On May 25th, a tragic shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in South Texas, killing two adults and 19 children. Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old gunman, was suspected of being a high school student in the surrounding area.

According to Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), speaking to CNN, a Uvalde school district police officer mentioned Ramos emerging from the vehicle with a rifle and body armor on. Texas DPS has now revealed that the door was closed but unlocked, allowing the gunman to easily enter the school.

The officer was unable to stop Ramos, the gunman, and was forced to call for backup, at which point the shooting began. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, waiting for backup was the "wrong decision," resulting in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers until one of the officials from the US Border Patrol – a federal agency that guards US ports of entry – rushed into the school and killed the gunman.

“I am sick and tired of it. We must act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage,” says Biden, “What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?” he remarks.

“Here’s what else I know: Most Americans support commonsense laws – commonsense gun laws. What struck me was these kinds of shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world,” Biden continues, “It’s time – for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.”

Many other city councils convened in response to the Texas tragedy to strengthen or change school policies. Middletown, New Jersey, is now seen as the most recent district to take steps toward strengthening school safety policies for both teachers and students. – by hiring retired law enforcement officers; off-duty police officers will be replaced beginning in September, which is welcomed by parents who want to send their children to school without worrying about what might happen. Some argue that this is insufficient; creating access passwords and door keys are also required to distinguish visitors.

Arkansas legislators debated how to prevent school shootings and ensure student safety. According to KARK, only 20% of campuses have SRO, indicating the need to consolidate the policy to establish SRO.

Other ideas included equipping classroom doors with locks that can be locked from the inside, requiring visitors to sign in or check in and wear badges for identification, granting access to school buildings during school hours, and renovating campuses with a single-entry point for main campus buildings, among others.

The Medford School District (MSD) also held an executive session to discuss the plans for the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. MSD reported that in extreme cases, students are being trained in schools on how to deal with an active shooter.

"It's not just about buildings and protocols and training – though those are all important," Karen Starchvick says. "I've been reminded, especially this week, that the majority of high school shooters are bullied. It speaks to the importance of relationships and the power of knowing every child by name."

Another unforgettable tragedy associated with a bullied gunman is brought up – the Virginia Tech Massacre – Cho, a 23-year-old student slaughtering 32 people before taking his own life. Chris Davids, a Virginia Tech student who attended the same high school as Cho, claimed Cho was bullied. "As soon as he began reading, the entire class began laughing and pointing and saying, 'Go back to China,'" he recalled.

According to NBC News, Cho sent a package that included a 1,800-word statement filled with complex emotions such as resentment, extreme anger, and a desire to exact revenge. "I didn't have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. It's not for me." wrote Cho.

According to CNN Health, the killers suffered from depression, were bullied, harassed, and even ignored at school. According to Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University, most of the killers lacked social interaction, having no one to turn to or talk to when they were going through a difficult time, so they were mostly alone.

This year alone, 27 school shooting have occurred, causing widespread concern across the country. Knowing that many gunfire shooters were either bullied or were mentally unstable, school districts should now pay close attention to ensure that no children are left behind, with mental health care support to prevent what will happen in the future - before another tragedy occurs. The shooting, of course, do not excuse their mental instability.

Read more: College Students’ Depression Has Worsened; Here Are Some Solutions.

Starting on May 30, recent graduates of top global universities are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom for a maximum of three years, with a new scheme called a High Potential Individual (HPI) visa. The applicants must have graduated from an eligible university within five years, and once accepted, college graduates will be allowed to stay for two years at most or three years for Ph.D. or other doctoral degrees. The government only briefly describes on their website what the new visa holders can and cannot do, and yet, the short list seems to be enough to attract applicants for the new program. With an HPI visa, foreign nationals can “work in most jobs, look for work, be self-employed, live in the UK with partner and children [they must meet another eligibility criteria], do voluntary work, [and] travel abroad and return to the UK.” In the meantime, they will not be able to apply for the most of public funds, or the State Pension, work as a professional athlete, extend the HPI visa, or apply to settle permanently in the UK. The government says that the accepted applicants will be provided with a full, extensive list of what they can and cannot do during their stay in the UK with the new visa. The new program has also attracted numerous criticisms for being meritocratic and discriminatory. Of the total of 37 eligible institutions for the most recent graduates, 20 are from the United States alone, or 23 from North America. However, there are no universities from South America, the Middle East, or Africa. As the program focuses primarily — and seemingly exclusively — on the name of a school graduated for eligibility, even highly talented people like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella or Google CEO Sundar Pichai would not qualify for the HPI if they had applied only with their undergraduate degree in India. [caption id="attachment_2640" align="aligncenter" width="968"] Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, received his undergraduate degree from Manipal Institute of Technology in Karnataka
, India. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, went to the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in West Bengal
, India for his alma mater. None of the above schools are listed under the eligible universities for the High Potential Individual visa. Photo: Manipal Institute of Technology[/caption] Furthermore, the program does not take GPA into account, meaning that someone who barely managed to graduate from an eligible institution would be qualified while an honor graduate from Brown University or Dartmouth College would not. With such ironies and an apparent lack of understandable rationale in choosing which universities qualify for the HPI, some people are raising their eyebrows about the purpose and effectiveness of the program. There are similar policies in the US to attract talents into the country. For instance, the House of Representatives recently passed a bill that will lift numerical limits on immigrant visas for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Ph.D. graduates, possibly providing a direct pathway to permanent residency. However, no policy in the US principally considers the name of a graduated university, rather than a major or academic achievement. Although there is no other major destination country for international students with a similar policy to HPI, the UK government seems satisfied and confident with its new program. UK chancellor Rishi Sunak said, “This new visa offer means that the UK can continue to attract the best and brightest from across the globe.” Home Secretary Priti Patel also added, “I am proud to be launching this new and exciting route as part of our points-based immigration system which puts ability and talent first – not where someone comes from.” In a response to the officials’ remarks, a critic wrote in her opinion piece, “Sadly, this is far from the truth. Why else would the best and the brightest, ability and talent, not include graduates from the IITs and IIMs? The University of São Paolo?” She also argued that “the British government is not interested in the best and the brightest across the globe, but in those with access to elite, First World education.” [caption id="attachment_2641" align="aligncenter" width="1394"] The University of Cape Town is ranked as the best university in the African continent by U.S. News. Yet, its graduates are not eligible to apply for the High Potential Individual visa in the UK. Photo: Adrian Frith / Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0[/caption] Christopher Trisos, a senior researcher at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town, also expressed his deep dissatisfaction with the new visa program in his comment to the BBC, describing it as “a deeply inequitable approach.” He said, “They [the UK] need to be recognizing and including diverse skills and in-depth knowledge held by many graduates from universities in developing countries” to together address imminent global issues such as climate change, energy access, and pandemics. In addition to graduating from an eligible institution, there are a few other basic requirements that must be met by the applicants. Most predictably, applicants will need to pass a security and criminality check and prove their English proficiency with at least a “B1 level” which indicates that they can communicate with native speakers without much effort. Those who are applying from outside the UK will be able to get their visa results within three weeks of submission if successful, or eight weeks for those who are switching their visa to HPI while staying in the UK.   Read More: Recent Academic Trend in Africa to Gain In-depth Knowledge of the U.S.

COVID-19 has increased depression among college students. According to the National Library of Medicine, COVID-19 increased stress and anxiety in 138 of 195 participants, but only 10 sought mental health counseling - the most common stressors were found to be loneliness and isolation from the pandemic effect, due to a lack of face-to-face activities. However, depression in college students had become increasingly common even before COVID, with counseling services unable to track college depression rates. Furthermore, college enrollment has declined since the pandemic. According to an Imagine America Foundation study, one-third of students with depression drop out of college, and researchers believe that the pandemic rate has exacerbated depression among college students. Newport Institute also added that 56% of students are concerned about dealing with mental health issues, and 63% say their emotional health has deteriorated since the pandemic.

What are the Depression Symptoms?

The National Alliance on Mental Illness lists several severe warning signs of depression. One of the symptoms of depression is expressing or displaying negative emotions. However, showing emotions varies depending on the person, but they are commonly exhibited by being less engaged in conversation or activities – they tend to isolate themselves and spend time alone. Other symptoms include undereating or overeating, sleeping for more than 10 hours on a regular basis, or suffering from insomnia. Students who are depressed may experience pain without knowing why, especially if there are no injuries. As a result, if your child or roommate avoids you, he or she is most likely concealing their true feelings. Leading to depression, the Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse survey, with support from Kaplan, discovered that nearly one in every five students struggled with suicidal ideation while in college. Inside Higher Ed also provided data on whether struggling students have someone to turn to on campus, and surprisingly, 43 percent of students responded that they neither agree nor disagree – a large number of data indicating that students are actually having difficulty talking to, or relying on, other people with this issue. According to Bornthisway/Foundation, many students seek help from friends, romantic partners, or significant others, with the percentage of 18 considered the highest – however parents, were 3 percent lower than those groups. [caption id="attachment_2634" align="aligncenter" width="639"] College students with depression seek help from a friend, a significant other or romantic partner, and a mental health professional the most.[/caption]

Where are the parents?

Furthermore, children sometimes would not ask or seek assistance from their parents. "Students may say they don't care about their parents' influence, but they still want reassurance from and a connection to their families," Larry Marks, a licensed psychologist at the University of Central Florida's Counseling & Psychological Services, tells TODAY. According to Mental Health America, students struggle to seek help because they are afraid of how their parents will react, or even upset or anger them; it is the responsibility of parents to advocate for their children's rights and authorities to do everything independently. Instead of judging the fear of failing, it is important to accept that falling and failing is "OK" - it is just a process that everyone goes through in new environments. Katherine Wolfe-Lyga, director of the Counseling Services Center at SUNY College at Oswego, adds, "first-generation college students or students with families who live far away often feel torn or helpless when there's a disruption at home, so you don't have to come home if your younger sibling is in trouble around expectations." Given the rise in depression among college students, most colleges now provide mental health services to students in need. Columbia University, for example, provides Individual Counseling, which helps with stress, anxiety, depression, academic concerns, and more. – provides students with self-care resources and recommendations for stress management, among other things. Another example is Cornell, which offers Let's Talk drop-in consultations for students who are unsure if the counseling program is a good fit for them or if they would be fine with a one-time brief conversation with a CAPS counselor. Colleges offer a variety of mental health care programs, so it is the responsibility of students to perform self-checkups or seek treatment by visiting self-care resources and programs. Glad to hear that one in every five college students (20%) already uses peer counseling, and another 62 percent are interested in doing so. Peer counseling programs have grown in popularity since the pandemic's outbreak and received positive feedback from approximately 60% of students who used the peer services. Adapting to different environments compared to high school years is difficult - it is normal to be stressed. Thus, college should be spreading the need or necessity of using mental health care programs, as well as college students checking on themselves for the need of health care programs at school without being so self-conscious of what others think about you - because you are the one living your own life.   Read more: Covid Brings All-time Low Acceptance Rates

What is Excelsior Scholarship?

The "Free College" Program has gotten a lot of attention from students who are struggling with the complicated financial aid system. In 2017, Governor Cuomo promised to provide Excelsior scholarship to provide tuition-free college – the first program that covers training for New York's public faculties and universities – for households earning up to $125,000 per year, with the program expected to benefit up to 640,000 New Yorkers, covering any tuitions that were previously not covered by other types of financial aid. Thanks to New Yorks’s first to be the institution of enforcing this scholarship, now the elite schools such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin are enforcing this program for college students who meets profits necessities for need-based aid. MIT, for example, awards scholarships to 98 percent of candidates with profits ranging up to 125,000, which covers tuition, fees, and $4,827 toward housing costs – a typical MIT Scholarship of $58,617. In another case, Stanford University increased the full-tuition scholarship from $125,000 in annual family earnings to $150,000 as reported by Stanford Report, which is slowly displaying some adjustments among colleges. According to the Excelsior Fact Sheet, being the remaining dollar award – the Excelsior award will be zero if the amount of grants and scholarships exceeds the value of tuition. Awards may also vary; however, the maximum annual Excelsior Scholarship is $5,500. It should be noted that if a college student fails to complete 30 credits within a year, they will forfeit the second payment as well as all future payments. Furthermore, the award, which includes TAP, Pell, and other scholarships, is deducted from the tuition freeze of $6,930 at CUNY and $7,070 at SUNY. According to New York State, the Excelsior Scholarship will allow full-time SUNY and CUNY in-state college students to attend university without having to pay tuitions, by allowing up to 55 percent. However, 43,513 out of 63,599 applications were denied for Excelsior Scholarships, with the most common reason being "inadequate credits, which comprised 83 percent of rejected applications, along with 6 percent of exceeding the earnings restriction, etc," according to the Center for an Urban Future. Contrary to what has been promised to recipients of the Excelsior Scholarships for the middle to lower classes, it primarily benefits first-year college students with incomes exceeding $70,000, which exceeds the city's median household incomes. Surprisingly, only about 25% of eligible first-year college students received a reward, with even lower charges for eligible community college students, including those with Black and Hispanic students – even though applicants met all eligibility criteria. [caption id="attachment_2616" align="aligncenter" width="738"] The take-up rate for the Excelsior Scholarship among Black and Hispanic students is low, with only 20% for Black students and 22% for Hispanic students. Sources: Authors' Calculations using restricted City University of New York student-level data. Photo: Urban Institute[/caption] Students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the country TAP application, and the Excelsior scholarship to be considered for the Excelsior scholarship. To keep the excelsior in second year, a comparable procedure must be followed, which includes submitting the FAFSA and TAP application while meeting all of the requirements for the need.

What are the other options besides Excelsior?

While students compete for the Excelsior Scholarship, they do have other options. Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), unlike Excelsior, subsidizes a completely tuition-free SUNY and CUNY education for students who receive Excelsior Scholarships while also reducing personal university attendance college students with low-income. The Pell grant, which is a need-based federal monetary aid that does not have to be repaid, is greatly appreciated. According to New York State, TAP does not have to be repaid and awards students up to $5,665, which is reachable for both full-time and part-time students. [caption id="attachment_2617" align="aligncenter" width="785"] On average, Asians/Pacific Islanders receive the largest Grants; however, Black students are more likely to receive the Pell Grant in general, with 58 percent receiving the Pell Grant. Photo: Education Data Initiative[/caption] According to Federal Student Aid, the maximum amount you can get from a Pell Grant in 2021 – 2022 is $6,495 based on Expected Family Contributions, lesson cost, and student popularity as a full-time or part-time student. Unlike how Black college students were not considered the primary race to benefit from Excelsior Scholarships, according to Education Data Initiative, approximately 58 percent of Black college students received Pell Grants, with the average amount of $3,400. Nonetheless, the Pell Grant primarily benefits families with annual incomes of less than $20,000 per year (51 percent). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 72 percent of Black students received Pell Grants, while Asian students received 36 percent and White students received 34 percent. It is unknown if the data only examined a few application metrics, but the fact that the Excelsior Scholarship has a complicated application process does not change, and the benefits they truly receive are unclear for those who are no longer recipients. The fact that so many students are hesitant to enroll in college because of the college fee – should be addressed and resolved with a high likelihood of receiving scholarships.   Read more: Biden’s Plan to Double Pell Grants

On April 25, 2022, the Strategic Review Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) released a memorandum recommending law schools stop requiring standardized tests, such as the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) or the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), for their admissions. Ever since its first administration in 1948, the LSAT has continuously exerted exceptional influence on many aspects of law schools. Unlike college admissions, standardized test scores (i.e., LSAT) have been the single most dominant factor for applicants to care for in their application process, followed closely by undergraduate GPA. Law schools have also paid extensive attention to the median LSAT score of its entering class, for it significantly affects the infamous and yet influential US News & World Report’s law school ranking. Colin Diver, a former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1989 to 1999, well describes in his opinion article how much colleges and law schools have been — and still are — heavily occupied with the rankings. He wrote, “Each upward movement [in the rankings] would be a cause for momentary exultation; each downward movement, a cause for distress.” He also provided an anecdotal example that shows law school faculties keeping a close record of their rankings. He said, “Each year, Penn’s president would proudly present to the Board of Trustees a list of the university’s schools whose ranking numbers had improved. (She’d make no mention of those whose numbers had slipped.)” Contrary to the LSAT's hegemony for over 70 years, it has been less than seven months since the ABA officially allowed applicants to submit GRE scores for law school admissions. The committee’s decision startled many schools that have only recently started to receive GRE scores for admissions and to applicants who have consequently been considering taking the test. [caption id="attachment_2521" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] The American Bar Association (ABA) officially decided to allow law schools to accept GRE scores for admissions in November 2021. Now, the association is considering eliminating standardized test requirements from its rulebook entirely. Photo: Tony Webster / Licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption] Bill Adams, the managing director of accreditation and legal education for the ABA, wrote in a statement, “Issues concerning admission policies have been of concern to the council for several years.” Other officials of the association also noted that in the process of policy decisions, they are more concerned with how students fare in law schools than their performance on standardized tests. However, Adams noted that removing standardized test requirements for admissions has not yet been finalized by the ABA. He said, “Any final decision rests with the council [the association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar].” Even if the council accepts the committee’s recommendation, there are a few more steps for the change to be put into practice; the council will receive public comments and then deliver its decision to the House of Delegates for another review before the legislative body ultimately sets out a new official policy. Although the decision may start affecting students enrolling in the fall of 2023 at the earliest, it is explicitly stated in the committee’s memo that “law school of course remain free to require a test if they wish.” The committee suggested an alternative to test-focused admissions in its memo, for when the schools decide to act in accordance with the decision. It said that law school could put more emphasis on applicants’ “undergraduate course of study and grade point average, extracurricular activities, work experience, performance in other graduate or professional programs, relevant demonstrated skills, and obstacles overcome.” Following the committee’s decision, the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), a nonprofit organization that administers the LSAT, responded that it hopes “the A.B.A. will consider these issues very carefully.” It also added, “We believe the LSAT will continue to be a vital tool for schools and applicants for years to come ... [as the test is] the most accurate predictor of law school success and a powerful tool for diversity when used properly as one factor in a holistic admission process.” [caption id="attachment_2519" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Harvard Law School was one of the first few legal education institutions in the U.S. to start accepting the GRE test scores for admissions. The school's decision was about four years ahead of the ABA's official decision to allow GRE score submission by law school applicants. Photo: Harvard Law School[/caption] The ABA’s decision to remove the standardized test score requirement for law school admissions appears to be following a similar trend in college admissions. The California State University system has recently become the largest four-year university system in the U.S. to forgo standardized test requirements for its admissions, following the University of California system’s decision to do the same a year before. Such a trend echoed throughout the nation — the process of which has been accelerated due to the pandemic. As Covid-19 still greatly disturbs the lives of billions across the globe, an extensive list of colleges, including all eight Ivy League schools, have extended their decision to stop requiring SAT or ACT scores in their admissions for the 2022-23 application cycle. Of them, Harvard University, the prestigious symbol of American higher education, made a notable decision to remain test-optional through at least fall 2026. Some support the committee’s decision, arguing that more affluent students with the ability to afford a prep course or private coaching for the test have an unfair advantage — irrelevant to academic abilities — over less wealthy students. On the other hand, some others argue that the test requirement for admissions is necessary as a minimum barrier to entry. Specifically, they opine that the difficult entrance exam works as a tool to discourage “weaker applicants” from spending their time and money in vain on law school. While the effectiveness of standardized tests as a barrier and their accuracy in predicting students’ performance after matriculation continue to be fiercely debated, the future of law school admissions — with or without any standardized tests — may be decided within months. The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar agreed last week on May 20 to receive public comments before it meets again in November. As previously described, the committee’s decision will be reviewed once more by the ABA’s House of Delegates before the change takes effect.   Read More: No More SAT/ACT for CSU Admissions

Does college matter?

It's that time of year when high school students' efforts pay off — a time to feel relieved after putting in a lot of effort studying, finishing required high school courses, and receiving a long-awaited college acceptance letter. Unfortunately, high school graduates frequently wait until the last minute before the start of the fall semester and miss out on the opportunity to get to know their future college better. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, individuals with only a high school diploma had a median weekly income of $730 in 2018, while those with a bachelor's degree see a much larger increase, resulting in a median weekly income of $1,198. The wage disparity between college graduates and those with less is well known, and people nowadays recognize the significance of attending college. [caption id="attachment_2502" align="aligncenter" width="1303"] According to the Consumer Price Index of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median of bachelor's degree holders is $20,937 higher than the median of high school diploma holders. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, March Supplement (IPUMS); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index. Photo: Federal Reserve Bank of New York[/caption] College is said to be the next step on the path to adultery, and things would be very different. Entering college will help you prepare for the real world and your career by exposing you to a wide range of expectations from a variety of people, including professors and colleagues. Furthermore, your peers will be as intelligent and hardworking as you are. It would be preferable to be prepared for the upcoming college fall term rather than postponing plans to prepare for college for your career. Here's some crucial information to keep in mind.  

I got in! Now what do I prepare?

Extensive research is required in order to absorb information. The best way to learn about your college is to look into the various majors, extracurricular club activities, recreation, and other opportunities. It is critical to assist yourself in overcoming your anxiety about your future school. Speak with current students, including those on social media, to learn more about the university. Approach them as if you were conducting a survey or an interview, and ask them what their favorite parts of college are, and then continue by asking them what their favorite part of college is. Then ask, "What are the things you wish you knew sooner? What are the best things to do near college?" Following that, visit the college's websites and social media pages to learn more about what they have to offer, or even participate in orientation programs if they have them. The following step is to personalize it using the materials provided. Above all, only enroll in college if you are physically and mentally prepared. It is critical to take some time to reflect on yourself and come up with ways to stay organized and focused. Request gap semesters or years if you need time off. Time flies in college, so planning ahead of time is essential. Make sure you understand the various benefits and opportunities provided by college, such as financial aid and work-study, scholarships, and study abroad. Equally important, learn new skills while working and developing strong relationships with your bosses and coworkers. As previously stated, instead of waiting until school starts, read some books over the summer. The University of California, Berkeley (UCB), encourages students to read books from the University's extensive library collections:

• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
• Gordo: Stories by Jaime Cortez
• All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks
• How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill
• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
• Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
• Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music by Alex Roos
• When Brute Force Fails: How to have less crime and less punishment by Mark A.R Kleiman
• Your Inner Fish: A Journey in the 3.5 Billion Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

Aside from UCB, every college encourages students to read books, so why not go find yours and start reading? With only a few months until college, now is the best time to start planning. It will be exciting to learn about the college you will be attending as well as to enter and learn about a place where you will begin your new chapter in life. The more you prepare by learning, the easier the transition will be in the future.   Read more: U.S. Gap Year Statistics

"The proportion of young people enrolled in school remained relatively low in the last half of the 19th century," according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), "but the beginning of the twentieth century saw sustained increases in enrollment rates for both white and minority children." Despite declines in the traditional college-age population, the number of bachelor's degree holders continued to rise during the 1980s. "College does not matter," philosophy is certainly unappealing to Americans from the mid to late twentieth century, but it is notably attracting a lot of interest — why? Those who subscribe to the "College does not matter" philosophy bring up the upward thrust in university tuition, which is a hot subject in Congress. However, no action has been taken yet, leaving college graduates with extensive college debts. Furthermore, an ongoing element is the increasing wide variety of anti-science and learning during the pandemic. Furthermore, graduates have a challenging time identifying their potentials for appropriate future careers. It is indispensable to pay exclusive interest to affordability, and alternatively than believing in the limit to boom and concluding that "College does no longer matter," the change should be embraced. Considering the ethnicities and financial fame of college applicants from all backgrounds, there is a sturdy demand for higher schooling leadership to be responsible for lowering greater schooling costs whilst focusing on range and inclusion. NCES states the average tuition of public four-year establishments was once around $9,400, and non-public nonprofit four-year establishments had been round $36,700 — considered a excessive economic burden for college students in financial need. It is mandated that the federal authorities count on duty for growing a cost-sharing implementation plan. Not only have to academic leaders focal point on this issue, however colleges ought to additionally face and without delay talk with college students with the aid of supplying extremely good health, career, and other services. Finally, college need to be centered on a broader spectrum of degree programs that are linked to future boom areas such as future manufacturing technologies, which will end result in profession possibilities aligning with diploma packages turning into available. [caption id="attachment_2494" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Education Leaders are gathered for the Institute for Educational Leadership, discussing the solutions for Higher Education. Photo: The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State / Licensensed under CC0 1.0[/caption] According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a person without a college diploma will earn $1 million or less than a person with an undergraduate degree. Since 2010, 9 percent of the 11.6 million new jobs have been created, with 8.5 million of those jobs going to people with bachelor's degrees. BLS data also states that those with only a high school diploma are 4.5 percent more likely to be unemployed than those with bachelor's degrees. Life's necessities are no exception. Lumina Foundation reports people with a college degree are 20% more likely to own a home. A college degree has different consequences in civic and societal cases, such as voting, volunteering, and financial contributions - It is estimated that four out of every ten US citizens with a college degree volunteer twice as much as those with only a high school diploma. According to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 29 percent of Black people aged 25 to 29 held a bachelor's degree or higher in 2019, up 11 percentage points from 18 percent in 2000, and 24 percent of Hispanic adults had earned an associate degree or higher, compared to 46 percent of White non-Hispanic adults, as highlighted by Excelencia in Education. A university degree not only offers an character with skill enhancements and information gain, however it additionally lets in humans to gain qualifications to enlarge and make really helpful contributions to the long-term economy. Although a college diploma now not determine the probability of success in lifestyles — it is the cognitive dissonance that college does count number to everybody — it is vital for prospective high school graduates to understand the significance of enrolling in and graduating from college.   Read More: The Movement for Tuition-free College in the U.S. is Accelerating

On October 6 of last year, the Department of Education announced temporary changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program as a response to the economic slowdown caused by Covid-19. The main change comes from expanded eligibility until the end of October this year, resulting in more than 100,000 borrowers now eligible with an estimated total of $6.2 billion in federal student loan cancellations. Currently, there are still many borrowers who have not yet been contacted for their changed eligibility status for debt relief. Although the department did not give a specific date or timeline for when they will be notified, the agency said the eligible borrowers are being contacted on a rolling basis. PSLF program was launched as a part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 to encourage and support students to take jobs in the public interest sector, which are relatively low-paying compared to those in the private sector. The program does not provide any direct financial means to students to start their careers in the public interest. Instead, it offers debt cancellation for federal loan borrowers who have made 120 qualifying monthly payments while working for qualifying employers. The recent change to the program policies came as the Biden administration attempts to address the longtime criticism of the confusing PSLF. Before the temporary measure, basic requirements were regarding the type of loans, employment, and the number of qualifying payments. Of those, the change is primarily focused on the type of student loans; while only federal direct loans were previously eligible to be canceled, any federal student loans, including Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), are eligible to be canceled until this October, as long as the borrower has been working full time for a qualifying employer.

In 2020, only 1.96 percent of PSLF applications were considered eligible by the servicer. With the temporary waiver, however, an unprecedented number of borrowers are expected to receive debt relief. Data tables are in chronological order. Source: Federal Student Aid PSLF Data

It may be true that the temporary measure on the program would not affect as many Americans as Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, universally canceling $10,000 per borrower for nearly 46 million people. However, considering that only 45,730 borrowers out of 2,338,307 PSLF applications were deemed eligible by the servicer in 2020, the department’s estimation of more than 100,000 eligible people for loan forgiveness this year signals a significant impact the temporary change will bring to those who chose public interest jobs relying on PSLF. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said, "The PSLF announcement made today means more of our dedicated teachers, nurses, first responders, service members, and many other public service workers will get meaningful relief." Though many borrowers do not have to take any steps to be considered under the temporarily changed PSLF policy, the department strongly recommends borrowers check if any of their loans fall under a list of older loan programs that must be consolidated into the Direct Loan program. Namely, Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans, Federal Perkins Loans, Federally Insured Student Loans (FISL), and National Defense Student Loans (NDSL) are listed as examples. Furthermore, those who wish to have their debt canceled under the temporary waiver must also file a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification and Application to have any past periods of repayment credited toward the program. All of the above changes must be made by October 31, 2022. Meanwhile, the Department of Education announced on April 6 that it will once again extend the pause on student loan payments through the end of this August. Federal student loan borrowers have been exempted to make monthly payments since March 2020, following the devastating effect of the pandemic on the global and national economy. President Biden has delayed loan payments four times since he was sworn into the Oval office. As the infection numbers in the U.S. are slowly increasing again with a tragic record of more than a million Covid deaths in the country alone, the administration may decide to postpone another pause on loan payments before September comes. The current administration has not progressed much on delivering Biden’s campaign promise to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower. Instead, it has taken actions to fix and update existing forgiveness programs such as PSLF and Borrower Defense Loan Discharge — a relief program for victims of for-profit college fraud. As of late April, the Biden administration has canceled more than $17 billion in student debt.   Read More: Nation Divided Over Biden’s Potential Student Loan Forgiveness Policy

Higher education institutions across the U.S. adopted race-conscious admissions policies to increase diversity for historically disadvantaged minority students in the late 1960s, complying with the government's affirmative action. Since then, however, there have been numerous legal challenges against the policies and affirmative action at large. Most recently in January of this year, the Supreme Court of the United States consolidated two legal cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC). The lawsuits were brought by an anti-race conscious admissions advocacy group, arguing that the institutions' admissions policies have discriminated against Asian American students. The group bases its legal argument on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits any entity that receives federal funds or financial assistance from discriminating or distinguishing among individuals based on race or national origin. The Supreme Court will proceed with initial one-hour oral arguments from participating parties as early as this October, possibly announcing the ruling on the case by the summer of 2023. The fate of affirmative action and race-conscious admissions policies may dramatically change as a result of this lawsuit, for the country now has an unprecedented majority of conservative justices by six to three. Therefore, the time is ripe to revisit the previous Supreme Court cases concerning affirmative action.

History of Legal Challenges

Marco DeFunis v. Charles Odegaard, President of the University of Washington (1974)

The first legal challenge against affirmative action was posed by Marco DeFunis, a white Jewish student, when he was denied admission to the University of Washington School of Law for the second time in 1971. As his GPA and LSAT score were well within the qualified range, he believed that he was not accepted because of the school's suspected racial quota system for its total of 150 admission slots. The state trial court in Washington agreed with the plaintiff that his rights under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment were violated, and DeFunis was admitted to the school for fall 1971. Although the Supreme Court later found the university’s policy to be justifiable, reversing the trial court’s decision, it declined to make a ruling as DeFunis only had a few months left before finishing his legal education.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

[caption id="attachment_2366" align="aligncenter" width="1840"] The Bakke case was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court, upholding affirmative action by allowing race to be one of several factors in college admissions. The court's legal rationale still reverberates in recent legal cases. Photo: Archives of the Bancroft Library, the University of California at Berkeley / Licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0[/caption] Numerous universities in the 1970s adopted a racial quota system to increase the minority population in their student body. Of those schools, the Medical School of the University of California at Davis reserved sixteen slots for URM students out of one hundred for its entering class. Under the newly implemented quota system, Allan Bakke, a white applicant with test scores and GPA well above the average numeric measures of the admitted students, was denied admission for two application cycles in 1973 and 1974. He consequently sued the school in 1977 and reached the Supreme Court in 1978, arguing that the racial quota system violated his constitutional rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a result of the legal dispute, the racial quota system at universities was outlawed. The court stated that the system is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The majority of justices mostly concurred with Justice Lewis F. Powell that there are ways to achieve the representation of minority students other than the racial quota system. Nevertheless, they deemed the colleges’ use of race in the admissions process constitutional, leaving leeway for schools to continue increasing classroom diversity with more minority representation on campus.

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) & Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)

Just as the first legal challenge against affirmative action in higher education, Grutter v. Bollinger was also against a law school brought by a white applicant who was denied admission. Barbara Grutter, a white female applicant to the University of Michigan Law School, filed a lawsuit, accusing the school of using race as a predominant factor in admissions. Similar to precedents, she also based her legal claim on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court eventually upheld the Bakke precedent and stated in the majority decision, “the Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit the Law School’s narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.” However, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in the majority ruling that the race-conscious admissions “will be unnecessary 25 years from now [2003].” On the very same day that the decision on Grutter v. Bollinger came, Gratz v. Bollinger case saw quite a different ruling. Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher, two white applicants who were denied acceptance to the University of Michigan’s undergraduate programs, sued the school for violating the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Specifically, the university’s point system gave 20 points out of 100 points required for admittance to any applicant from an underrepresented minority group. The Supreme Court ruled in favor (6-3) of the plaintiff, judging the point system to be unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the court remained in agreement with the Bakke ruling, allowing higher education institutions to continue taking race into account in the admissions process.

Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (Fisher I 2013 & Fisher II 2016)

[caption id="attachment_2368" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] The Fisher case had a narrow decision by four to three in favor of the University of Texas at Austin. However, the current Supreme Court is considered to be filled with the largest number of conservative-leaning justices by six to three. The future of affirmative action and race-conscious admissions policies is ever uncertain. Photo: Nick Amoscato / Licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption] The two most recent Supreme Court decisions came to be when Abigail Fisher, a white female applicant from the city of Sugar Land in Texas, sued the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in 2008 soon after she was denied admission. The plaintiff alleged that the university’s race-conscious admissions policy violated the equal protection clause, reaching the Supreme Court in 2012. A little over a year later in 2013, the court sent the case back to the court of appeals, ruling (7-1) that the corresponding lower court failed to apply strict scrutiny to UT’s admissions policy of interest. Then, in 2015, the Supreme Court announced that it will rehear the case based on the same legal ground. Finally, in 2016, the court ultimately judged (4-3) UT’s affirmative-action admissions process to be constitutional, meeting the standard of strict scrutiny. However, the decision noted that the institution should regularly evaluate available data and "tailor its approach in light of changing circumstances, ensuring that race plays no greater role than is necessary to meet its compelling interest." During the trials, it was revealed that though Fisher had considerable numeric measures — 3.59 GPA and 1180 out of 1600 SAT score — her credentials did not stand out for the most competitive university in the state. By the time Fisher applied in 2008, 92 percent of UT’s admission spots were filled with applicants who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class, as the school abided by the so-called “Top 10 Percent Law” or formally Texas House Bill 588, which guarantees automatic admission to all state-funded universities for the aforementioned top students. Considering that she did not graduate in the top 10 percent of her class, she would have still had a very slim chance of getting an acceptance even if UT gave admissions to applicants “solely based on their merit” as she hoped in an interview. It was also reported that the majority of accepted students with lower GPA and SAT scores than Fisher were, in fact, white applicants; only 5 students were black or Latino, while 42 were white.   Read More: Race-conscious College Admissions Policies at Risk

The term “affirmative action” in the United States’ education sector, at present, mostly refers to the use of race in the college admissions process to correct inequity in higher education. Specifically, colleges and universities consider the applicant’s race in the admissions, giving underrepresented minority (URM) students slightly — though some may disagree on the degree of influence — more favorable consideration. Universities initiated race-conscious admissions policies in the late 1960s following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the time of the enactment, Title IV of the act authorized the Attorney General to enforce the desegregation of public school and university systems, while Title VI prohibits any entity that receives federal funds or financial assistance from discriminating or distinguishing among individuals on the basis of race or national origin. Of the two, the latter is currently being used as one of the principal legal grounds by an anti-affirmative group to dismantle race-based admissions policies at Harvard University.

Why Does it Matter Now?

There have been two consecutive years of decline in applicant numbers across the United States since the coronavirus pandemic started in early 2020. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the only nonprofit organization that provides nationwide enrollment and degree records complying with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), reported a 6.6 percent (or 1,025,600 students) decrease in total undergraduate enrollment during two years of the pandemic. However, despite the continuous decrease in college applicant numbers, it is ever more important to discuss affirmative action in higher education, as the nation’s most elite universities — where the debate on affirmative action becomes most fierce — recorded the lowest acceptance rate in their history. Not only did Ivy Lague schools such as Harvard University and Columbia University report 3.19 percent and 3.7 percent of record-low acceptance rates, but other nationally renowned institutions like Rice University and Tuft University also celebrated their lowest acceptance rates of 8.56 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Furthermore, an extensive list of colleges, including all eight Ivy League schools, have extended their decision to stop requiring SAT or ACT scores in their admissions process for the 2022-2023 application cycle. Although most schools still require other exam scores such as AP exams or SAT II subject tests, their decision to forgo standardized test score requirements leaves great room for people to suspect and speculate the degree of impact race has on admissions. Therefore, considering the two aforementioned circumstances in the nation’s higher education, it is reasonable to expect the debate on affirmative action in higher education to only be intensified in the near future, further granting appropriateness to discuss the topic of this article here and now.