Author: Elissa Nadworny

“Black students on our campus are actually showing their faces,” says Zyearre Amoah, who works to recruit students in the Black Honors College at Sacramento State. Andri Tambunan for NPR hide caption toggle caption i Andri Tambunan for NPR Catch up on what you missed with our Education newsletter, sent weekly. When Zyearre Amoah was a student at Sacramento State in 2023, there were times when he felt like the only Black student. “There were African-American students on our campus,” he recalls. But at a sprawling state university with more than 30,000 students, “it just felt like we had to…

Fraternities on Cornell’s campus will not be allowed to host parties or events for the rest of the academic year. Jeongyoon Han for NPR hide caption toggle caption i Jeongyoon Han for NPR Cornell University has banned parties and social events at fraternities for the rest of the school year and will bring sexual assault investigators into its police unit, in response to a former student’s allegation of gang rape in 2024. The changes came on Tuesday as the university said it is committed to addressing a “deeply disturbing” culture of drug and alcohol abuse, and a rise in sexual…

Cornell says it’s making big changes on campus following the allegations of a gang rape, but it remains under fire. The Faculty Senate is now discussing a no-confidence vote of the president. Transcript MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Cornell is banning fraternity parties through the end of the year. That’s one of several changes the university is making to improve campus safety in response to an allegation that a young woman was raped – gang-raped – at a frat house in 2024. The faculty senate is also scheduled to meet later today. On the agenda? Beginning the process of voting no confidence…

The Trump administration is funneling $100 million into educating STEM researchers who are U.S. citizens. The move comes after other changes under Trump have forced cutbacks in university research. Transcript STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: At a summit celebrating science and innovation, President Trump said he wants U.S. citizens to get PhDs in STEM fields. He’s putting $100 million behind that effort.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will always be on top. There’s nobody that can compete with us. Nobody.INSKEEP: Although the administration has also created a lot of uncertainty for PhDs and the research they do. NPR’s Elissa Nadworny is…

A coalition of labor unions and higher-education groups sued the Trump administration to stop a new rule limiting the time foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists can stay in the U.S. Transcript SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST: The Trump administration is being sued by a group of labor unions and higher-education groups that want to stop an immigration rule announced last month. The rule would limit the amount of time foreign students and journalists can stay in the U.S. Students could stay for four years unless they apply and pay for an extension. NPR’s Elissa Nadworny reports.ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: The lawsuit filed…

We take a look at how a range of concerns, from the cost of a college degree to visas for foreign students, affecting colleges and universities at the start of this academic year. Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: High tuition, fear of student debt, increased interest in the trades and changes to student visas. There is a lot going on in the world of higher education as fall classes get underway, and all of that combined with an emerging question – is a college degree even worth it? NPR’s Elissa Nadworny, who covers higher ed, joins us from a college campus…

Catch up on what you missed with our Education newsletter, sent weekly. New visa restrictions could make it harder for international students to study in the U.S., in another example of how the Trump administration’s goals for cutting immigration are at odds with the aims of American higher education. The Department of Homeland Security says it’s cracking down on foreign students who intentionally take a long time to earn their degrees. It’s adding strict time limits to student visas and restricting how international students transfer schools or change their study plans. The rule announced last week could have a big…

July 1 marks the official opening of a program that allows federal dollars to go toward short-term workforce training programs. But so far, just 12 states have created road maps for colleges to apply. Transcript JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: Starting today, a federal program will pay for short-term workforce training. It’s an expansion of the Federal Pell Grant program, which helps low-income students pay for college. But as NPR’s Elissa Nadworny reports, very few existing programs will actually qualify, at least at first.ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: In a night class at St. Paul College in the Twin Cities…MELISSA SIEBENALER: Get in your…

Colby McCaskill (right) is the grand prize winner of the NPR College Podcast Challenge. His entry features his grandparents Kathy and Dick McCaskill (left) and discusses her dementia, something Colby had been scared to confront. Matthew Coughlin for NPR hide caption toggle caption Matthew Coughlin for NPR PENSACOLA, Fla. — At the kitchen table at their rental condo in Florida, Dick and Kathy McCaskill were working on coloring in an elaborate star, one of the few unfinished designs in the adult coloring book they’ve been working on. “We love to do this,” said Kathy, 77, laughing as she picked up…

The top 10 countries that gave contracts and gifts to U.S. colleges and universities as of December 16, 2025. Screenshot by NPR/The U.S. Department of Education hide caption toggle caption Screenshot by NPR/The U.S. Department of Education U.S. colleges received more than 5 billion dollars in reportable foreign gifts and contracts in 2025, according to a new website from the U.S. Education Department. The release is part of a push by the Trump administration to make foreign influence in colleges and universities more transparent. Among the biggest recipients, the data show, are Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute…