Higher Education and Work Amid Crisis
Even before the pandemic, higher education faced growing scrutiny about its role in contributing to severe societal equity gaps that afflict Black and Latino Americans, as well as Native Americans and other historically underserved groups. But that pressure is certain to increase amid what Richard V. Reeves, a writer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, calls an extraordinary “collision of crises” that has further exposed multiple inequities and inequalities.
Can Bachelor’s Degree Programs at Community Colleges Increase Access? A New Report Says Yes
Higher education is constantly wringing its hands over how to make college more affordable. A new brief by the think tank New America proposes a tool the authors say more states could be using: four-year degree programs at community colleges. Today, 23 states authorize community college baccalaureate degrees, starting with Florida in 2001, according to the report. The brief describes, step-by-step, how to begin one of these degree programs, from deciding what subjects to offer to devising funding plans to weathering the approval process.
Data You Can Use: Keeping Pace With Labor Market Change
Riding the crest of the Roaring ‘20s, the Casa Loma Orchestra recorded the iconic song “Happy Days Are Here Again” on October 29, 1929. On the same day, not far from their New York City recording studio, the stock market collapsed and hastened the Great Depression. A similarly bitter irony may have faced the first waves of Americans who applied for unemployment in March 2020. As leaders shuttered schools and businesses to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, many state employment websites featured February economic reports touting some of the lowest unemployment rates in decades.
The Need for Upskilling and Reskilling in a Time of Crisis
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we have seen many changes to daily life and work. The past few months brought school and business closures along with a record number of unemployment claims. With the unemployment rate continuing upward, states may need to re-assess the needs of individuals without employment and determine how to help them reenter the workforce into good jobs as part of economic recovery.
Call for Doubling Pell, Forgiving Debt
Amid concerns the coronavirus pandemic could worsen racial disparities, even as protests worldwide call for greater equity in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, former U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. on Monday called for Congress to forgive some student debt and to double the award size of Pell Grants. King, who headed the department for some of the Obama administration and is now president and CEO of the Education Trust, also backed the idea of institutions eliminating legacy preference in admitting the children of alumni, a practice that he said discriminates against students of color.
Where could college enrollment grow during the pandemic?
More students will likely opt to attend college closer to home as a result of the pandemic, a shift that stands to hurt institutions that rely heavily on out-of-state enrollees, explains a new Moody’s Investors Service report. Meanwhile, states that tend to lose residents to colleges elsewhere could benefit from the trend. In all, seven in 10 states get more than 20% of their college enrollment from out of state. Public colleges are more likely than private institutions to gain more from the shift, which comes as recruitment intensifies and colleges’ fall plans remain unclear.
Data You Can Use: Keeping Pace With Labor Market Change
Riding the crest of the Roaring ‘20s, the Casa Loma Orchestra recorded the iconic song “Happy Days Are Here Again” on October 29, 1929. On the same day, not far from their New York City recording studio, the stock market collapsed and hastened the Great Depression. A similarly bitter irony may have faced the first waves of Americans who applied for unemployment in March 2020. As leaders shuttered schools and businesses to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, many state employment websites featured February economic reports touting some of the lowest unemployment rates in decades.
The Need for Upskilling and Reskilling in a Time of Crisis
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we have seen many changes to daily life and work. The past few months brought school and business closures along with a record number of unemployment claims. With the unemployment rate continuing upward, states may need to re-assess the needs of individuals without employment and determine how to help them reenter the workforce into good jobs as part of economic recovery. A recent Strada Education Network survey found that 35% of respondents who lost hours or employment identified needing more skills in their current field to get a similar job, while another 34% mentioned needing more skills to transition to a new career field.
What You Make Depends on Where You Live: College Earnings Across States and Metropolitan Areas
Deciding whether to invest time and money in higher education is among the most important decisions that a young adult can make. The evidence is clear that workers who went to college earn higher incomes, on average, than those without a post-secondary degree. But considering the variations in different geographic areas, do workers in some parts of the country do about as well with two-year degrees as those with bachelor’s degrees? This first-of-its-kind study looks beyond the national averages, comparing mean earnings for full-time workers with different levels of education in all 50 states and D.C., in over 100 metro areas, and in rural America using individual-level data for the years 2015 through 2017 from the American Community Survey (ACS).
California is closer to restoring affirmative action in college admissions
California voters will have the chance to reinstate affirmative action in admissions to the state’s public colleges this November, a move experts say is all the more likely as protests over systemic racial injustices roil the U.S. Despite California being one of the most politically progressive states in the country,and home to some of the most influential higher education systems, it is among only eight states where race-conscious admissions policies are illegal. Experts predict if the state’s residents embrace affirmative action, it will spark nationwide conversation around prejudice in college recruitment and enrollment.
