Commentary


Driver education as a workforce tool

Community colleges have long served as engines of economic mobility in the United States. Every year, millions of students turn to these institutions to learn English, earn professional credentials, change careers or acquire new skills…


Dear Community College President: Your job has changed

Dear Community College President, If you accepted your presidency believing your primary responsibility was to lead a community college, you now occupy a role far more complex than the one you inherited. The community college…


Gauging adult learners’ needs

In the past 15 years, American community colleges have experienced significant declines in enrollment among adult students. This was not a Covid phenomenon but started soon after the recovery from the Great Recession began. As…


ED’s efforts prevent $2B in student aid fraud

The U.S. Education Department’s (ED) new FAFSA identity verification screening system, first implemented in April, has so far rejected more than 53,000 fraudulent applications, preventing more than $212 million in financial aid from being disbursed…



Family style: Reflections on commencement

Many readers will remember the viral story from May 2025 in which a student parent at the University at Buffalo was pursued by campus security for carrying his infant across the graduation stage. The university…


ED releases final accountability rule

The U.S. Education Department (ED) on Monday released final regulations that establish a new accountability regime based on program completers’ earnings. The regulations, based on provisions in last year’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, take…



Plan excludes proposed CC grants from Senate Farm Bill

Sen. Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas), chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, this week released a proposal to reauthorize the Farm Bill, which governs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. While the most…