Amid fears about a possible exodus of lower-income students from postsecondary education, and community colleges in particular, what can policymakers do to help vulnerable students stay on track?
Podcast: THE KEY with Inside Higher Ed
Hear candid conversations with higher ed newsmakers on how colleges and universities are coping with the pandemic and recession -- with a special focus on equity and lower-income students.
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Episode Details
The pandemic has brought new urgency to the creation of a learner record system, which could help students more smoothly transfer between colleges and find a job.
The College of Health Care Professions is the largest producer of allied health graduates in Texas. Most of its students are Latino, Black and from lower-incomes backgrounds.
Community colleges and their students are wrestling with plenty of challenges this fall, including obstacles related to affordability, childcare and the digital divide. We spoke with two community college leaders to hear what their institutions are doing to help keep students on track.
Amid growing evidence the pandemic and recession are worsening equity gaps, Excelencia in Education last month released an analysis on Latino representation in higher education, as well as on degree attainment and completion rates.
Consumers and employers increasingly are turning to short-term, online alternatives to the college degree, and alternative credential pathways are projected to grow in popularity.
The University of Arizona earlier this month announced a deal to acquire Ashford University, a fully online, for-profit institution enrolling roughly 35,000 students.
Michael Yarbrough, an assistant professor of law and society at the City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and his students in a senior colloquium this spring documented the pandemic's impact on CUNY, students in the class and their families.
Many colleges were facing financial pressure before the pandemic. But the crisis has exacerbated those challenges and stoked more questions about the sustainability of colleges with shaky finances.
Many questions loom about remote learning in coming months. Will online offerings from colleges be more sophisticated? What steps need to be taken to ensure academic quality in online learning? And will short-term credentials be more popular?