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.
When it comes to generative AI, Jason Aleksander, like many professors, walks a tightrope. He wants students to use AI when it helps, but not to defer to it in developing their ideas and voice. Aleksander, a philosophy professor at San Jose State University, employs a host of strategies to maintain balance.
Aleksander’s approach illustrates how complicated teaching has become. Nearly four years after ChatGPT dropped into our lives, and as campus leaders pressure faculty members to incorporate AI into their teaching, there is little agreement—even within disciplines—about how to cope with this sea change.
A recent analysis from the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that Pell Grant recipients are nearly twice as likely to experience food insecurity as students who do not receive the federal grant. Housing instability also remains a concern for many students. A report from New America shows that student parents ages 35 to 39 with school-age children experienced an eviction-filing rate of 22 percent—double the rate of their nonstudent peers.
In response, some colleges and universities are pursuing a range of strategies to help, from financial aid support programs to dedicated housing initiatives.
For every diploma that is handed to a high school graduate comes a question: does this credential reliably signal that students are ready for what comes next? In too many places, the answer is uncertain as many of today’s students walk away with a high school diploma that was designed to prepare them for the workforce their parents graduated into.
Several states are showing that modernizing the high school diploma is not about piling on requirements. Instead, it asks what the next step demands and ensures the credential helps students get there.
Ghost students in Utah’s higher education institutions fraudulently received $834,000 in college aid during the 2025-2026 school year. Auditors spent over 15,000 hours investigating the unlawful activity, leading the Officer of the Commission of Higher Education to recommend designating a task force to help identify fraudulent loans, grants, and scholarship applications.
The phenomenon of ghost students has cost millions in federal funding and hours of labor to detect. Individuals with fake or stolen identities and AI-generated applicants are being admitted to institutions across the nation to collect refund checks that are typically disbursed from financial aid surpluses.
After a year in Copenhagen, Denmark, as a Fulbright Scholar, Saint Paul College biology professor Kristyn VanderWaal Mills returned with a clearer picture of how different education systems prepare students for careers in science and technology.
By comparing an institution there with the Minnesota college, Mills explored a simple yet important question: how do we best prepare students for real-world STEM jobs? What she found is encouraging. Students in both places are learning many of the same essential skills, but SPC could also consider practical changes to make the learning experience more connected, clear, and career-focused.
Many challenges face today's college leaders, including declining numbers of traditional-age students, reductions in public funding, rising costs, public mistrust, political changes, and financial sustainability.
But for some institutions, these issues underscore a much more fundamental one: What are colleges actually here to do? This podcast looks back at the defining moments of higher education over the past year and the actions that leaders must consider in the future to effectively manage change.
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