Wrap-around supports are essential if colleges want to help more students succeed, writes Mark Mitsui, president of Portland Community College. And those supports don’t have to be a cost center—but can actually provide returns.
Less than 1 percent of government funding is tied to results-oriented workforce training programs. And that’s an urgent problem, writes Angela Jackson, managing partner at New Profit.
Opinion: As Congress shapes an expansive ‘Build Back Better’ plan, it can’t forget funds for retraining, writes Maria Flynn, CEO of JFF. Otherwise, the legislation could unintentionally create millions of new jobs without preparing workers to fill them.
People often reduce college choice to either a degree or a short-term credential, writes Chauncy Lennon of Lumina Foundation. But that’s a false binary, and reveals fundamental flaws in how we think about credentials.
Investments in education are critical to the future of professional caregiving—but they alone won’t be enough, writes Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health. The economics and equity of the whole system need to be rethought.
As higher education works to enroll more first-generation, underrepresented minority, and Pell-eligible students, economic mobility has become a critical social justice issue for institutions, write Mark Smith, former dean for career services at Wash U., and Matt Small, president and CEO of Symplicity.
Paid internships helped make it possible for Ashley McCullough, founder of the Princess Project, to cover the costs of attending N.C. A&T—but the influence was even bigger than that. Interns should be paid, she writes, because it shows them that their work has value.
Crises of college completion, affordability, and employability mean the U.S. must establish faster and cheaper alternatives to college, Ryan Craig, managing director at Achieve Partners, writes. The #1 alternative? Apprenticeships.
The country must invest in the skills infrastructure—not just construction and transportation projects—to drive long-term prosperity, writes Lisa Lewin, CEO of General Assembly.
Julian Alvarez III says that creating more equitable opportunity in his state depends on expanding hands-on training and doing a better job of helping students understand the full range of career pathways.
