This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face and successful support mechanisms to aid their retention and completion.

An estimated one in five college students has dependents, and research shows that parenting students are more likely to experience basic needs insecurity in their pursuit of a degree. A 2024 survey by Trellis Strategies found that 6 percent of student parents self-identified as unhoused and 17 percent indicated some level of housing insecurity since they started college, or during the 12 months leading up to the survey.

A recent brief from New America and Princeton Eviction Lab  tied the threat of eviction to negative student outcomes; student parents who face eviction are 23 percent less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree compared to their housing secure peers, and more likely to have lower quality of life, including higher mortality rates and lower earnings years later.

In the most recent episode of Voices of Student Success, Edward Conroy, senior policy manager at New America, and Nick Graetz, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, discuss their research and how universities can better support parenting students experiencing housing insecurity.

Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader, this episode is sponsored by KI.

Read a transcript of the podcast here.

The second Trump administration will mark its six-month birthday on Sunday July 20, so in this episode of The Key, we’re checking in on the federal policy beat. IHE news editor Katherine Knott joins editor in chief Sara Custer to discuss the big changes in store for the sector now that congress has passed the Big Beautiful Bill and when the new policies will start to take effect–a potentially difficult task with the paltry staff left at the education department. They also check in on Trump’s dealings with Harvard, Penn and Columbia, run through the Department of Justice’s intervention at the University of Virginia, and look at what the next six months will hold. Teaser: it could be another reconciliation bill.

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This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face and successful support mechanisms to aid their retention and completion.  

Research shows that adults often enter college with a goal in mind, such as a career pivot, further education in their current industry or completion of a degree they previously started,. But returning to the classroom can be challenging, particularly for first-generation students or those who haven’t been in school for a while. 

In 2024, Wichita State University launched a college bridge program, the Adult Learner Community and Connections Program, to ease the transition for adult and online learners. The program, part of the university’s “Shocker Pre-Season” series, offers them eight modules of self-paced, online content designed to assist them in their first term at the university.  

In the most recent episode of Voices of Student Success, Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for student success and persistence at Wichita State, discusses adult learner pedagogy and the lessons learned in the program’s first year.  

Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader, this episode is sponsored by KI.  

Read a transcript of the podcast here. 

“Innovation” is one of those buzzwords that means everything and nothing. “Culture” is even harder to pin down. But in this episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, senior editor for special content Colleen Flaherty speaks with two people working hard to foster both on their campuses.

In a panel discussion at the recent Digital Universities US event in Salt Lake City, Colleen spoke with Maricel Lawrence the innovation catalyst at Purdue Global and Kevin Yee special assistant to the provost for AI and director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Central Florida about how bottom up leadership, empowering people to try new things and universal design thinking are helping to create a culture where innovation thrives.

This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face and successful support mechanisms to aid their retention and completion.  

Over 820,000 undergraduates are connected to the U.S. military, including those who are actively serving or enlisted in the National Guard,  former service members and spouses or dependents of military servicemembers. 

The University of Texas at San Antonio, located in Military City USA, serves over 5,000 military-affiliated students, including veterans, service members and their families, in a region that has the largest concentration of military bases in the country. 

In this episode, Michael Logan, UTSA’s senior director for veteran and military affairs and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, discusses how his institution supports military-affiliated students through their transition into higher ed and the role of community in student veteran retention.  

Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader, this episode is sponsored by Grammarly.  

Read a transcript of the podcast here. 

Throughout the first half of the year several colleges have announced hiring freezes and budget cuts in response to the Trump administration’s slashing of federal researching funding and general financial instability across the sector. 

And these cuts come after years of stagnating pay for faculty and staff. A recent CUPA HR analysis of salary data shows that across higher ed, employees are still being paid less in inflation-adjusted dollars than were before the pandemic.

To help us understand what this environment means for the future of the higher ed workforce, Sara Custer, Inside Higher Ed's editor in chief, recently spoke with Kevin McClure professor of higher education and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

He says there’s no doubt the workforce is struggling and hasn’t totally recovered from the great resignation spurred on by Covid. McClure is also seeing what he calls “ripple effects” on    working conditions. Can colleges hire students for summer jobs? Can faculty travel to conferences? Are there enough people on staff for colleges to keep doing what they’re doing? And one big question – will the sector be able to attract the next generation of faculty and staff?

McClure also talks about shared governance as a practice that people need to be trained to participate in and how one solution to some of the current workforce struggles could be right under our noses.

Find out more about Kevin and his work here. 

Thanks to Grammarly for sponsoring this episode.

This season of Voices of Student Success, “Preparing Gen Z for Unknown Futures,” addresses challenges in readying young people for the next chapter of their lives in the face of large-scale global changes. 

As climate disasters become more frequent and severe, more institutions are investing in programs to address environmental changes and prepare students to engage in green careers. 

Clark University plans to launch its school of Climate, Environment and Society this fall, institutionalizing the university’s commitment to climate action and investing in interdisciplinary learning for students interested in the work of sustainability. Lou Leonard, the inaugural dean of the school of climate, environment and society, discusses the need for the school and how climate education can tackle climate anxiety in young people.  

Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader.

This episode is sponsored by Grammarly.  

Read a transcript of the podcast here. 

Anxiety and depression are on the rise among college students driven, in part, by pressures to balance academics with personal, economic and family responsibilities. In this episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, two mental health leaders talk about how the current political climate and economic uncertainty are exacerbating the existing mental health challenges on campuses.

Tara Harper, assistant vice president for student wellbeing and clinical operations at Lincoln University and Seli Fakorzi, director of mental health operations at TimelyCare, join IHE’s editor in chief Sara Custer to discuss what colleges are doing to address rising symptoms of anxiety and depression among students and how they’re keeping everyone safe and healthy during a time of great upheaval.

Thank you to Timely Care for sponsoring this episode. 

This season of Voices of Student Success, “Preparing Gen Z for Unknown Futures,” addresses challenges in readying young people for the next chapter of their lives in the face of large-scale global changes. 

A workshop series at George Mason University in Virginia helps build students’ practical knowledge and well-being by giving them life advice and skills, such as how to change a tire. The program was created by Ethan Carter, associate director of programs, well-being and assessment, and supported by graduate student assistant Dianna Phillips, who talk about the logistics of delivering the workshops and how they support student success.  

Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader. 

Read a transcript of the podcast here.