July 2025 IllinoisCAN Newsletter July 2025 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:
The Slow Rise of the Apprenticeship Degree "Apprenticeship degrees, as the name suggests, combine paid on-the-job training (an apprenticeship) with a college degree. Popular in parts of Europe, the degrees are just taking root in the United States, where they're concentrated in the education sector. But advocates argue they have the potential to expand into many other fields, opening up higher education to Americans who can't afford to stop working to attend college. "Proponents of apprenticeship degrees see them as a solution to a range of problems plaguing both higher education and the economy, including shrinking college enrollments, spiraling student debt, and persistent labor shortages. They're a way for employers to fill jobs, colleges to fill seats, and students to graduate debt-free. "But several hurdles could hinder the model's growth. Among them: inconsistent state and federal funding, high barriers to federal recognition, and resistance from faculty members worried about diluting the traditional degree." College and Other Pathways: Key Takeaways from Online Focus Groups "In recent years, The Chronicle of Higher Education has intensively covered how the American public perceives higher education. To complement that coverage, we wanted to dive deeper into the mind-sets and motivations of those who choose college and those who build career and life skills in other ways. "To more fully explore the perspectives and motivations of those two groups, (The Chronicle) partnered with the New York-based social-science research firm, Langer Research Associates. The resulting project organized two asynchronous online focus groups that met over four days in March 2025. The first group comprised 15 college students, eight in associate-degree programs and seven in bachelor's-degree programs. The second comprised 14 work-force trainees in a mix of apprenticeships and internships or certification, licensing, and training courses." This article lays out takeaways from both groups and provides recommendations from the student point of view. Illinois Just Passed a Direct Admissions Bill to Simplify the College Application Process "Illinois lawmakers just passed a bill creating a 'direct admission' program to simplify the college application process. WNIJ's Peter Medlin spoke with Jose Garcia from the Illinois Board of Higher Education for the details." 2025 Higher Education Trends: A Look at the Challenges and Opportunities Shaping America's Higher Education Sector "Deloitte's Center for Higher Education Excellence convened college and university presidents in December 2024 at Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas. This third annual forum on the New Era of Higher Education was designed to foster conversations on trends driving disruption in the field to help leaders better understand these key issues and the opportunities they create. The goal of the New Era Forum is to allow institutional leaders to share successes and learn from failures to achieve lasting and positive change. This article describes and prioritizes trends identified by discussions with the New Era Forum community." A TikTok Trend Promises to Erase Student Loan Debt. Here's Why It Doesn't Work. The videos suggest a quick hack for having student loans forgiven. Experts warn that trying it can inflict long-term financial damage. Disputing a student loan's presence on a credit report may get it removed from the reports – that decision lies with the lender – but do not erase the debt. Furthermore, defaulting on student loans can cause wage garnishment, legal action and more. "Experian, one of the three major U.S. consumer credit bureaus, said in a statement that it was aware of the TikTok posts. "'Submitting a dispute does not negate a consumer's obligation to repay their student loans, nor does it automatically remove the student loan from a consumer's credit report,' the statement said. 'However, if a consumer believes there are potential discrepancies on their credit report, including with their student loans, they can submit a dispute directly with each of the three credit bureaus.'" 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 July 21st 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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