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.
For decades, Washington has been generous to Americans who could spend semesters or years earning a college credential. It has done far less for those who couldn’t follow that path because they were raising children, working full time, or simply needed income sooner than a standard college degree or certificate could provide.
That changed, at least on paper, when Congress finally opened Pell Grants to short-term job training—one of the biggest expansions of higher education access in years. Now, it's up to states to build the systems that ensure the credentials funded by Workforce Pell actually lead to real opportunities.
On a sweltering hot day in May 2025, three siblings crossed the stage in bright blue gowns and caps, one after another, to receive their diplomas from the University of California, Merced, as their parents and younger sister watched proudly. It had been a long journey for the Gutiérrez Ramírez siblings to get onto that stage. The oldest, Elena, took seven years to finish her bachelor’s degree. Nathan took five. Ignacio, only three.
The celebration that late spring Sunday marked the culmination of years of struggle, dedication, and overcoming the challenges of navigating the U.S. immigration system.
Several significant developments have emerged recently from the White House. That includes a letter from the education secretary to colleges and universities that repeats many themes from the Trump administration’s 2025 proposed higher education compact; a ruling by the Department of Homeland Security to limit how long international students can stay in the country on their visas; and Harvard University's major legal victory against the U.S. Department of Justice.
Education reporters break down the impact of these and other higher education policy decisions on students and schools in this interview.
When students from the Class of ‘27 at Frederick Douglass High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, enroll in college, there’s a good chance it won’t be as a freshman, and they won’t have to pay for all four years.
That’s because through a program called Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, many of the students are on track to earn an associate degree free of charge by the time they earn their high school diplomas. State officials call the effort a game-changer during a time when many colleges face the oft-lamented “enrollment cliff."
The beginning of the academic year is supposed to be a season of possibility. Yet for a growing number of families, it is becoming a season of unworkable financial calculation—one in which a student's ambitions collide with an increasingly unaffordable bill, as the federal financing structure that has helped many families bridge the gap between what college costs and what they can pay is becoming more limited.
This narrowing of the talent pipeline threatens the economy's need for skilled workers, education advocates say. That reality has many asking if higher education will remain a pathway to mobility or become increasingly reserved for families with wealth.
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the workforce, several colleges and universities are introducing AI requirements to general education curricula, majors, and certificate programs this fall. Some institutions are embedding AI competencies into pre-existing majors and coursework. Others are creating AI-specific major programs. Still others, like Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, are requiring courses on AI.
The approaches may differ, but their motivations are the same: Employers are, at breakneck speed, increasingly asking for graduates who know how to effectively use AI. Experts call it AI fluency, and they say it can be a decisive factor in whether you get a job or not.
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