Degree Aspirations a Major Factor Among Those Deciding Not to Enroll in Community Colleges
Community college students who enrolled in the fall were more likely to want to get a four-year degree than those who either considered or did enroll in the spring but decided not to in the fall, according to a survey by New America. The survey of 1,696 adults by the progressive think tank found that 43 percent of students who were enrolled last spring and continued to be enrolled in the fall were interested in earning a four-year degree, or more. Forty-five percent of those who considered enrollment in the spring but enrolled in the fall were interested in earning a degree, the study found.
College Board Kills Subject Tests and SAT Essay
The College Board on Tuesday morning announced that it is eliminating the SAT Subject Tests and the optional essay for the main SAT. Both exams have been fading in importance, as few colleges require them. Nonetheless, many students take the exams and write the essay. “The pandemic accelerated a process already underway at the College Board to simplify our work and reduce demands on students,” said a statement from the College Board.
New Scholarship Will Support Training of Civil Rights Lawyers
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. on Monday announced a new program that will fund full law school scholarships and provide summer internships and two-year postgraduate fellowships in civil rights law for aspiring civil rights lawyers who commit to practicing civil rights law in pursuit of racial justice in the South for at least eight years after completing their postgraduate fellowships. The new Marshall-Motley Scholars Program will provide a full scholarship for students’ law school tuition, room, board and incidentals, and will be open to students beginning law school this year. The program aims to support the education and training of 50 civil rights lawyers over the next two decades.
Districts Advancing Racial Equity (DARE) Tool
Decades of reforms have proven insufficient to address persistent racial disparities in educational opportunities. In school systems across the United States, meaningful efforts to ensure access to strong educational opportunities require a bold and significant shift. Policies and practice must not only prevent discrimination; they must move beyond simple notions of equality—in which every student gets the same—to equity—in which all students get what they need to develop academically, socially, emotionally, and physically.
Pandemic’s toll shows up on students’ college applications
In a college application season like no other, students who have seen every aspect of their lives disrupted by the coronavirus are grappling with how to show their potential. High school seniors around the U.S. are facing January and February college application deadlines without SAT and ACT entrance exam scores, community service records and resumes flush with extracurricular activities — all casualties of an era of social distancing and remote learning that has carried over from their junior year. The pandemic has prompted colleges to make tests optional and find new ways to evaluate students, including student-athletes.
Higher education bill aims for racial equity through scholarships, program reforms
A bill aimed at making college education and teacher preparation programs more accessible and affordable for people of color began working its way through the General Assembly on Saturday with the formal introduction of language that lawmakers have been negotiating for months. The action came on the second day of the General Assembly’s lame-duck session, which is focused heavily on a racial- and social-justice agenda developed over the summer and fall by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.
Billions in Aid Head to Colleges
The U.S. Education Department on Thursday made available the $21.2 billion in help to higher education included in the coronavirus relief legislation Congress and President Trump approved in December, but undocumented students could be left out of getting help through emergency student grants again. Meanwhile, billions more in aid could be on the way. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday also released a summary of the $1.9 trillion relief package he is planning to propose upon taking office, including another $35 billion in help for colleges and universities.
