Current and prospective college students in Maryland and beyond are struggling with pandemic-related disruptions which can jeopardize their studies, a new survey found.

It also showed how much people view college degrees as key to finding the right job and improving their quality of life. The report from Gallup and Lumina Foundation revealed about one-third of bachelor's degree students have considered stopping out in the past six months.

Stephanie Marken, executive director of education research at Gallup, said the study shows just how much students are struggling with stress, even more than in similar research conducted at the height of the pandemic.

"Mental health challenges have really been on the rise for the last decade in most higher education institutions, nationally," Marken reported. "This has been a long-term challenge for most schools, especially as they consider how do they staff appropriately to serve the higher need they find from the student population."

The report was informed by a Gallup survey of more than 11,000 students, currently or recently enrolled, and prospective college students. In a 2020 survey of University of Maryland college students, 92% of undergraduates reported the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health.

The survey also highlighted the experience of students who recently "stopped out" of college. More than half said the cost of higher-ed has played a role in why they haven't continued their studies.

Courtney Brown, vice president of impact and planning for the Lumina Foundation, said making college more affordable is crucial.

"Financial aid packages were the number one reason that students stayed enrolled, even when they were feeling stressed about it," Brown pointed out. "The fact that they were getting money to stay in school is really telling. We should do a better job of communicating where opportunities exist for financial aid packages."

Excluding Washington, D.C., Maryland borrowers have the highest average student-loan debt, at nearly $43,000.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Idaho and the rest of the country are making progress getting higher education to more people.

A new report from Lumina Foundation finds nearly 54% of working-age Americans have earned a degree or certificate after high school, which the Foundation said is key to getting a good job in today's economy.

Idaho is slightly below the national average, at about 52%.

Courtney Brown, vice president of impact and planning for Lumina Foundation, said the state achieved one of the highest gains in recent years.

"Idaho, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah and Vermont, they had the largest percentage-point increase in attainment from 2019 to 2021," Brown reported.

Idaho's higher-education attainment rate climbed from about 46% in 2019 to 52% in 2021. While states have made progress, Brown explained there is still more they need to do to reach the organization's goal of 60% of Americans earning a degree or certificate by 2025. The Idaho State Board of Education has also set the goal for people ages 25 to 34.

But the country has made immense progress since Lumina began collecting data on higher-education attainment in 2009. Brown cited a few reasons, including the fact states are putting a greater emphasis on these goals, and also how colleges and universities approach their students.

"More institutions are focused on the whole student and focused on today's students, not just thinking about 18-year-olds straight out of high school, staying on a four-year campus," Brown observed. "They're really concerned about adult learners, and setting up programs for adult learners, ensuring that they're serving them better."

Brown also noted there is greater racial equity in higher-education attainment. Still, Black, Hispanic and Native American populations trail far behind their white and Asian peers. In Idaho, the Hispanic population fares the worst, with only about 21% having earned a degree or other kind of certificate in 2021.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Schools across North Carolina report grappling with severe staff shortages. Districts began the year down more than 4,000 teachers, according to data from the North Carolina School Superintendents Association. The average starting teacher pay in North Carolina is around $37,000. Stagnating wages, plus pandemic burnout, are making it more difficult to recruit and retain educators.

Tara Whitbread, associate director of admissions At William Peace University, said the state's licensing and certification process can be another barrier, especially for people looking to begin careers in special education.

"A lot of districts are being creative to fill their shortages," Whitbread said. "So, they're taking teacher assistants, instructional assistants, who already have their bachelor's degree and they are putting them in a full time, lead teacher position."

According to a report by the nonprofit Best NC, traditional public school enrollment statewide has been on the decline since 2005, while the number of kids who are home-schooled or attending charter schools has increased substantially.

Whitbread explained someone with a bachelor's degree who wants a teaching license must enroll in an educator preparation program, which can take up to three years to complete, and said many non-licensed individuals are already working as instructional assistants or teacher assistants, which is a major issue.

"Teachers are working full-time as basically beginning teachers," Whitbread said. "And they either don't have the support in their school system, or they're working to manage being a teacher and take college level classes. (:13) So, they're not fulfilling their licensure requirements within those three years."

Whitbread said anyone interested in a teaching career should explore options for getting firsthand classroom experience, and to do the research on colleges offering educator preparation programs.

"If you've never been a teacher in a classroom before, see if you can be an instructional support teacher; be an IA, an instructional assistant or a teacher assistant," she said.

A recent state Supreme Court-ordered plan said North Carolina plans to spend an estimated $5-billion by 2028 on new teacher support programs, fellowships and residency programs to populate classrooms with qualified educators.

A Nevada nonprofit is celebrating a 94% graduation rate among its high school seniors for the 2021-2022 school year.

Tami Hance-Lehr. CEO and state director of Communities In Schools of Nevada, said the graduation rate is based on its 453 case-managed high school seniors, most of whom are students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, or are experiencing some other form of poverty.

Hance-Lehr pointed out Nevada's graduation rate for such students is around 82%. Compared with the state's overall graduation rate, African American students in the program are 17.1 percentage points above the statewide average, Hispanic and Latino students are 14 percentage points greater and multiracial students are ahead by 13 percentage points.

She noted the pandemic presented many challenges for students to cross the finish line.

"The other thing to keep in mind is when these students came to us, the majority of those seniors when they started working with Communities In Schools either in their junior or senior year were not on track to graduate," Hance-Lehr recounted. "They were most likely credit deficient."

Hance-Lehr explained it is not only identifying barriers keeping kids from attending school and working to get students back on-track, but also making sure they have goals after high school. The program puts a full-time on-site coordinator on every one of its 92 partnering campuses, to help in the effort.

Hance-Lehr stressed of the 453 high school seniors, half plan to attend college, 32% plan to join the workforce, 14% plan to get a certification, apprenticeship or attend a trade school and 4% plan to join the military.

While the program's focus is on K-12 students, Hance-Lehr noted they are prioritizing support to their alumni once they leave the program.

"We need to be focusing on our students after they graduate as well," Hance-Lehr contended. "Barriers that we remove for them and get them to graduation, do not just go away when we've given them a diploma, and then they enter into the world and say 'here you go.' There are still transportation barriers, there are still trauma barriers, there are still poverty barriers."

Hance-Lehr emphasized they have more than a hundred community partners and acknowledged the work they do would not be possible without them. She added community providers are able to help students with more individualized needs.