Author: Nola Jones

A high school senior submits a scholarship application to a local Elks lodge every fall, somewhere in the nation. This lodge may be the only remaining civic organization in a small rural town, or it may be a modest building on a quiet street. The majority of those students have never entered an Elks lodge. The majority are not related to the organization through family. It turns out that the majority are following the program’s instructions exactly. Insiders are not the only recipients of the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship. It was never the case. The Most Valuable Student program…

In the midst of a larger discussion about student loan delinquencies gradually returning to levels not seen since before the pandemic, the announcement was made on a Thursday. Starting on July 1, the U.S. Department of Education announced a one percentage point reduction in interest rates for borrowers of federal student loans. Nicholas Kent, Undersecretary of Education, described it as making “student loan repayment easier than ever.” On the surface, it appears to be good news for the approximately 42 million Americans who have federal student loan debt. However, as is typically the case with federal loan policy, the picture…

I’ve been thinking about this statistic for a few weeks now: every nine seconds, a borrower in the US defaults on their student loans. Not every hour. Not every few minutes. every nine seconds. That figure, which comes from an analysis conducted in February 2026 by Protect Borrowers and The Century Foundation, doesn’t scream at you. It simply waits, ticking away. Approximately 25% of all borrowers currently have federal student loan delinquencies, which is almost three times higher than it was prior to the start of the pandemic payment pause. Approximately 9.16 million Americans are over a year behind on…

The Education Department’s most recent action regarding federal student loans is almost disarmingly straightforward. Your interest rate will decrease by a full percentage point if you sign up for automatic payments. That’s all. That’s how it’s being presented, anyway. The announcement, which was made on Thursday, expands upon a previous policy that provided borrowers with a small rate reduction of 0.25% in exchange for signing up for auto-pay. That number has now increased fourfold. The reduction will be applied to loans through June 30, 2028 for borrowers who enroll by September 30, 2026, or who are already enrolled. The extra…

A certain type of pride strikes differently when viewed from a distance. The kind that travels—across time zones, years of early mornings and parent-teacher conferences, and a childhood spent in a classroom far from where the story ultimately lands—rather than the pride of witnessing someone place well in a regional exam or win a local competition. It’s easy to see why Dubai Scholars Private School has been feeling that way lately. The Class of 2026 at Stanford University chose Lamya Sikandar Butt, a graduate of Dubai Scholars who attended the school for thirteen years before relocating to California, to give…

When the SSE Airtricity First Division is in town on Friday nights, Dublin has a distinct advantage. The bowl at UCD isn’t a glamorous location. There isn’t a lot of noise coming from the stands. However, what transpired on the field on June 19 had significant implications for Kerry FC, a team still looking for its first away victory of the year, in addition to the table. UCD prevailed 2-1. They scored both of their goals from corners. The same man, Eanna Clancy, was in charge of both. The second came in the ninetieth minute, and it was the kind…

Every June, someone opens the QS World University Rankings on a laptop in an administrative office at a university and braces. There is no emotion in the numbers. Scores change. Positions shift. All of a sudden, years’ worth of decisions about research funding, faculty hiring, and policy are condensed into a single worldwide figure. It’s an odd, a little awkward ritual, but every year it is repeated with the same ferocity, the same press releases, and the same mixture of quiet disappointment and pride. The UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds has been compiling the QS World University Rankings since 2004, initially in…

An unusual form of institutional blindness exists that is not caused by ignorance. It stems from priorities—from quietly and covertly determining that some information just doesn’t fit the agenda. It’s difficult to avoid seeing precisely that kind of selective vision in slow motion when observing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture has interacted with international early childhood nutrition frameworks. With contributors from almost 70 countries, the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, or OMEP, has been creating something truly helpful: a resource bank that links early childhood education and sustainable development research, policy, and practice. Nutritional studies pertinent to children…

This past spring, there was a noticeable shift in Texas classrooms. Teachers in San Antonio were the first to notice that students were questioning not just what the AI had said, but also why. Teachers throughout the state are still attempting to determine whether that change occurred as a result of a new law or in spite of the customary opposition to one. Texas has been subtly changing the way its public schools handle artificial intelligence while maintaining the legislative confidence it usually saves for stadium funding and energy policy. After being signed into law in June 2025 and incorporated…

A child leans toward a tablet screen, types something about being confused or afraid of an exam, and then waits. This moment is easy to miss if you’re not paying close attention. The reply is prompt. It has a cozy sound. It makes appropriate word choices. Reassured, the child nods and continues. It’s likely that what happened there felt like a connection. It wasn’t. Researchers have begun to refer to this discrepancy between what seemed real and what actually happened as the “AI empathy gap.” Even though the term has been making the rounds in academic circles and LinkedIn posts…