Open Campus

08/05/2026

Rural Engagement Reporter Emily Lytle spent the day with rootEd Alliance advisers, touring job sites and learning about how their high school students can find career opportunities in industries ranging from healthcare to agriculture tech. Here’s what one adviser from Lathrop, Missouri, shared she loves most about working with her rural students.

08/03/2026

Tens of thousands of Minnesota college students expect to see their state financial aid reduced this fall because of a $131 million budget hole lawmakers neglected to fill. Students and education access advocates say lawmakers must find a solution to fully fund the Minnesota State Grant Program in years to come.

MinnPost's Cleo Krejci has the story. Her work is part of a collaboration with Open Campus to expand accountability and investigative reporting about community colleges. Learn more about the initiative here https://tinyurl.com/ybm7f73c And read the story below: https://www.opencampus.org/2026/08/03/let-down-by-legislators-thousands-of-minnesota-college-students-face-reduced-financial-aid-due-to-legislative-inaction/

Minnesota is stripping away how much aid students receive from its State Grant Program, because of a $131 million budget hole that lawmakers neglected to fill.

07/09/2026

This month, the U.S. Department of Education launched its new Workforce Pell Grant program, an effort to get financial aid to students seeking short-term certificates for in-demand jobs in IT, healthcare, truck driving and more. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said the initiative “is revitalizing the American Dream.”

Yet community colleges — the main providers of such training — are scrambling to determine which programs meet the federal government’s lengthy list of qualifications.

Even in North Carolina, a state experts consider at the forefront of preparing for Workforce Pell, officials estimate less than 1% of course sections will be initially eligible.

Jacob Biba, an investigative reporter covering community colleges as part of a collaboration between NC Local and Open Campus, reports:

Officials estimate less than 1% of course sections will be eligible for Workforce Pell.

06/19/2026

Rohit Kataria, who works on communications for Rural Talent Labs, shared some of his initial takeaways from the listening tours throughout Montana. Kataria joined researchers and state higher ed leaders as they heard from people in Colstrip, Glasgow and Thompson Falls about the workforce needs in their rural communities.

06/19/2026

Ty McNamee,

04/27/2026

Open Campus is building an investigative team focused on American community colleges, the most local and least-covered part of higher education. Over the next four years, we’ll be working with dozens of local newsrooms on this effort. Today, we are thrilled to announce our first three partners: the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, MinnPost and NC Local.

Journalists from each newsroom will spend 12 months working to produce in-depth investigations and accountability journalism that can inform citizens and bring change.

Interested in partnering or have an idea for a project? Read on to learn more and to view our FAQs. https://tinyurl.com/2w58rtwe