The Job

A growing number of businesses appear to be dropping them in hiring.

Amazon last week joined Walmart and Target in offering free college as a benefit to its 750,000 front-line employees in the U.S. Like its fellow retail giants, Amazon views college benefits as a crucial hiring and retention tool.

Community-college students on average rack up 82 credits when earning an associate degree—22 more than they should need. A guided pathways approach seeks to create a structured path.

A growing number of states are linking support for colleges to labor market results.

Just 40 percent of community college students earn an associate degree within six years. A Chicago-based program has significantly increased graduation rates.

To help fill knowledge gaps, a group of 180 academics, researchers, and other experts gathered this summer to discuss an applied science to support working learners.

Five years in, the iMBA at the U. of Illinois this year enrolled nearly 6,000 students, more than the number of students who attend the college’s residential business degree programs.

States getting creative about the care infrastructure.

As governments mull whether to expand subsidies for these programs, much of the attention has focused on community colleges. But don’t forget about universities’ continuing education divisions.

Advocates argue that the delivery method’s flexibility is good for working students, and that the focus on mastering skills is attractive to employers. They’ve remained mostly boutique offerings until now, but that may be about to change.