had a tough time finding work. The 60-year-old has decades of experience at CVS and the historic Regal Theater in Avalon Park. But recently, prospective employers have told her, “ ‘You have the qualifications, but this requires you to have a degree,’ ” she said. “And I don’t have…

A growing body of research has shown that student persistence and college completion are strongly connected to and determined by whether students’ basic needs are being met. But college administrators are hamstrung by insufficient funding to fully address basic needs insecurity on their campuses and help students in a comprehensive way. A new...

A new workforce development scholarship program in Idaho is generating more interest than originally projected, and state officials say the response reflects the demand for education and training needed to fill jobs in the region and an opportunity to get and keep young people employed in the state. The LAUNCH program offers Idaho high school gr...