Brenda Brooks dropped out of college 40 years ago. Federal rules mean she can’t afford to go back.
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...
News
Our news, editorial, and analysis on federal policy surrounding higher education’s most pressing issues.
News Releases
Today’s Students Coalition Welcomes 2024-25 Student Ambassador Fellows
(From left) Lilith Breazeale, Oklahoma State University; Phoebe Truong, University of California, Berkeley; Karina Villeda, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities; Savanna Worley, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today’s Students Coalition (TSC) announced its newest cohort of Student Ambassador Fellows today. ...
Press
Increased Financial Aid Can Increase Demand for Basic Needs Services
Source: Inside Higher Ed
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...
News Releases
HLA Transitions to Today’s Students Coalition, Names Board
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Higher Learning Advocates (HLA) has long promoted the needs of today’s students throughout the country in higher education, and now a redefined future is on the horizon. In May, HLA announced a transition is underway, uniting its federal policy and coalition wings to operate exclusively under a known ...
Press
GAO Report on Students’ Food Insecurity Highlights SNAP Gap
Source: Inside Higher Ed
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...
Press
The Edge: What "today’s students" still need
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
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…
Press
Using Financial Aid Data to Help Students Meet Basic Needs
Source: Inside Higher Ed
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...
Press
Idaho Scholarship Program a Boon for Students and State
Source: Inside Higher Ed
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...
Press
Bipartisan Progress on Pell Grant Expansion, but Hurdles Remain
Source: Inside Higher Ed
As Congress gears up to head home for the holiday season, proponents who have hoped to see a breakthrough on the long-running issue of expanding Pell Grants to career-training programs lasting fewer than 15 weeks have received an early gift—a bipartisan deal in the House. Key lawmakers in both parties have wrangled for years over the expansion,...
Press
Declare Yourself Independent for Financial Aid
Source: U.S. News & World Report
Before filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, applicants must first determine their dependency status – which dictates whose information needs to be submitted on the form. An undergraduate student can’t simply choose to file as an independent on the FAFSA, the application that most schools use to determine fin...
Press
The Hidden Financial Aid Hurdle Derailing College Students
Source: The Hechinger Report
At 19, Elizabeth Clews knew attending community college while balancing a full-time job and caring for a newborn would be hard. But she wanted to give it a shot. After a few months, the single mom, who had just exited the foster care system, realized she wasn’t doing well enough to pass her classes at…
Press
Proposed Welfare Rule Change May Alter State Scholarship Funding Practices
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Colleges and universities in at least eight states could lose a total of between $970 million and $1.3 billion in scholarship funding under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The states have been misusing funds from the federal welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families that were intended to h...
Press
‘Modernizing Postsecondary Policy to Better Support Adult Learners’: A Special Report
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed published a new special report, “Modernizing Postsecondary Policy to Better Support Adult Learners,” with insight provided by HLA’s Julie Peller, executive director, and Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, managing director of policy and research. This free, print-on-demand report explores how current federal and state policies can ...