higher education

A school sign.

Why Alabama can’t control college tuition costs

BY: - August 23, 2023

This story first appeared in the Alabama Reflector. States have varying degrees of control over the tuition price of their public higher education institutions. Alabama has none. Under Alabama law, higher education institutions set tuition and fees for students. The state government cannot control those increases, and one of the legislature’s education budget chairs says moving […]

The Massachusetts marching band performs before an NCAA college football game against Boston College in Amherst, Mass., in 2021.

Nearly half the states now allow in-state tuition for immigrant students

BY: - August 16, 2023

When Cristian Dubon Solis was getting ready to graduate from a Boston high school in 2020, he started planning to apply to college. It was only then he realized that as an immigrant lacking permanent legal status, he wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts state universities, nor for state-sponsored financial aid. With no way to […]

Students walk past Sather Gate on Thursday, May 10, 2018, on the University of California at Berkeley campus

Campus diversity will be a struggle without race-based admissions, history shows

BY: - July 5, 2023

States that have tried to enroll more Black and Hispanic students in state universities without using race-based admissions policies have seen the numbers of those students slip — especially at elite institutions. Nine states had affirmative action bans before last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking it down nationwide. Those states and others have tried […]

A community college student near a bus stop.

More states are giving students more money to pay for community college

BY: - May 19, 2023

As the idea of free community college gains traction across the country, some lawmakers have gotten bolder in their concepts — expanding existing programs or pitching legislation that would offer free college to anyone. The latest example is Massachusetts, where Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s 2024 budget includes $20 million to expand the state’s free community college program to […]