 Dear reader,
Just how much does a college education matter? It’s a topic we’ve spent years examining at The Hechinger Report, one I thought a lot about last month while visiting a middle school and a career center in Indiana. I saw an array of pathways to both college and careers, with no judgement around individual choices – no surprise, as there’s plenty of renewed interest in skilled trades jobs. But now, some reports are finding that a decline in college enrollment could have long-term consequences.
In other higher education news this week, we take a closer look at what it could mean for colleges now that a conservative-dominated Supreme Court agreed to hear challenges to race-conscious admissions. We’re also excited to tell you about a new development in Washington: Since early last year, we've been investigating little-known ways that some colleges entrap students in debt. One way: for-profit colleges making loans directly to students. Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that, for the first time, it would begin examining these institutional loans out of concern that colleges may use high interest rates and “strong-arm debt collection practices” — practices that our story examined in detail, landing it on the front page of The New York Times.
Finally, there are some important lessons to be learned from Tennessee’s state-funded pre-K program, among them that quality matters. Finally, some students finally returned to in-person learning this fall – only to be kicked back out again for behavioral and other issues. There’s so much to think about, one reason why we particularly love hearing what our readers have to say. Get in touch!
Liz Willen, Editor
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