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Hiring based on skills instead of college degrees opens up opportunities for millions

Feb 17, 2022
As the labor market heats up, an increasing number of companies are pledging to change their approach to recruitment.
Degree inflation has made a college education almost mandatory. A hiring process based on skill could be more inclusive, and productive.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images

More states are requiring high schoolers to complete financial aid application

Feb 16, 2022
Applications for federal aid for college have decreased, so schools and states are looking at ways to get more grants into students' hands.
In states that require high school students to fill out the FAFSA, the number of students applying for financial aid has gone up.
Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images

Historically Black colleges and universities are chronically underfunded

Nov 18, 2021
HBCU advocates say funding shortfalls mean less scholarship money and financial aid for students and can lead to lower graduation rates.
From 1957 to 2007, Tennessee State University, an HBCU, received far less money than it was due by virtue of its federal land-grant designation.
Damon Mitchell/WPLN News

College, though out of reach for many, seems key to financial stability

May 18, 2021
A Federal Reserve study shows the widening economic gap between those with a college degree and those without one.
Graduating helps. About three-quarters of the job losses during the pandemic occurred among people who lack bachelor’s degrees, according to an employment researcher.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

With tests optional, selective colleges report more applicants and longer waitlists

Apr 5, 2021
Many colleges waived their standardized test requirements because of the pandemic, opening the gates for more students to apply.
Some tests were canceled due to safety concerns, and many testing sites closed.
michaelquirk via Getty Images

There are fewer visas, but Chinese students still want a U.S. education

Feb 19, 2021
Chinese students spend years mapping out the path to U.S. colleges. The pandemic has disrupted all of that.
"Contemplation in the afternoon," is one of the many pieces of art Li Jiayan has posted on social media in hopes of getting more freelance work while she figures out the next steps in her study plans.
Courtesy of Li Jiayan

Liberal arts colleges look to career and tech education to bolster enrollment

Feb 2, 2021
With the number of high school graduates expected to shrink in New England and a shortage of people in tech, colleges see an opportunity.
Claudia Cabrera, who is taking advanced manufacturing courses at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, says someday she wants to help make robots.
Meredith Nierman

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Inside one family's journey to find an affordable college

The long road to a merit scholarship included 30 applications and 90 admissions essays.
For Lara Mordenti Perrault's daughter, the long road to a merit scholarship included 30 applications and 90 admissions essays.
China Photos/Getty Images

How to pay less for college: Merit aid

If you don’t qualify for need-based financial aid, merit scholarships might be the answer.
Parents may want to impress outsiders by getting their child into a prestigious college. “But what other people don't understand,” says New York Times columnist Ron Lieber, “is whatever financial constraints you may be operating under."
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Colleges look at delaying the first day of school ... again

Jan 6, 2021
Colleges and universities are once again pushing back the start of the new semester, or moving classes online.
Students and their families move belongings at a campus dormitory at the University of South Carolina on Aug. 10, 2020, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images