parents/guardians

I wish I would have learned about these important financial, legal and medical things in high school! [Christian]

On 04/19/2026, in change, future, health, K-12 related, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, parents/guardians, relationships, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I wish I had learned about the important financial, legal, and medical things (that are covered in the gifted article below) in high school!

How to Help Your Aging Loved Ones Plan for the Future— a gifted article from nytimes.com by Elie Levine
Learn as much as you can about setting up the financial, legal and medical components of late-in-life care — and do it earlier than you might think.

Making end-of-life plans for your loved ones can feel like a burden. It is, almost by definition, complicated, and it might require having difficult conversations and sorting through a seemingly endless stream of forms and terminology. But it’s essential to your family’s well-being — and it’s worth doing earlier than you might think.

The first thing to know: There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to planning. But think of this as a starter kit that covers how to handle your parents’ current or future health challenges, and how they’ll pay for medical care. (Knowing about their medications, current finances and living situation can also help you prepare for an emergency medical situation.) Below are some of the questions to consider and discuss with your loved ones.

More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows [Marcus]

On 04/14/2026, in 21st century, business side of he, change, colleges, faculty/staff, funding / grants, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, parents/guardians, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
As one Vermont college finishes its last semester, an estimated 442 others may be in trouble

A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years.

More than 120 institutions are at the very highest risk, according to the forecast, by Huron Consulting Group, which analyzed enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt, cash on hand and other measures. Many are, like Sterling, small and rural.

“We have too many seats. We have too many classrooms,” said Peter Stokes, a managing director at Huron. “So over the coming five to 10 years, this shakeout is going to take place.”

The Campus Crisis No One’s Talking About — from linkedin.com by Jeff Selingo

Sports Betting Is Now a Campus-Wide Habit

The headline number: About 60% of 18-to-22-year-olds are engaging in sports betting, a figure that climbs to two-thirds among college students specifically, according to an NCAA-commissioned study.

“It’s sort of a learned behavior for them at a very young age,” Clint Hangebrauck, the NCAA’s managing director of enterprise risk management, told us on the latest episode of Future U. “I do think this could be the next big public health crisis that we’re facing as a country and particularly within higher ed.”
College-age individuals are 3x more likely to develop problematic gambling behaviors than the general population. Gambling often co-exists with other behaviors now prevalent in colleges, such as sleeplessness, binge drinking, drug use, anxiety and depression.

Gambling among college students isn’t confined to athletes. Rather, it’s embedded across campus life, and with athletes often most visible in Division III, where oversight is lighter. Gambling often coexists with—and can exacerbate—other student challenges, from mental health struggles to substance use. If this is the next public health issue on campus, it’s arriving without the same level of attention.

From DSC:
I don’t mean to be self-righteous here. But shame on the older adults who are promoting gambling in any fashion — marketing, advertising, sales, and/or whatever. It’s a cancer in our society, and it’s impacting our youth in a big way (and also older folks as well). I’m not a gambler, but I’m well acquainted with weakness. And the Bible confirms that we all are acquainted with weakness:

Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

The adults out there know it. We are well acquainted with our sins and shortcomings.

Parents want the best for their kids. They don’t want dangerous habits being formed in their children. “Coping skills” that are majorly busted, and can lead to incredibly negative events. And the parents don’t want these habits to be formed at colleges and universities across the nation.

I wish those involved with promoting gambling could be at the dinner tables, or in the bedrooms, or in the living rooms, or in the vehicles out there when a spouse finds out that the other spouse (or significant other) has gambled away a significant amount of the couple’s savings. They no longer have rainy-day funds. They can no longer pay their bills. They no longer have the college funds for their other kids. Emotions erupt, fights begin. Relationships are threatened — and divorces sometimes occur because of this issue/habit.

So if you are involved with promoting gambling, consider reading this article from Jeff Selingo…then go take a long look in the mirror.

Hidden in Plain Sight: How Microschools Can Unlock the Power of Public Libraries [Blassingame & Flynn]

On 03/25/2026, in education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, parents/guardians, society, student-related, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Hidden in Plain Sight: How Microschools Can Unlock the Power of Public Libraries — from microschoolingcenter.org by Tiffany Blassingame & Erin Flynn

The Library as a Learning Campus
Many microschool founders are wrestling with the same core challenge: how do you provide students with enriching, hands-on experiences when you’re working with a small team and a lean budget? Erin’s answer is deceptively simple — walk through the library’s front door.

Modern public libraries are far more than book repositories. Most educators walk past an entire ecosystem of free resources without realizing what’s available. Need printing, computers, or digital tools? Libraries offer them at little or no cost. Looking for hands-on science programming? Many branches host makerspaces and science stations built for exactly that kind of exploration. Need a space to hold a small class, workshop, or seminar? Bookable collaboration rooms are often just a phone call away.

Beyond the physical infrastructure, libraries frequently offer life skills programming — resume writing, financial literacy, job readiness — that can support the families surrounding a microschool, not just its students. And in some branches, social workers are embedded on site, providing the kind of wraparound support that few microschools could ever access on their own.

Libraries are also deeply invested in expanding their community reach. A microschool brings exactly the kind of engaged, mission-driven partnership that many branches are actively seeking. The relationship benefits both sides from day one.

Meta, YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction trial — from by Ian Duncan
A Los Angeles jury awarded $3 million in compensation to a young woman who alleged she had become addicted to the platforms as a child.

A Los Angeles jury found social media giant Meta and video platform YouTube negligent in a landmark trial, awarding $3 million in compensation to a young woman who alleged she had become addicted to the companies’ platforms as a child.

The verdict came at the end of a month-long trial that featured testimony by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a day after a jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million in penalties for endangering children. The twin verdicts are signs that legal protections which for decades made tech companies seem almost impervious are beginning to crack, as lawyers accuse the platforms of putting addictive or otherwise harmful features into their platforms.

With the armor of Silicon Valley companies fractured, they will now have to size up their appetite for future courtroom battles. There are thousands more lawsuits waiting to be heard, with young internet users, parents, school districts and state attorneys general all seeking to hold the industry accountable.

Are we not shooting ourselves in the foot with AI and recent college graduates? [Christian]

On 03/24/2026, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), intelligent systems, internships, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, marketplaces, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, reinvent, skills, society, sociology, strategy, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vocational / trades, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The types of postings/articles (such as the one below) make me ask, are we not shooting ourselves in the foot with AI and recent college graduates? If the bottom rungs continue to disappear, internships and apprenticeships can only go so far. There aren’t enough of them — especially valuable ones. So as this article points out, there will be threats to the long-term health of our talent pipelines unless we can take steps to thwart those impacts — and to do so fairly soon.

To me…vocational training and jobs are looking better all the time — i.e., plumbers, carpenters, electricians, mechanics, and more.

Can New Graduates Compete With AI? — from builtin.combyRichard Johnson
The increasing adoption of AI automation is compressing early-career jobs. How should new graduates get a foothold in the economy now?

Summary: AI is hollowing out entry-level roles by automating routine tasks, eliminating a rung on the career ladder. New graduates face intense competition and a rising skill floor. While firms gain short-term productivity, they risk a long-term talent shortage by eliminating junior training grounds.

Conversations about AI have covered all grounds: hype, fear and slop. But while some roll their eyes at yet another automation headline, soon?to?be graduates are watching the labor market with a very different level of urgency. They’re entering a world where the old paradox of needing experience to get experience is colliding with a new reality: AI is absorbing the standardized, routine tasks that once defined entry?level work. The result isn’t just a shift in job descriptions or skill-requirements, but rather a structural reshaping of the career pipeline.

Entry-level workers face an outsized disruption to their long-term career trajectories. They have the least buffer to adapt given their lack of relevant job market experience and heightened financial pressure to secure a job quickly with the student-debt repayment periods for recent graduates looming.

Momentum early in one’s career matters, and the first job on a resume shapes future compensation bands and opportunities. It also serves as a signal for perceived specialization or, at minimum, interest. Losing that foothold has compounding effects to one’s career ladder.

Also relevant/see:

New Anthropic Institute to Study Risks and Economic Effects of Advanced AI — from campustechnology.com by John K. Waters

Key Takeaways

Anthropic has launched the Anthropic Institute, a new research effort focused on the biggest societal challenges posed by more powerful AI systems.
The institute will study how advanced AI could affect the economy, the legal system, public safety, and broader social outcomes.
Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark will lead the institute in a new role as the company’s head of public benefit.
The new unit brings together Anthropic’s existing red-teaming, societal impacts, and economic research work, while adding new hires and new research areas.

The Surprising Power Of A Degreeless Career [Perna]

On 03/19/2026, in apprenticeships, career development, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, higher education, internships, parents/guardians, real-world assignments, skills, student-related, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The Surprising Power Of A Degreeless Career — from forbes.com by Mark C. Perna
Fueled by ballooning tuition and disillusionment with higher education, degreeless careers are on the rise. Here’s how to thrive in today’s workplace without a college degree.

“We are beginning to break down the national narrative that you have to go to college to get a ‘good job’,” says Kathleen deLaski, author of “Who Needs College Anymore?” and founder and chairman of The Education Design Lab. “The fastest growing form of college enrollment is actually short term certificates and certifications at community colleges, rather than degrees.”

But the real dealbreaker is the fast-rising cost of college, especially for the debt-averse Generation Z. “Most folks know someone who is saddled by student debt,” says deLaski. “So they have more of a ‘buyer-beware’ view when considering a four year degree.”

This presents a challenge especially to younger workers, who simply haven’t had the time yet to gain that experience. It’s a catch-22: to land the entry-level job, you must have experience, but to gain that experience, you have to have that entry-level job.

The answer is to expand our definition of work experience. It doesn’t have to be gained in the exact field where you want to be hired, nor does it strictly have to be in an employment setting. “Earning certifications, doing internships and apprenticeships, even volunteering, and leading a team or a project really add authenticity to your resume,” says deLaski.

In other words, work skills gained via personal experience are usually highly transferable to other industries. Work, learning and volunteer experience of any kind—if you can make the case for its relevance—is the new litmus test.

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years [Marcus]

On 03/18/2026, in 21st century, change, changing business models, colleges, cost of getting a degree, higher education, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Needing to fill seats and facing demands for faster routes to jobs, more colleges are shortening degree programs

That’s an option being made available by colleges and universities with astonishing speed — especially in the notoriously slow-moving world of higher education: an entirely new kind of bachelor’s degree muscling into the space between the traditional four-year version and the two-year associate degree. Three-year degrees have existed, but they simply jammed those 120 credits into fewer semesters.

At least one school, Ensign College in Utah, will convert all of its bachelor’s degrees into the new, reduced-credit, three-year kind, it announced in February. Nearly 60 other universities and colleges are planning, considering or have already launched them in some disciplines. States including Indiana have required or are considering requiring their public universities to add reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees. Even graduate and professional schools are being pressed to shorten the duration of degrees.

Even more than employers, consumers have lost patience with the time and expense it takes to get a four-year bachelor’s degree, according to the advocates and politicians pushing schools to offer them. More than half of students who start down the conventional four-year path today take even longer than four years, according to the Department of Education.

Also from Jon Marcus, see:

Behind ideological attacks on higher ed, surprising bipartisan reforms are happening— from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Long sought by both the right and left, some changes could protect consumers and lower costs

Americans’ retirement accounts – and hardship withdrawals – hit new highs. Here’s what to know [Feingold]

On 03/17/2026, in business, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, economics, education, funding / grants, future, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, parents/guardians, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Americans’ retirement accounts – and hardship withdrawals – hit new highs. Here’s what to know — from weforum.org by Spencer Feingold

Last year, US retirement account balances rose at double-digit rates, driven by strong market performance and steady contributions.
At the same time, hardship withdrawals increased, highlighting growing short-term financial stress.
The trend underscores the importance of financial education and resilience to support long-term retirement security.

From DSC:
I’m hoping that we are doing a better job in the United States on educating our youth on investing, saving, and developing better legal knowledge (i.e., the need for wills, estate planning, trusts, etc.).

Are microschools a solution to falling public school enrollment? One district thinks so [Fradette]

On 03/03/2026, in curriculum, education, education reform, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, parents/guardians, student-related, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Are microschools a solution to falling public school enrollment? One district thinks so — from hechingerreport.org by Rachel Fradette
In Indiana, a rural school district leader started a network of microschools to help keep students in his schools. The model could spread

Around the same time, the concept of microschooling was gaining traction nationally. Microschools offer multiage learning environments that focus on personalized, often less-regulated instruction. Popularity grew during the pandemic when families sought learning alternatives in online, hybrid and pod options; an estimated 750,000 to 2 million students now attend the schools.

The schools are typically privately run, but Philhower saw a role for them in his small district. Last year, he won approval from the state’s charter school board to establish the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, which he says will incubate a network of microschools statewide. They will operate as charter schools, meaning they are public but have more flexibility in terms of curricula and other operations than traditional public schools.

Funding cuts, shifts in aid could make college harder to afford for low-income families [Marcus]

On 02/11/2026, in business side of he, colleges, cost of getting a degree, faculty/staff, higher education, leadership, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, participation, society, sociology, student-related, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Funding cuts, shifts in aid could make college harder to afford for low-income families — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Advocates worry that the promise of a higher education will soon drift further out of reach

Now TRIO has come under the scrutiny of the Trump administration, which has already moved to cancel TRIO funding for some participating colleges (though this was paused in January by a federal court and remains in litigation) and proposes to eliminate it altogether; letters from the Department of Education to those colleges show the money was cut off because the programs were considered part of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.

At a time of rising income inequality, it’s one of several developments advocates worry are converging to make things even harder for lower-income Americans who want to go to and get through college — a group that already faces considerable challenges, and whose proportion of enrollment has been falling for a decade and a half.

From Stephanie T.’s posting out on LinkedIn

The lesson isn’t to make school reports more like Spotify Wrapped.

It’s to design reports that are accessible, timely, and readable — without losing the humanity that makes teacher insight meaningful.

If a report is too difficult to access, or arrives too late to matter, who is it really for?

So, You Want to Open a Microschool — from educationnext.org by Kerry McDonald
For aspiring founders who have the will but lack the way to launch their schools, startup partners are there to help

In recent years, microschools—small, highly individualized, flexible learning models—have become a popular education option, now serving at least 750,000 U.S. schoolchildren. More than half of microschools nationwide operate as homeschooling centers, while 30 percent function as private schools, 5 percent are public charters, and the rest fit into unique, often overlapping categories, according to a 2025 sector analysis by the National Microschooling Center. While many founders achieve success on their own, joining an accelerator or network can offer the business coaching and community connection that make the inevitable challenges of entrepreneurship more manageable. Van Camp decided to join KaiPod Catalyst, a microschool accelerator program from KaiPod Learning.

I feature six of these microschool accelerators and networks in my new book, Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling. Some of them have been around for years, but they have attracted rising interest since 2020 as more parents and teachers consider starting schools. These programs vary widely in the startup services and supports they offer, but they share a commitment to building relationships among founders and facilitating the ongoing success of today’s creative schooling options.

MICROSCHOOL REPORT
A small shift with an outsized impact in K-12 education— from gettingsmart.com by Getting Smart

High quality, personalized instruction in an intimate setting that focuses on the whole child is growing in popularity—and it looks very different from traditional models both past and present. What may seem like a throwback to the pioneers’ one-room schoolhouse actually speaks volumes about what we as a society have outgrown.

What began as a response to a global crisis has led to a watershed moment.

Yet to categorize microschools simply as “pandemic pods” or private schools with a low headcount largely misses the mark. They are perhaps best described as intentionally-designed small learning environments that are bucking two centuries of inertia and industrial-era constraints.

Microschools are providing educators with an entrepreneurial opportunity that was unthinkable just a couple of decades ago, in tandem with the ability to deliver high student and family satisfaction. And they’re doing it by prioritizing learner agency, personalization, and mastery over compliance and standardization.

However, for microschools to truly scale and impact equitable outcomes, the K-12 sector must address critical policy challenges related to access, accountability and regulatory restrictions.

The following key findings from deeply researched case studies and strategic guides published by the Getting Smart team are intended to provide a comprehensive overview on the microschool movement. Each section offers an opportunity to dive deeper into resources on specific, timely topics.

Speaking of education reform and alternatives, also see:

Driving systems transformation for 21st-century educators, learners, and workers. — from jff.org

Today’s education ecosystem must meet the needs of today’s learners. This means learner-centered outcomes, pathways between education and careers, and policies and practices that support both degree and non-degree programs.

Jobs for the Future’s Education practice works to support systems change in the education ecosystem, influence policies that promote diverse pathways, and identify and apply data-informed, learner-centered solutions.

Higher education faces ‘deteriorating’ 2026 outlook, Fitch says — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
A shrinking pipeline of students, uncertainty about state and federal support, and rising expenses could all hurt college finances, according to analysts.

Dive Brief:

Fitch Ratings on Thursday issued a “deteriorating” outlook for the higher education sector in 2026, continuing the gloomy prediction the agency issued for 2025.
Analysts based their forecast on a shrinking prospective student base, “rising uncertainty related to state and federal support, continued expense escalation and shifting economic conditions.”
With its report, Fitch joins Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings in predicting a grim year for higher ed — Moody’s for the sector overall and S&P for nonprofit colleges specifically.

Yale expects layoffs as leaders brace for $300M in endowment taxes — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee
The Ivy League institution’s tax bill starting next year will be higher than what it spends on student aid, university officials said.

Dive Brief:

Yale University is bracing for layoffs as it prepares to pay the government hundreds of millions of dollars in endowment income taxes.
In a public message, senior leaders at the Ivy League institution said that Yale’s schools plan to take steps such as delaying hiring and reducing travel spending to save money. But they warned workforce cuts were on the horizon.
“Layoffs may be necessary” in some units where cutting open positions and other reductions are insufficient, the university officials said. They expect to complete any downsizing by the end of 2026 barring “additional significant financial changes.”

Education Department adds ‘lower earnings’ warning to FAFSA — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
The agency will warn students when they’ve indicated interest in a college whose graduates have relatively low incomes.

The U.S. Department of Education has launched a new disclosure feature that warns students who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid if they’re interested in colleges whose graduates have relatively low earnings, the agency said Monday.

“Families deserve a clearer picture of how postsecondary education connects to real-world earnings, and this new indicator will provide that transparency,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a Monday statement. “Not only will this new FAFSA feature make public earnings data more accessible, but it will empower prospective students to make data-driven decisions before they are saddled with debt.”

Also from highereddive.com, see:

College costs grew 3.6% in fiscal 2025, HEPI shows
Faculty salaries rose 4.3%, the highest recorded rate since the Higher Education Price Index began in 1998.
Martin University to ‘pause’ operations at the end of the month
The board of the private Indianapolis university is working to find a path toward economic viability, it said in a Tuesday press release.
Willamette University and Pacific University seek to merge
The two private nonprofits in Oregon said Thursday that they intend to create “the University of the Northwest,” with one state official voicing support.
University of Nebraska regents approve cutting 4 programs at flagship
The university’s governing board voted in favor of the plan despite sustained faculty objections over the eliminations and the process for determining them.

Fresh Off the Press: Parents’ Guide to Microschools — from gettingsmart.com

We’re excited to announce and share our new Parents Guide to Microschools, a clear and approachable introduction to one of the fastest growing learning models in the country. The guide unpacks what microschools are, how they work and why families are increasingly drawn to intimate, relationship centered environments. It highlights features like flexible schedules, small cohorts, personalized pathways and hands-on learning so parents can picture what these settings actually look and feel like.

It also equips families with practical tools to navigate the decision making process: key questions to ask during visits, indicators of strong culture and instruction, considerations around cost and accreditation and how to assess overall fit for each learner. Whether parents are simply curious or actively exploring new options, this guide offers clarity, confidence and a starting point for imagining what learning could look like next.

Learning Ecosystems

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years [Marcus]

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