Brought to you by:

Great Lakes. As a company marking 50 years in higher education, Great Lakes has a lot to celebrate this holiday season—and you to thank. We wish you Happy Holidays, and look forward to helping families flourish and support each other through the power of education in the new year to come.

Like most policy issues in the United States, higher education is not immune to the partisan divide that can often impede making meaningful progress toward solving concerns shared by stakeholders on both sides of the aisle. But before diving into more specific policy issues, policymakers need to identify shared values and areas of agreement.

Despite the fact that the proportion of Latino students enrolling in college has grown faster than most other races and ethnicities, they're lagging behind when it comes to postsecondary attainment levels, according to a new report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.

In NASFAA's Fight for Financial Aid Organizing Guide, you will find information on how to make your voice heard in the Fight for Financial Aid. Organizing a rally, visiting with your member of Congress, posting on social media – all of these are opportunities to educate people about the importance of federal student aid and motivate them to get involved. This guide is designed for the use of a broad community of student aid advocates, including institutions, students and student governments, and community leaders.

Participating in the NASFAA election process is an important way to contribute to your association. Start by nominating a colleague today. NASFAA holds elections each year to select members to serve on its Board of Directors, which provides oversight and guidance for the direction of the Association. The nomination deadline is Wednesday, September 25, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

"Ramon Alfaro and Marisol Perez walked into a Starbucks around 4 p.m., worn down by months of doubt. All along they had wanted the same thing: to leave home, decorate a dorm-room wall, and shape a new life. But wanting something, they knew, guarantees nothing at all," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

"A series of well-timed trades in shares of student loan giant Navient Corp. right before the Labor Day weekend, after which a critical Trump administration policy shift came to light, spurred the AFL-CIO to ask regulators to review what the labor federation called potential insider trading," Bloomberg reports.

"If 2012 was 'The Year of the MOOC'––massive open online courses, usually offered for free––2017 could be 'The Year of the Microcredential,'" EdSurge reports. "A growing number of elite colleges are offering short-form graduate and certificate programs that can be taken online for a fraction of the price of a traditional master's. Proponents say the new offerings will expand access to graduate education and help workers update their skills in fast-changing fields. But the programs also serve as an example of how colleges, increasingly thinking like businesses, are eager to find new ways to bring in revenue."

"Alabama's community college system is making strides in the automobile manufacturing industry," the Opelika-Auburn News reports. "The Alabama Community College System is partnering with the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council to offer industry-led credentials at every two-year school in the state."

"After years of focusing intensely on college readiness, states are turning their attention to students' futures as workers, enacting a flurry of laws and policies designed to bolster career education and preparation," Education Week reports.

"The American economy has created nearly 16 million new jobs in the eight years since the end of the Great Recession. The unemployment rate, which hit 10 percent in 2009, has fallen below 5 percent. And wages, at long last, are rising," Ben Casselman writes for The New York Times. "Yet for some workers, the wounds of the recession have not fully healed. The key issue facing policy makers now is whether the scars will prove enduring."

"Imagine a government study revealing that nearly half of high school students who change schools have to repeat a grade. Or one which shows that American workers who change jobs lose over 40 percent of their retirement savings. The Government Accountability Office this fall released a report revealing a problem of similar magnitude: 43 percent of college credits are lost when undergraduate students transfer from one institution to another," Josh Wyner writes for U.S. News & World Report.

VIEW NEXT ISSUE

Contact us to submit questions, content or to purchase advertisements.