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The Costs Students Don’t See Coming—and Why They Matter

Inside Higher Ed

Colleen Flaherty
October 7, 2025
New Student Voice data offers insight into students’ financial vulnerability and their grasp of cost of attendance amid a broader push for cost transparency.
Students link trust in higher education to affordability and financial stress to their academic performance. A new round of results from Inside Higher Ed’s Student Voice survey series, out today, delves deeper into the connection between students’ finances and their success. One key finding: Most students report some level of surprise with the full cost of attending college, including but not limited to tuition and other directly billable expenses. At least a quarter of students have trouble budgeting as a result.
In another set of findings, 36 percent of students say that an unexpected expense of $1,000, or even less (see breakdown below), could threaten their ability to stay enrolled. Another 22 percent say the same of an expense between $1,001 and $2,500. This is the kind of need that many emergency aid programs are designed for, but 64 percent of respondents don’t even know if their institution offers such assistance.

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ED Pushes Workforce Readiness as a Priority

Inside Higher Ed

Sara Weissman
October 6, 2025
Workforce development advocates are excited to see the Education Department name workforce readiness as a potential grant priority—but they have questions.
The U.S. Department of Education is doubling down on its emphasis on workforce development. Education Secretary Linda McMahon recently proposed adding career pathways and workforce readiness to her list of priorities for discretionary grant funding, possibly guiding how the department spends billions of dollars.
“After four years of the Biden Administration pedaling [sic] divisive ideology and racial preferencing, the Trump Administration will prioritize discretionary grants to education programs that actually improve student outcomes by using evidence-based strategies for instruction and creating pathways to high-demand fields,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement late last month. “The department looks forward to empowering states to close achievement gaps and align education with the evolving needs of the workforce.”

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Accreditors Encourage AI Use to Boost Credit Transfer Process

Inside Higher Ed

Kathryn Palmer
October 6, 2025
More than half of those who seek to transfer credit report losing credits, which is a major barrier to degree completion. But AI can help streamline the process and reduce credit loss.
A group of college accreditors is backing the use of artificial intelligence to reduce credit loss during transfer, which is a major barrier to completion for many of the 43 million people across the nation with some college credit but no degree.
“Current approaches frequently result in delays in students receiving necessary information about how their credits will transfer, the need to retake courses, and other negative consequences for students,” said a statement the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions released Monday. “Technological advances, such as AI, can help institutions improve this process.”
Although the statement from CRAC, which represents seven accrediting agencies that oversee 3,000 total degree-granting institutions, isn’t a mandate, the council hopes it will send a message to colleges and universities that leveraging AI to expand course equivalencies doesn’t conflict with accreditation standards.

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Federal judge dismisses legal challenge to gainful employment rule

Higher Ed Dive 

Natalie Schwartz
October 3, 2025
Although the Biden-era rule survived litigation, the Trump administration is considering making changes to the regulations.
Dive Brief: 
A federal judge dismissed a case Thursday that challenged the legality of the Biden administration’s gainful employment rule, which aims to ensure that graduates of career education programs earn enough to pay off their student loan debt.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Conner — a George W. Bush appointee — rejected arguments from cosmetology school groups that the gainful employment rule overstepped the U.S. Department of Education’s authority and violated their constitutional rights.
Although the Biden-era rule survived the legal challenge, the Trump administration is considering potential changes to the gainful employment regulations in the coming months.

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