December 2024 IllinoisCAN Newsletter December 2024 Welcome to IllinoisCAN's monthly newsletter. The mission of IllinoisCAN is to improve postsecondary access and success for low-income and first-generation college students in Illinois. IllinoisCAN builds the capacity and effectiveness of college access organizations to help students reach their goals. IllinoisCAN monthly newsletters are intended to be for us and by us – professionals around the state working to improve college access. In this issue:
Each month the Professional Development team hosts in-person and virtual events for professionals. Training topics include how to help students and families complete a financial aid application, learning about the Illinois Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) Framework, how to enroll in a federal student loan repayment plan and more. Recordings of recent webinars are also available on-demand. Check out the upcoming events as well as list of recordings offered by ISAC's Professional Development team. Some Colleges Have an Answer for Students Questioning the Value of Higher Ed: Work-Based Learning "Confidence in higher education is slipping nationwide, in part because of the high cost of obtaining a degree and questions about whether it pays off in the workforce. Higher education experts say work-based learning programs ... could be part of the solution: Students can pursue their academic studies while simultaneously experiencing how those studies might apply to the workforce and earning some money in the process." Learn about examples of work-based learning programs in higher ed. Miles To Go: The State of Education for Black Students in America "Seventy years after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision that declared racially segregated public schools unconstitutional, significant challenges remain in Black students' educational opportunities. This report presents a broad overview of data on the education of Black students in the United States in early childhood, K-12, and postsecondary education. The data clearly show disparities in outcomes for Black students' graduation rates, test scores, course completion, and many other measures, when compared with national averages and other student groups. However, our analysis shows that these disparities are actually symptoms of opportunity gaps – or limits to the opportunities some students have to learn and succeed educationally." Learn about the "opportunity gaps denying many Black students (and others) full opportunities to learn and succeed". "Easy to Just Write Us Off": Rural Students' Choices Shrink as Colleges Slash Majors "Rural Americans already have far less access to higher education than their counterparts in cities and suburbs. Now the comparatively few universities that serve rural students are eliminating large numbers of programs and majors, blaming plummeting enrollment and financial crises. Many rural private, nonprofit colleges are closing altogether. "While large-scale cuts to majors in the years during and since the Covid-19 pandemic have gotten some attention, what many have in common has been largely overlooked: They're disproportionately happening at universities that serve rural students or are in largely rural states." Read about the reduction degree programs and majors in rural communities. Facing Legal Threats, Colleges Back Off Race-Based Programs "Following the June 2023 Supreme Court decision banning colleges from considering race in admissions and a wave of state laws curbing campus diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, such pipeline programs, along with race- and gender-based affinity mentoring circles and scholarships, are facing fire. "Research suggests that race-based support and pipeline programs do increase the entry and persistence of underrepresented students into certain fields, especially STEM. "Yet legal complaints have some campuses broadening who may apply." Read about the complexities of race-based programming. National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's Yearly Progress and Completion Report "This new report contains many elements previously published in the NSC Research Center's primary reports focused on student progress toward credential attainment, Yearly Success and Progress and Completing College. The purpose of this new report is to combine the year-over-year look at a cohort's journey toward completion (Yearly Success and Progress) with the in-depth analysis of six-year and eight-year cohort completion rates (Completing College) into an interactive dashboard. "This report reflects data quality and methodology enhancements that enable the Clearinghouse to leverage more of its longitudinal data to accurately identify and evaluate first-time in college individuals. This report re-states the historical trend for the six- and eight-year college completion rates nationally and by state by tracking the enrollment and completion outcomes starting with the fall 2007 cohort of beginning college students." Explore the interactive dashboard and read the Yearly Progress and Completion Report. 12th Annual Illinois Success Network Conference, Building the Future We Want: Increasing Equitable Postsecondary Attainment The Illinois Education and Career Success Network 12th annual conference will take place on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. "This year's in-person, one-day conference will be held at the I Hotel & Illinois Conference Center in Champaign, Illinois. The conference is an engaging learning opportunity designed for leaders from secondary and postsecondary education, local and state government, community-based organizations, policy advocates, grant makers, employers, and other stakeholders interested in equitably increasing postsecondary attainment in Illinois." Registration for the conference is now open. Affluent White Students are Skipping College and No One is Sure Why "White students are falling out of higher education more quickly than any other racial group, and recent data suggests that middle- and upper-income white students are skipping college at a higher rate than their lower-income peers. That flies in the face of entrenched narratives about more-affluent white students following a well-marked path to college. Experts can only speculate about why it might be happening. "Data released in October by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center indicate that fewer white undergraduates from more affluent neighborhoods have enrolled in college over the past six years. This is happening as white students from lower-income neighborhoods enroll at slightly higher rates, and as Black and Hispanic undergraduate enrollment across the income spectrum has increased." Read about the decline of White student enrollment and the hypotheses as to why. Do you have events, news, requests, or resources to share with college access colleagues? IllinoisCAN monthly newsletters are intended to be for us and by us – professionals around the state working to move college access forward. For inclusion in the next newsletter, send content by January 10th to ISAC.IllinoisCAN@illinois.gov. Review Newsletter Submission Guidelines at https://illinoiscan.org/resources/Newsletters/index.html. Find us on Facebook:
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