Institutions need to do more to close the higher education graduation gap for Native Americans, according to a new report.

The report notes at just 25%, Native Americans have the lowest college-going rate of any racial group in the country.

Cheryl Crazy Bull - the president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, who helped author the report - recommended states set specific higher education goals, focused on increasing Native participation.

She added that they should prioritize direct engagement with tribes and schools to provide resources, as well as expanding recruitment practices.

"Those practices," said Crazy Bull, "can often exclude Native students who live in reservation rural areas as well as urban Native students."

In 2022, Oregon made public universities free for Native students enrolled in one of the state's nine federally recognized tribes through the Oregon Tribal Stewardship Grant.

The program has been gaining steam over the years - but the graduation gap, made larger during the pandemic, has not closed.

While Crazy Bull said financial barriers play a big part in preventing native people from accessing higher education, she added that not all issues can be solved with money.

"How do institutions create a place or a sense of belonging for students?" said Crazy Bull. "That's just a constant effort."

Crazy Bull added that even before the new administration, anti-DEI practices were harmful to Native students' experiences.

Applications for the next academic year, 2025-26, will open in April.

To qualify for the grant, they must be accepted for enrollment at an Oregon college or university.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.




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Artificial intelligence is expected to significantly change people's lives and New Mexico State University is meeting the challenge by offering the state's first AI degree.

The higher ed institution located in Las Cruces will introduce the state's first Bachelor of Science degree in AI starting in fall 2026.

Enrico Pontelli, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico State University, felt AI should not only be taught at Ivy League schools but made accessible to learners in New Mexico. He said no matter what kind of job you have, learning a bit about AI is essential.

"We see a lot of students who come to college, they understand something about AI but they don't understand how to use it properly," Pontelli explained. "AI can be a great tool to learn, using AI as your companion to help you, not to replace you."

Pontelli noted the university's bachelor of science degree is not only for students just out of high school but for those whose current job may demand new skills. He hopes the university's training will eventually include graduate programs and offer micro-credentials to community members.

AI jobs are those in which a significant portion of the tasks can be performed or aided by artificial intelligence. Pontelli knows a lot of fear has been generated around the emerging technology but said it is nothing to be afraid of and it isn't going away.

"There is a lot of talk about, 'Yeah, I'm losing my job to AI,'" Pontelli observed. "Nobody's going to lose their job to AI. People are going to lose their job to people that know how to use AI."

By offering the degree, Pontelli hopes graduates can contribute to the state's economic development and use AI to work on solutions to address societal and environmental challenges. He added the new program dovetails with the 2024 launch of the statewide New Mexico Artificial Intelligence Consortium.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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Journalism and the way people consume news is changing, and Arizona State University will soon launch an initiative it claims will "build a stronger, more trusted and financially stable news ecosystem."

The Knight Center for the Future of News will be housed within the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, set to open July 1. The school's dean, Battinto Batts, said the Knight Center will be made up of three labs - to address declining public trust in news, explore new revenue models for news organizations, and experiment with new forms of storytelling.

Batts said an information hub will gather insights and promote best practices across the industry.

"So, we have all those things going on at the same time," he said, "and so the Knight Center for the Future of News looks to embrace those disruptions and say, 'OK, how do we embrace those disruptions that are going on and then find a path forward?' We're seeking to be engineers."

He said the Knight Center will bring together educators, researchers, students, working journalists and newsrooms.

Polling shows Americans continue to express record low levels of confidence in the media, with only one-third saying they have confidence that news is being reported fairly and accurately.

Batts said journalists who have remained committed to gathering, writing, editing and disseminating news believe in the cause and know how important it is to a healthy democracy.

"The importance of media, and news and journalism to be able to inform people, to give them the information that they need to make healthy, important decisions that impact their daily lives - that's going to exist whether or not the business model changes or not and so, it has evolved," he said.

Batts added the threat posed by information isn't a new concept - but it's been intensified because of new technologies. And he encouraged current and future journalists to focus on the vital mission of keeping audiences informed.


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More than 70,000 Marylanders are student parents, raising kids while attending college full or part-time and proposed cuts in this year's big budget bill in Congress could make it more difficult for them to earn their degrees.

House Republicans' version of the bill would require taking 15 credit-hours instead of 12 to receive a full Pell Grant. For some, it would mean nearly $1,500 less on a grant which already does not cover the cost of college.

Ewaoluwa Obatuase, policy analyst at the think tank New America, said it is not the only potential change making it tougher for student parents.

"They have to juggle work. They have to juggle school and parenting," Obatuase pointed out. "This reconciliation bill will strip the critical support they need to succeed in college. It reduces funding for SNAP. It reduces funding for Medicaid, and it complicates the financial aid system."

Republican lawmakers have argued increasing the bar for Pell Grant eligibility is necessary to keep the program funded. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Pell Grant program faces a $2.7 billion funding shortfall.

The cuts would also reduce financial aid options for 1 million parents who are graduate students, by decreasing affordable loan repayment options, like Grad and Parent Plus loans. Obatuase acknowledged the Senate is still working on its version of the tax-cut and spending bill but if the steep cuts in the House version survive, it cannot help but affect student parents.

"It makes it harder to afford college. It makes it harder to repay loans, and it makes it harder to build a better life in this country, all while giving tax cuts to the wealthy millionaires and billionaires of this country," Obatuase stressed. "This bill literally does not do anything to help our student parents. It harms them."

Research shows attaining a college degree is one of the biggest contributors to economic mobility. According to the Association of Public-Land Grant Universities, people who earn a bachelor's degree make more than $1.2 million more income over their lifetime than those who do not.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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