Analysis: College degrees remain good investments, but universities need to foster job preparedness and creativity

On average, college graduates earn $30,000 more salary per year than
high school graduates. (Getty Images photo via The Conversation CC)

Even as more Americans believe that earning a college degree isn't worth the time and expense, research shows that college degrees still offer multiple benefits, including higher lifetime earnings and greater job security.

In her newly released book, Invent Ed, professor and global strategist, Caroline Field Levander argues that "people have lost sight of two factors that made universities great to begin with: invention and creativity," writes Amy Lieberman, an education editor, at The Conversation U.S.

Lieberman asked Levander to share her breakdown on why graduating from an American college or university still benefits degree earners throughout their lifetime. An edited version of Lieberman's Q & A with Levander is shared below.

Lieberman: How can we measure the value of a college degree?
Levander: The average high school graduate over a 40-year career earns $1.6 million, according to 2021 findings by Georgetown University. The average college graduate earns $2.8 million over this same 40-year period. That $1.2 million difference amounts to around $30,000 more salary per year.

Levander points out that U.S. college graduates tend to remain employed and replace a lost job more quickly than high school graduates. "The unemployment rate for people with a high school degree was 4.2% in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By contrast, 2.5% of people with a bachelor’s degree and 2.2% of people with a master’s degree were unemployed in 2024."

Lieberman: Do any of these benefits extend beyond individual students?
Levander: Colleges and universities are major employers in their communities – and not just professors and administrators. Higher education institutions employ every trade and kind of worker.

Lieberman: Some people are questioning the value of a degree. What role can universities play in reassuring them of their relevance?
Levander: I believe universities need to teach something else [beyond job force preparation] that is equally valuable: They also need to build creative capacity and an inventive mindset into undergraduate education, as a fundamental return on the investment in education. . . . Employers report that creativity is the top job skill needed today."

Lieberman: What can faculty and students easily do to encourage creativity and innovation?
Levander: Professors can build what I call a 'growth mindset' in the classroom by focusing on success over time, rather than the quick correct answer. . . . Students could also consider committing to trying new courses in areas where they haven’t already been successful. They could approach their college experience with the idea that grades aren’t the only marker of success.

University extension services could help balance rural and urban priorities, but schools have been slow to expand

Expanding university extension services could help balance
rural and urban opportunities. (Photo via the Yonder)

When universities keep extension services limited to agricultural outreach, they miss opportunities to balance their educational mission to serve urban and rural populations equally.

An Ohio State University study completed in 2021 and repeated with roughly the same 400 respondents in 2025, asked respondents if universities should favor urban or rural residents. In 2021, 70% of respondents "answered that 'there should be no difference between how rural and urban communities are prioritized,'" reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder. In 2025, 83% of participants said both populations should receive an equal focus.

"Nearly all of the respondents who wanted a balanced approach still held that stance four years later — meaning that most of the shift came from people who previously felt universities should favor one geographic region over the other," Fouriezo explains. Researchers believe the increase in respondents who support an equal division of university resources "underscores that universities aren’t structured to deliver the balance that the public wants."

Stephen Gavazzi, whose team conducted the survey, told Fouriezo, "It’s so easy to look at the university structure and realize: We’re not set up for that."

Extension services are the primary tool many universities use to reach rural populations. Fouriezo writes, "When extension programs only focus on agriculture, rural communities miss out on everything else the university offers — from business development to social work to engineering."

While some states have moved their extension offerings out of agricultural colleges, others are reluctant to make the change. Fouriezos explains, "Switching would require universities to admit their current structure doesn’t match their mission, or what the public expects from them."

When university administrations limit extensions to their agricultural college, they leave all their other colleges behind, which limits learning choices for rural residents. Fouriezos reports, "That narrow ag-centered focus doesn’t reflect the current diversity of rural towns and their communities, which have become important hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship."

A new proposal to cut down on medical research costs could lead to less medical research

Less funding could lead to less
medical research. (CDC photo)

The Trump Administration proposed to reduce the size of medical research grants conducted by institutions, including hospitals and state universities.

If it goes through, indirect medical research funds would be reduced to a set 15%. However, the proposal has been “put on hold by a federal court,” according to an article by Emily Badger, Aatish Bhatia, Irineo Cabreros, Eli Murray, Francesca Paris, Margot Sanger-Katz and Ethan Singer at The New York Times.

The Times reported that in 2024, $32 billion was spent on medical research, with $23 billion having gone toward direct costs and the remaining $9 billion toward indirect costs. These indirect costs include laboratory upkeep, access to hazardous materials disposal, utility bills and administrative staff. The term itself isn’t very descriptive, but recipients say the costs are necessary for research operations.

A set 15% for the indirect costs would reduce overall funding by $4 billion to $5 billion a year according to the Times. The Times reports, “The White House said the savings would be reinvested in more research, but the rate cuts would open up sizable budget holes in most projects at research institutions.”

Heather Pierce, senior director for science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges, told the Times, “‘A slash this drastic in total research funding slows research’… And slower scientific progress, she said, would affect anyone who depends on the development of new treatments, medical interventions and diagnostic tools.”

Top U.S. colleges are trying harder to recruit and retain rural students; admission offers rose by 12.9% over last year

The STARS College Network works to help rural students get into
selective colleges and succeed as undergraduate students. (Adobe Stock photo)

Rural students often graduate from high school with better grades and test scores than their suburban and urban counterparts, but that rarely leads to them graduating from top U.S. college programs. To address this disparity, the STARS College Network has been working to engage and support rural undergraduates "to feel more at home at selective colleges," reports Rebecca Koenig of EdSurge. 

The STARS program brought together "16 public and private institutions committed to improving their efforts at attracting and retaining students who grew up in rural communities," Koenig writes. "Programs at member colleges include hosting summer learning opportunities and on-campus recruitment events for high schoolers and sending more admissions staff out to high schools in small towns."

The network began in 2023 and has flourished. "The consortium announced that it is doubling its membership — to include 32 colleges and universities," Koenig explains. "This growing interest is a recognition of the fact that although federal data shows 90 percent of students from rural regions graduate from high school, only about half go directly to college."

During middle school and high school, many rural students are less likely to be exposed to higher education opportunities. Historically, more selective colleges did not actively recruit in smaller communities. "Students at rural high schools may lack access to adequate counseling about college options and financial aid," Koenig reports. "Or they may not be offered classes that selective institutions look for among applicants, such as calculus."

Rigorous recruitment efforts by STARS College Network schools created a substantial increase in college offers to rural students. Koenig adds, "STARS schools extended more than 11,000 offers of admission to the Class of 2028, which was a 12.9% increase over the number of admissions offers made to rural students in their applicant pools last year."

STARS colleges see rural student retention as equally important to admission. Each school has a structure designed to help rural students transition to bigger city and school life. Avery Simpson is a STARS mentor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She told Koenig: “Coming from a rural community, sometimes we forget we’re capable of doing what other people can do. . . . I can see the impact I’m making on these students, and I can see myself in these students.”

To view the STARS College Network list of participating institutions, click here.

Some colleges offer a 3-year bachelor's degrees to address student expenses and lower enrollment numbers

Colleges are piloting 3-year degree programs in
several states. (Adobe Stock photo)

Amid decreasing enrollment and increasing student costs, some colleges are offering three-year degrees as a solution. "The programs, which also are being tried at some private schools, would require 90 credits instead of the traditional 120 for a bachelor's degree and wouldn't require summer classes or studying over breaks. In some cases, the degrees would be designed to fit industry needs," reports Elaine S. Povich of Stateline. "Proponents of the three-year degree programs say they save students money and set them on a faster track to their working life. But detractors, including some faculty, say they shortchange students."

Utah is one state where the board of higher education approved the 3-year degree. "Various areas of study would be tied to specific industry needs, with fewer electives required," Povich explains. "These degrees are broader than two-year associate degrees but narrower than a full four-year bachelor's."

Geoff Landward, commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, told Povich, "We told the institutions to start working on them now and developing the curriculum. We want them to find industry partners that would be willing to hire people with bachelor's degrees of this type. . . . If we are partnering with industry and they help us develop it, I don't think it cheapens the degree. I think it creates a very specific degree."

The new three-year degree programs requiring fewer credits would still need national accreditation.

Changing social views on the importance of a college degree are some of the reasons colleges are getting creative. "A Pew Research Center survey found only 1 in 4 American adults said it is extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree to get a good-paying job," Povich reports. "More than a dozen public and private universities are participating in a pilot collaboration called the College-in-3 Exchange to begin considering how they could offer three-year programs." 

Student journalists get on-the-ground training at campus protests; some were beaten and threatened with arrests

Student journalist face tough crowds and strict policing
while reporting on campus protests. (Adobe Stock photo)

Amid angry crowds of their peers and responding law enforcement, student journalists are tasked with reporting on campus protests, leaving them in an uncomfortable fray where safety isn't guaranteed. "They're immersed in the story in ways journalists for major media organizations often can't be," report David Bauder and Christine Fernando of The Associated Press. "They face dual challenges — as members of the media and students at the institutions they are covering."

Even as the crisis heated up, student journalists worked to report on it -- even when their efforts were thwarted. AP reports, ". . . a student-run radio station broadcast live as police cleared a building taken by protesters on the Columbia University campus, while other student journalists were confined to dorms and threatened with arrests."

Some student reporters learned first-hand how dangerous angry crowds can become. Bauder and Fernando report, "Ordered by police to leave the scene of a UCLA campus protest after violence broke out, Catherine Hamilton and three colleagues from the Daily Bruin suddenly found themselves surrounded by demonstrators who beat, kicked and sprayed them with a noxious chemical."

Despite the attack, Hamilton, 21, remains adamant that she will continue to report on the protests. She told AP: “While it was terrifying. . . the experience confirmed for me the importance of student journalists because we know our campus better than any outside reporter would. It has not deterred me from wanting to continue this coverage.”

Chris Mandell, a student journalist at Columbia University, was covering the story, but his reporting was stymied by law enforcement. "Even though he wore a badge identifying him as a member of the press, police ordered him and other reporters for the Columbia Daily Spectator into a dormitory," AP reports. "When he tried to open the door, Mandell said he was told he’d be arrested if he did it again."

For young journalists, this is a rough training ground. "Students [face] grappling with complicated editorial decisions for some of the first times in their careers," write Bauder and Fernando. "They confront the awkwardness of reporting on their peers and the challenge not to get swept up in emotion."

Josie Stewart, managing editor for content at Ohio State’s Lantern, told AP: "Every journalist has to balance ethical concerns, but it is more difficult when you’re staring someone in the face in class.”

Here are some of the student publications covering the protests as referenced by AP:

• Columbia University’s Daily Columbia Spectator
• Northeastern University’s Huntington Daily News
• Ohio State University’s The Lantern
• UCLA’s Daily Bruin
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Daily Tar Heel

Many graduating high school students are considering alternatives to college for job training

Some students seek to avoid college because of cost vs.
labor mismatches. (Photo by Nathan Dumloa, Unsplash)

For three generations, going to college and earning a 4-year degree was the coveted path to a rewarding career with a higher income. But the American belief in the "college for all model" has changed, writes Douglas Belkin in an essay for The Wall Street Journal. "So how did one of the crown jewels of American society squander so much confidence so quickly?"

It began with federal student loans to almost any 18-year-old high school graduate, which had a seismic change on higher education enrollment. "Cash and prestige saturated college campuses while alternatives like vocational and technical schools withered," Belkin explains. "Between 1965 and 2011, university enrollment increased nearly fourfold to 21 million as the earning differential between high school and college graduates expanded."

"For middle-class Americans, college made sense as long as a degree generated a large enough wage premium to make the rising cost of the investment worthwhile," Belvin writes. "As that premium became less consistent, the risks of going to college grew and confidence in college as an institution declined."

A college education "is among the largest investments most Americans will make," Belkin adds. The "math doesn't work for a growing number of families. The percentage of students who enrolled in college after graduating high school fell from 70% in 2016 to 62% in 2022. . . . A poll published in 2022 asked parents if they would rather their child attend a four-year college or a three-year apprenticeship that would train them for a job and pay them while they learned. Nearly half of parents whose child had graduated from college chose the apprenticeship."

Changes are also showing up in the workplace. Belkin writes: "In what has been called the 'degree reset,' the federal government and several states eliminated the degree requirements for many government jobs."

Opinion: West Virginia University 'faculty are stretched so thin that no one could offer a class on Shakespeare'

(Photo by Chase Barnes, The Atlantic)

As West Virginia University administrators continue to cut classes and degree programs that carve out the humanities, writer Michael Powell asks in his opinion for The Atlantic, "Do West Virginia kids of modest means deserve the humanities?" Below is a condensed version of his thoughts.

"For too long, President E. Gordon Gee of West Virginia University told anyone who would listen that public universities had tried to be everything to everyone and keep up with elite private colleges. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down American universities in 2020, Gee embraced its disruptions as a gift. He began rolling out his own plan. . . . He spoke of investing in medical, nursing, cybersecurity, and business degrees to serve a working-class state with an aging population plagued by disease and drug abuse. . . . Gee terminated more than two dozen majors and cut professors in other programs in areas as varied as foreign languages, public health, jazz studies, and community planning.

"Some cuts were truly baffling, given his insistence on WVU’s obligation to strengthen the state. The university decided to stop granting graduate degrees in environmental health sciences, education administration, and math. Many of WVU’s 27,000 students protested that this wasn’t what they wanted. The faculty cast an overwhelming no-confidence vote in the president, to zero effect. More than 140 professors will soon be without jobs.

"For most students, their state’s main public university remains their best hope of breaching the walls of class difference. As the ax falls, that idealistic mission fades, and inequalities widen. A student at Cornell University, for example, has a buffet of choices, including more than four dozen languages as varied as Sinhala, Old Norse, Farsi, Khmer, and ancient Greek. By contrast, a student at West Virginia University will soon have just four choices—Chinese, Arabic, French, and Spanish—and there will not be enough instructors for students to major in any of them.

"The budget for the school library was cut by $800,000 in recent months, and administrators laid off employees and have suspended ordering new books. Liberal-arts departments cannot afford to fix photocopiers. English faculty are stretched so thin that no one could offer a class on Shakespeare."

Humanities are getting cut from public university offerings, and rural areas can be affected more than others

WVU student poster protesting the cuts.
(Photo by Elaine S. Povich, Stateline)

English, history, philosophy, political science, economics, sociology and Spanish are just some of the subjects on public university chopping blocks, most of whom see the cuts as necessary to meet budget shortfalls and respond to a labor market that does not stress the humanities, reports Elaine S. Povich of Stateline. "Reductions are expected to grow across the country, particularly in rural areas where campus budgets are lower, enrollments are more likely to be falling, and where the pressure for career-oriented majors may be greater. But critics argue that such changes in emphasis will sap states of intellectual firepower, leaving them with fewer leaders and citizens who are well-rounded."

"Humanities courses such as languages, history, arts and literature are particularly vulnerable nationwide. Schools are more inclined to emphasize business, science, math and technology studies, which could lead to more high-paying jobs," Povich explains. "State budget reductions and schools' funding shortfalls also have contributed to cuts, particularly in rural states. State spending on higher education fell in 16 of the 20 most rural states between 2008 and 2018, when adjusted for inflation, according to a Hechinger Report analysis of data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and policy institute that advocates for left-leaning tax policies."

While statistics show fewer college students are working toward humanities degrees, those who are feel shortchanged and question administrators' intentions when even other majors are cut. A group of West Virginia University students, "led by senior math major Matthew Kolb, of Follansbee, West Virginia, protested on campus this fall, joined by some faculty members whose jobs are being cut," Povich reports. "But it was no use; the school announced that it would eliminate 8% of its majors and the Ph.D. program in mathematics. The school also is cutting faculty in career-oriented departments such as mining engineering and petroleum and natural gas engineering."

WVU English professor Adam Komisaruk says, "The larger question is what state universities want to be."  He told Povich: "Is our mission as a university simply to respond to market forces and popular prejudice and to make educational decisions based on supply and demand? Or are we committed to providing a robust and diverse exposure to modes of thought that will allow our students to become knowledgeable, responsible, ethical, and engaged members of society?"

"Rural students can be particularly affected by university cuts, said Andrew Koricich, executive director for the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges and an associate professor at Appalachian State University in North Carolina," Povich reports. "As West Virginia is a mostly rural state, a higher proportion of its students come from rural areas." He told Povich: "A lot of states are shifting more toward looking at higher education not just as a public good but as a cost-benefit calculation. Then it becomes a value judgment whether rural students deserve the same education as urban institutions and students."

When searching for different ways to teach college journalists, one teacher heads to the pool tables

Journalism student Hayden Smith takes a shot at the pool
tables. (Photo by Harrison Rich via The Conversation)

A novel venue with an unconventional instructional tool can be a different way to teach aspiring journalists. "I wanted to break up the monotony of having students sit at their computers and write news stories or listen to me lecture," writes Jamaal Abdul-Alim for the "Uncommon Courses" series from The Conversation, a journalism platform for academics. "So I figured I'd change the venue and try something more kinetic. I had been going to the TerpZone – a recreational area in the basement of the student union where I teach. . . . As I watched students shoot pool, I thought: It would be cool to hold at least one class meeting here."

Abdul-Alim, who teaches at the University of Maryland at College Park, wrote that students found that playing pool "gave them a visual way to understand what journalists do. One student found it helpful for players to 'step back and take a new look at the table before their turn' – a concept that easily applies to reporting a story. . . . 'Finding the right angle for an article requires taking a fresh look at the facts and quotes, the student wrote. . . . Another student said both journalism and shooting pool require patience. A different student touched on the benefits of remaining calm – whether as a journalist on deadline or when it's time to sink the eight ball to win the game."

Part of the pool lesson works to build journalistic integrity. "If pool – or any other game – can teach future journalists to be more thoughtful about how they pursue stories, perhaps it can lead to better coverage and help restore public confidence in what the media report," Abdul-Alim adds. "There are other reasons why an approach like this makes sense at this particular time. Students are under a lot of academic stress, which can affect their overall well-being. As many pool players will tell you, shooting pool can be a positive way to relieve stress. It also can help build self-esteem and improve concentration.

"Also, before we shot pool together, I rarely saw students socialize with one another so effortlessly. When we moved class to the pool hall, students socialized like never before. So it was a good team-building exercise. My only regret was not doing it sooner in the semester."

Big college campuses can overwhelm rural students, so they have started forming their own support groups

Some universities began hosting leadership meetings with
rural students. (Photo by M. Krupnick, Hechinger Report)

When rural students attend colleges and universities, many face daunting challenges, including the size and scale of campuses, finding where they fit in, and feelings of culture shock, reports Matt Krupnick for the Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Few colleges have clubs for rural students to socialize and help each other through challenges, such as feeling out of place, dealing with crowds or public transportation, and even navigating busy freeways. Fewer still have physical spaces for those students to hang out together."

Rural college students recognized they needed to help each other and organized "their own support networks, mostly in the past two or three years, sometimes even without administration support," Krupnick writes. "Most of these rural student clubs have emerged at Ivy League universities or other highly selective private institutions and often have just a handful of members. But the trend is spreading."

Some administrations took notice and started working to support rural spaces. "It's part of a small but growing effort on some campuses to create a stronger sense of belonging for rural students, who drop out at higher rates than their suburban counterparts," Krupnick reports. Some colleges have set aside library space for gatherings and sponsored Q&As so university leadership members can get to know their rural students.

Having supportive rural peers can help students stand up for their opinions, which their urban counterparts may not understand. "At the University of Chicago, Savannah Doty, a 21-year-old senior from rural eastern Washington, said she felt completely shut down when she brought up rural issues in a class about the histories of infrastructure. 'It got steamrolled by both the professor and the rest of the class,' said Doty, president of that campus's Rural Student Alliance." She added, "I've had that experience hundreds of times in classes, in that my rural identity is downplayed. I think everyone would benefit from hearing about the rural experience."

Krupnick reports, "Many elite colleges are starting to ramp up their recruiting of applicants from rural areas, but students at some institutions say the attention ends there. Rural students, once they arrive on campus, often feel as if their colleges forget about them, noted Ty McNamee, a University of Mississippi assistant professor of higher education who studies rural students."

While there is no official count of how many rural college clubs exist, the trend is catching on. "Educators at Purdue University, Kansas State University and Virginia Tech have said they would like to find more ways to support rural students," Krupnick reports. "Virginia Tech plans to create a physical space for rural students, said Amy Azano, a professor of adolescent literacy and rural education there. Even though the 38,000-student university is surrounded by rural communities, she said, it can still be overwhelming for rural students."

News-media roundup: Miss. Basin Ag & Water Desk to add 10 more reporters; Calif. paper was 'tortured plaything' . . .

The Walton Family Foundation is giving the Missouri School of Journalism $2.47 million over the next three years to expand the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, a network of journalists that covers agriculture, water and environmental issues in the basin and makes articles free to publish. The foundation's additional support will fund a second cohort of 10 journalists starting next summer, through a partnership with Report for America. They will get training from the J-school and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Associate Professor Sara Shipley Hiles, the desk's executive director, said it wants a wider range of newsrooms. Applications from newsrooms are due Sept. 18.

James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times tells how billionaire Wendy McCaw made a "tortured plaything" of the Santa Barbara News-Press, which closed July 21. The closure "leaves Santa Barbara with a few online news sources and a solid alternative weekly, the Independent," the Times reports. "But those outlets collectively do not employ the number of journalists who once powered the News-Press."

Ken Tingley, retired editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y., has published The Last American Editor, Vol. 2, a collection of 90 stories and columns that "explore particular themes or periods of a person’s life that best represent Small-Town America," says his come-on.

In 'Children of Poverty' series, Malheur Enterprise shows how a rural weekly can plumb a big issue, with student help

A mother checks stock at a food pantry in Adrian, Oregon, population 177. A food bank
closed in May because it lost its space. (Malheur Enterprise photo by Andie Kalinowski)

With the help of journalism students, a weekly newspaper in rural eastern Oregon has told the story of local children who live in poverty. The Malheur Enterprise got help from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California because "We wanted the community to understand what it means when Malheur County is ranked as having among the worst child poverty rates in Oregon. That ranking has been in place for years," Editor-Publisher Les Zaitz writes.

Two USC professors had worked up a course on rural reporting, and reached out to the Enterprise, which is widely known as a paper that punches above its weight -- thanks to Zaitz, who has been an investigative reporter and editor in Oregon for 50 years. He gave the professors and the five students they selected a detailed memo outling key questions that needed answering. They reported first from Los Angeles, reaching out to state agencies and experts at Oregon universities, then made a two-week reporting trip to Malheur County, Zaitz writes.

"I had identified key sources for them among government agencies, nonprofit agencies and schools across Malheur County. I reached out ahead of time to key leaders to alert them to expect contact and ask their help. Without fail, those leaders cooperated, proving invaluable," with help such as ride-alongs with police. . . . The team conducted more than 70 interviews. Most were recorded. Some were filmed, resulting in powerful videos," which are on the paper's website.

The students are Christina Chkarboul, Andie Kalinowski, Shane Dimapanet, Suejin Lim and Venice Tang. The professors are Rebecca Haggerty, associate director of undergraduate journalism, and Judy Muller, professor emerita of journalism, former ABC correspondent and author of Emus Loose in Egnar, a book about courageous rural journalists. Here are the stories:

• Malheur’s kids in peril as parents, programs struggle with economic, social challenges
• Children tucked into RVs, living with friends as Malheur County housing remains inadequate
• Children in Malheur County going hungry as families struggle with income, issues
• In Malheur County, school workers step in to care for children short of food, clothing
• Kids face stress, mental health issues – but help is scarce

CherryRoad Media CEO Jeremy Gulban added to program of rural journalism summit; hotel deadline is next Friday

Speakers are still being added to the program of the third National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, to be held July 7 in Lexington, Ky., and online. Registration is required, but is free, here.

The latest addition is Jeremy Gulban, CEO of CherryRoad Media, which started in 2020 but already owns almost 80 newspapers, most of them bought from Gannett Co., which "had really run them into the ground," so much that it's proving hard to build circulation and reveue, he told us this week. Gulban said he will talk about experiments he is starting next week in some of his markets.

Gulban will join a wide range of news-industry professionals, academic researchers and instructors, journalism funders, and community developers who realize that communities need local journalism. The program includes:

• A discussion of journalism innovation and alternative revenue, by Jack Rooney, managing editor for audience development of The Keene Sentinel, a small daily in New Hampshire, and David Woronoff, publisher of The Pilot, a twice-weekly in Southern Pines, N.C.;
• The latest figures on news deserts and ghost newspapers, with a rural angle, from Zachary Metzger, a researcher at the Medill School at Northwestern University;
• Presentation of research about community engagement and an experiment in new business models for local journalism by Nick Mathews of the University of Missouri;
• A publisher's perspective on that ongoing experiment in engagement and new business models, from Joey Young of Kansas Publishing Ventures in Hillsboro, Kan.;
• A discussion of how to use citizens as news correspondents, including Lynne Campbell of the Community News Brief in Macomb, Ill., and Lindsey Young of KPV, developer of the training program "Earn Your Press Pass;"
• A discussion of philanthropy for rural journalism, led by Duc Luu, journalism officer of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation;
• The latest on advocacy of government policies at the state level to help sustain local journalism, from Anna Brugmann of the Rebuild Local News Coalition;
• A presentation on community building and engagement from the Community Strategies Group of The Aspen Institute;
• Debra Tobin, owner and editor of the Logan-Hocking Times in southeast Ohio, which has a business model that may be unique: an online startup that added a free weekly print edition to serve residents of rural Hocking County who aren't online.
• What it's like to stop printing a newspaper and move it to Facebook, from two award-winning rural publishers who felt they had to do that: Laurie Brown of The Canadian Record in Texas and Ryan Craig of the Todd County Standard in Kentucky;
• A discussion of how university journalism programs can fill gaps in local news coverage, led by Richard Watts of the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont, with Alan Miller of Denison University in Ohio and Chris Drew of Louisiana State University;
• A presentation from Melissa Cassutt of the Solutions Journalism Network and one of its partners, Casper Star-Tribune government reporter Mary Steurer; 
• Reports on rural start-ups, including Jennifer P. Brown of the Hoptown Chronicle in Hopkinsville, Ky., and Nicole DeCriscio Bowe, who has local foundation support for her start-up in Spencer, Ind.;
• A discussion of broader rural news coverage, from The Daily Yonder and Alana Rocha of the Institute for Nonprofit News's Rural News Network;
• A concluding roundtable led by Benjy Hamm, incoming director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, sponsor of the Summit (and publisher of The Rural Blog).

The institute's research question for this year's Summit is the same as last year's, "How do rural communities sustain local journalism that supports democracy?" We expect more answers!

The Summit will be held at The Campbell House Curio hotel on US 68 in Lexington, the same highway that took attendees to the second Summit last June, but this time much closer to Blue Grass Airport. A limited block of rooms is available at $139 per night, through next Friday, June 23. For registration and hotel information, click here.

National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, set for July 7, is still adding presenters; hotel deadline is June 23

How do rural communities sustain local journalism that supports democracy?

That is the central question of the third National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, to be held July 7 in Lexington, Ky., and online. Registration is required, but is free, at this link. 

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of The Rural Blog) is still adding presenters, such as Debra Tobin, owner and editor of the Logan-Hocking Times in southeast Ohio, which has a business model that may be unique: an online startup that added a free weekly print edition to serve residents of rural Hocking County who aren't online.

A wide range of news-industry professionals, academic researchers and instructors, journalism funders, and community developers who realize that communities need local journalism are on the program, which includes:

• A discussion of journalism innovation and alternative revenue, by Jack Rooney, managing editor for audience development of The Keene Sentinel, a small daily in New Hampshire, and David Woronoff, publisher of The Pilot, a twice-weekly in Southern Pines, N.C.;
• The latest figures on news deserts and ghost newspapers, with a rural angle, from Zachary Metzger, a researcher at the Medill School at Northwestern University;
• Presentation of research about community engagement and an experiment in new business models for local journalism by Nick Mathews of the University of Missouri;
• A publisher's perspective on that ongoing experiment in engagement and new business models, from Joey Young of Kansas Publishing Ventures in Hillsboro, Kan.;
• A discussion of how to use citizens as news correspondents, including Lynne Campbell of the Community News Brief in Macomb, Ill., and Lindsey Young of KPV, developer of the training program "Earn Your Press Pass;"
• A discussion of philanthropy for rural journalism, led by Duc Luu of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation;
• The latest on advocacy of government policies at the state level to help sustain local journalism, from Anna Brugmann of the Rebuild Local News Coalition;
• A presentation on community building and engagement from the Community Strategies Group of The Aspen Institute;
• What it's like to stop printing a newspaper and move it to Facebook, from two award-winning rural publishers who felt they had to do that: Laurie Brown of The Canadian Record in Texas and Ryan Craig of the Todd County Standard in Kentucky;
• A discussion of how university journalism programs can fill gaps in local news coverage, led by Richard Watts of the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont;
• A presentation from Melissa Cassutt of the Solutions Journalism Network and one of its partners, Casper Star-Tribune government reporter Mary Steurer; 
• Reports on rural start-ups, including Jennifer P. Brown of the Hoptown Chronicle in Hopkinsville, Ky., and Nicole DeCriscio Bowe, who has local foundation support for her start-up in Spencer, Ind.;
• A discussion of broader rural news coverage, from The Daily Yonder and Alana Rocha of the Institute for Nonprofit News's Rural News Network;
• Other presenters, to be announced, and a concluding roundtable.

The Summit will be held at The Campbell House Curio hotel on US 68 in Lexington, the same highway that took attendees to the second Summit last June, but this time much closer to Blue Grass Airport. A limited block of rooms is available at $139 per night, through June 23. For registration and hotel information, click here.

To get more teachers, some states try a new mode of training them: apprenticeships, to earn while they learn

Lina Horton earned a bachelor’s degree without spending a dime
on tuition. (Photo by William DeShazer, The Washington Post)

Using apprenticeships to train workers began in the Middle Ages, but what is old can be made new again; states are using the model to train new teachers, reports Moriah Balingit of The Washington Post. Balingit met with a once aspiring educator, Lina Horton, who gave up her dream of teaching because of the cost of college and the need for a paycheck. "Horton is part of a grand experiment to see what happens when the apprenticeship model — used to train generations of plumbers, electricians and carpenters — is applied to teaching, allowing trainees to earn money while they learn their craft and earn their credentials. In exchange, many of the programs require graduates to commit to a certain number of years of service in high-needs schools."

The country's severe teacher shortage is worst in rural and poorer places, "forcing some schools to pare down classes, hire unqualified adults or put students in self-guided online courses," Balingit notes. "Teachers matter more for student achievement than any other aspect of schooling and can influence whether a child graduates high school, attends college and earns more as an adult. Interest in teaching is plummeting; a decline chalked up to low pay and deteriorating work conditions. . . . . But the popularity of the apprenticeship programs suggests there is an untapped talent pool: people who have the desire and the heart — but not the financial means — to become a teacher. . . . Teaching apprenticeships are getting a major boost from the Labor Department, which last year began offering them federal certification, a distinction that gives them access to millions in job-training funds. Over the last 17 months, programs in 16 states have been certified, including some poised to take on hundreds of trainees. . . . While debates rage over transgender student rights and the teaching of race and U.S. history, teacher apprenticeships are a rare education policy initiative that have bipartisan support."

The college-based apprenticeships, which lead to a degree, also have the added benefit of helping schools diversify their teaching staff. "By intentionally recruiting local candidates, districts have been able to build teaching candidate pools that better reflect the demographics of the community," Balingit adds. "They have also had success recruiting from the ranks of teacher assistants, who are more diverse than teachers. Tabitha Grossman of the National Center for Teacher Residencies said removing financial barriers has been key in recruiting more teachers of color."

News-media roundup: Washington state helps local media; States Newsroom opens its 33rd outlet there . . .

Rob Manch of WFMZ-TV in Allentown, Pa., investigated a coal-mine fire. See below. (WFMZ image via Poynter)

Washington’s legislature has approved $2.4 million over two years to support eight journalists a year, paid $55,000 each, through a fellowship program to be run by Washington State University," Rebuild Local News reports. "Half of the fellows will be graduates of the university. Crucial program details on how the fellowships and participating newsrooms will be chosen, and by whom, are still being drafted. Gov. Jay Inslee also signed a provision eliminating the “the business and operations” tax for newspapers for 10 years. The bill did not benefit digital-only news sites unless they once printed a newspaper."

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States Newsroom, the largest network of state-based nonprofit news outlets, has launched the Washington State Standard as its 33rd outlet. It has content-sharing agreements with independent newsrooms in 10 additional states. The editor in chief will be Bill Lucia, former executive editor of Route Fifty, an online news journal that covers trends, challenges and emerging issues in states and localities.

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America's Newspapers, a trade association, has released what it calls "the first national research project dedicated to how readers consume local news and advertising in nearly a decade." Among the findings: Only 22% of readers are 65 or older, and 71% have lived in the community for more than five years. Length of residency has long been a predictor of newspaper readership.

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Amaris Castillo of The Poynter Institute reports how Rob Manch and Kaylee Lindenmuth of WFMZ-TV in Allentown, Pennsylvania, investigated and reported on one of the state's many underground coal-mine fires. “Towns like Shenandoah and Centralia tend to get forgotten in the state, and in the national discourse,” Manch told Castillo. “And someone’s gotta be their voice, right? Someone’s got to talk about things that affect them.”

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A recent survey from More in Common and the American Press Institute 

Accentuate the positive: "U.K.-based newsletter The Know has 50,000 subscribers, mainly women, with a 46% open rate and an audience that is growing 10% each month," the American Press Institute reports. "Chief executive Lynn Anderson Clark says her goal with the daily newsletter is to combat news avoidance. Each email starts with a positive news story, followed by coverage of top stories written in a way that won’t leave readers despondent. For example, when covering the February earthquake in Syria and Turkey, the newsletter focused on how the world rallied around to help instead of death tolls. The Know also has a referral rewards program that awards increasingly generous gifts the more a reader invites friends."

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' "push to rewrite defamation law and challenge press rights failed to advance beyond a committee vote" in the Florida Legislature, The Washington Post reports. "Opposition came from an unexpected sector: conservative media and lawmakers. When it came to backing what First Amendment experts and journalists called a radical rewriting of press freedom laws, DeSantis-friendly outlets responded with a rare show of resistance from media companies that by and large support the governor’s agenda."

Placemaking in Small & Rural Communities Conference returns for a second installment May 23; it's free and online

To register for the conference, click here.

On Tuesday, May 23, the Placemaking in Small & Rural Communities Conference returns. Jeff Siegler, founder of Revitalize or Die, will discuss paths to developing civic pride in your unique community. The event will feature additional speakers from the "all things local placemaking" world. The conference is online from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, and is free. Register here. 

To get started on placemaking now, try the Rural America Placemaking Toolkit. It's is a dynamic, interactive website that provides education, resources, activities, and tools on rural placemaking. This website links information seekers with technical-assistance providers, financial-assistance providers, and how-to guides on implementing placemaking in their own communities. The toolkit and the conference are sponsored by USDA Rural Development and the University of Kentucky.

Award-winning NPR affiliate struggles with state university overseers about investigative reporting on public figures

Rural West Kentucky has "an award-winning public radio news department struggling with administrators, particularly Murray State University President Robert 'Bob' Jackson, about investigative reporting involving state lawmakers and other public figures and institutions," reports WPSD-TV in Paducah. Examples:

When WKMS asked the local health department for Covid-19 case numbers, "including case counts from the university," Jackson somehow learned about it and called a Zoom meeting with the provost and station manager Stan Lampe, who resigned last June.

That was soon after reporter Liam Niemeyer, now at the Kentucky Lantern, sought security video showing  District Judge Jamie Jameson "walking around the courthouse in his underwear early in the morning," WPSD reports. Lampe testified before the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission, which removed the judge from office: "I felt as though . . . someone was attempting to influence me or exercise some leverage over me because of the power they hold." WPSD reports, "Lampe said he was subsequently ordered by administrators he believed were acting on Jackson's orders to provide a written explanation."

Lampe, the station's former news director, testified that he was not punished "but the public radio station had received ... changes in their budgetary allocation as you would see lawmakers contact university officials in the event that their — if, if the university official, I can't speak for that person, but I can say the station — not necessarily me, but the station — could receive some negative blowback from the administration."

In November, after Jackson spoke to the Paducah Rotary Club, "WPSD tried to speak with him about the incident involving his and Jameson's conversation and the possible WKMS story. Jackson refused to answer multiple questions before getting into the back seat of a car and being driven away. At the time of this interview, the university had not provided a statement to WPSD. Emails we obtained after the Kentucky attorney general said Murray State violated the law by withholding them reveal that Jackson's opinion about WKMS’s reporting was well known to administrators."

Business Dean David Eaton wrote, "Dr. Jackson gets complaints in regards to the 'investigative' nature of some of the news . . . along the lines of ‘We're not The New York Times.’ And this seems to be the nature of the complaints that are coming to him. … I think this may be tied to a perception of FOIA requests that ‘reporters stir up trouble.’ Or inconvenience. Or maybe shed light in places people don't want it ... which is a legit function of journalism. . . . Clearly, WKMS is not simply a publicity arm of Murray State." Eaton mentioned reporting of a lawsuit against a nonprofit headed by state Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah.

Niemeyer reported, but the station never aired, a story about another legislator's Twitter feed, "which Niemeyer characterized as 'about tweets showing nudity, sex acts and other sexual content that were "liked" by state Sen. Jason Howell's Twitter account'." Howell's district includes Murray. The Lantern ran the story. In pursuing it, Niemeyer told a MSU public-relations excutive that Lampe had "called me at my desk right before we had planned to publish the story and told me to kill it. He told me he couldn't guarantee that my job would be protected if the story ran."

Niemeyer said in the email that News Director Rachel Keller "says the Twitter account story being killed was a part of multiple incidents during her tenure as news director where [she] and/or Lampe faced pressure from university administration or public figures in the community regarding stories that the station published or reporting the station pursued."

The Rural Blog's publisher wants to keep rural America a place where local news media fuel democracy for the future

Most daily joys like coffee and a newspaper (a physical paper or a digital subscription) take some cash. The Rural Blog is different. It provides rural news that you can look forward to reading, free of charge, almost five days a week. Sometimes it informs, encourages, or sheds light -- sprinkled with an opinion now and then -- on just about anything that's rural or has what we call rural resonance.  

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues publishes The Rural Blog. When Institute leadership looks at rural communities and their news media, a story emerges that needs immediate and consistent attention, nurturing, and funding. In the last 10 years, we have increasingly worked to help rural news outlets survive and serve, and our new focus is on the sustainability of rural journalism, threatened by newspaper closures that are spreading. More than 200 counties in the U.S. have no local paper, and many papers are "ghost newspapers" that fail to give their communities the news coverage they need. Many others struggle through adversity, but every month brings news of more closures or mergers.

Financial support for the viability of local news media not only helps their communities, but helps rural areas have a voice in our national direction. Giving to the Institute is an active way to support rural democracy. Our donors often leave comments; here are a few: "If you live in a rural place, journalist or citizen, you need this information. . . . I gave $200; good journalism is critical for our free society. . . . Excellent aggregator of critical rural news. . . . Rural journalism is critical if we are to have well-informed voters and engaged citizens. . . . I appreciate the caring conveyed in the articles."

We don't often ask for money, but today is "One Day for UK" at the University of Kentucky, where we are based, so we're being team players by asking you to make a donation that can help preserve rural news media and democracy. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can do it here.