01/03/2016: To Be Young, Gifted and Muslim at College, by Darren Johnson, Campus News - With about 45 percent of its 48,000 students coming from other continents - 150 countries, in total - LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, is truly unique in its diversity.

01/02/2016: How Arne Duncan Reshaped American Education and Made Enemies Along the Way, by Perry Bacon Jr., NBC News, Meet the Press - Arne Duncan leaves Washington as a deeply divisive figure. Over the last seven years, the Chicago native has aggressively implemented his vision for American education, in a more comprehensive way than perhaps any cabinet officer in the Obama administration has changed policy in his issue area. The rise of the Common Core education standards, a huge growth in the use of data in education and a strong push for accountability on colleges are among Duncan's signature projects.

01/02/2016: Feds: Higher One Used 'Deceptive' Tactics at Miami Dade College and Elsewhere, by Michael Vasquez, Miami Herald - For students who didn't read the fine print, the MDC OneCard was a minefield of unusual - and critics say predatory - account fees.

01/01/2016: Older Students Learn for the Sake of Learning, by Harriet Edleson, Your Money - More than 150,000 men and women nationally who participate each year at more than 119 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes. The institutes, affiliated mostly with colleges and universities, are among the best-known advanced adult educational programs in the country. Along with an array of other such programs fitting under the "lifelong learning" umbrella, they tend to attract educated, passionate people who are seeking intellectual and social stimulation among peers who often become new friends.

12/30/2015: Duncan Focuses on Gun Violence in Final Words as Secretary of Education, by Erin McIntyre, EducationDive - Outgoing U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave his final speech in the position Wednesday in a Chicago church basement, focusing on what he called a "collective failure as adults" to protect children.

12/30/2015: What Is the Future of Higher Education?, by Alia Wong, Adrienne Green and Li Zhou, The Atlantic - Experts in the field offer their reasons for optimism and pessimism going forward.

12/30/2015: U.S. High Schools Employ Mixed Strategies To Raise Graduation Rates, by Anya Kamenetz, NPR, Education - The high school graduation rate is at its highest point ever. The latest numbers show that 82 percent of students earn their diploma in the 2013-2014 school year. On the surface, that sounds impressive, but NPR's Ed team led an investigation with 14 member stations around the country this year. That investigation revealed that states and districts are pursuing a wide variety of strategies to get that rate up, both good and not so good.

12/30/2015: The New College Degree: In an Unbundled World, Curation is King, by Matt Pittinsky and Mike Buttry, EdSurge - Universities that thrive in this new era will embrace their role as curator and translator. They will integrate best-in-class programs that are responsive to the workforce needs of the time. They will develop digital, clickable credentials that more clearly convey the unique skills and competencies that make up a degree.

12/29/2015: In a "Gateway City," a Plan to Nurse Degree Attainment, by Antoinette Hays, New England Board of Higher Education - The National Center for Education Statistics projects slowing college enrollment in the next decade-with growth coming from those traditionally underserved. As we grapple with concerns over a widening college enrollment gap for underrepresented students and the value of a college degree, we know that our ability to grow and thrive requires us to build on our efforts and go beyond the confines of our campus and our history, both to increase degree attainment based on national goals and to secure our institution's future with responsive and responsible innovation.

12/29/2015: The New Racial Generation Gap, by William H. Frey, LA Times - Young people now - the post-millennials - face a far deeper generational divide than the one that separated baby boomers from their parents. And the nation faces a far more serious crisis if that divide cannot be bridged.

12/29/2015: Rising And Falling, by Victor M. H. Borden, Community College Week - As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the 2008 Great Recession, America's community colleges continue to experience declining enrollments, overall. However, those overall declines mask great variability in enrollment changes, which in this year's analysis, varied from 65 percent increase to a 260 percent decrease.

12/28/2015: More Chinese Students Seeking US Community College Degrees, by Associated Press, ABC News - Wealthy Chinese undergraduates aren't the only ones looking to get a college degree in the U.S. So are a growing number of Chinese students from lower middle-class families who are enrolling in community colleges.

12/22/2015: Tens of Thousands of College Students Have Nowhere to Sleep, by Rebecca Nathanson, Rolling Stone - Last year, more than 56,000 students identified as homeless on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form. But the real number of homeless students is almost certainly higher: That number excludes those who cannot identify as homeless because they lack sufficient proof, such as verification from a shelter. It also does not include the unknown number of college students who intermittently experience housing insecurity but handle it on their own by couch surfing with friends or sleeping in their car or campus library, never telling a university official.