Another section of this newsletter indicates that the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation called the American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2) was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. One of its provisions is Section 2003, Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. The amount of $39,584,570,000 will be made available through September 30, 2023, for making allocations for colleges and college students. Institutions receiving aid must dedicate at least half of the funding for emergency financial aid grants to prevent hunger, homelessness, and other hardships that students are facing because of the pandemic. Funds also can be used for general expenditures for institutions of higher education to cover those expenses associated with a disruption in services or operations related to coronavirus, including defraying expenses caused by lost revenue and reimbursing expenses already incurred.
The public health workforce consists of a great many different kinds of health professionals. Section 2501, Funding For Public Health Workforce will furnish $7,660,000,000, to remain available until expended, to carry out activities related to establishing, expanding, and sustaining a public health workforce, including by making awards to State, local, and territorial public health departments. The money shall be used for costs, including wages and benefits, related to the recruiting, hiring, and training of individuals to serve as case investigators, contact tracers, social support specialists, community health workers, public health nurses, disease intervention specialists, epidemiologists, program managers, laboratory personnel, informaticians, communication and policy experts, and any other positions as may be required to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID–19. This financial support is aimed at personnel who are employed by governmental public health departments and nonprofit private or public organizations with demonstrated expertise in implementing public health programs, particularly in medically underserved areas.
Counting U.S. Postsecondary And Secondary Credentials
The organization Credential Engine since 2017 has been engaged in laying bare an increasingly complex and confusing landscape of U.S. credentials, and to create the building blocks to make reliable and useful credential information more accessible for students, workers, and the employers who hire them. Part of the effort has consisted in creating a common taxonomy, or schema, through the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) that allows individuals to make “apples-to-apples” comparisons between and among credentials, making it possible to map connecting points between credentials, competencies, jobs, education, and training opportunities. The driving force has been a lack of clarity about what exactly is available in education and training, the value of credentials in the labor market, and what enables certain individuals to benefit from those opportunities more than others. The CTDL is regarded as the standard language through which these million unique credentials and their competencies can be connected, compared, and contrasted, from evaluating whether a credential leads to a specific career and higher wages or if it leads to a higher-level credential, enhancing economic momentum and mobility.
Some Impacts Of COVID-19 On Higher Education
New international student enrollment in the United States and online outside the United States decreased by 43% in Fall 2020. Many international students studying at U.S. institutions took advantage of opportunities to begin their studies remotely. Ninety percent of institutions reported international student deferrals in Fall 2020. Respondents indicated that nearly 40,000 students had deferred enrollment to a future term. (Source: Institute of International Education)
The drop in the number of undergraduates enrolled in the fall of 2020 was 3.6% or a decrease of 360,000 students from a year earlier. (Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)
Colleges and universities closed out 2020 with continued job losses, resulting in a 13% drop of 650,000 workers since February of that year. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
More March 2021 TRENDS Articles
HEALTH CARE COMPLEXITY AND UNCERTAINTY
discusses the concept of disease from the standpoint of disease judgements and sickness judgements. Read More
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN BECOMES LAW
lists amounts of money allocated to implement key provisions of Public Law 117-2. Read More
HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS
looks at wide discrepancies in the ways that Democrat and Republican voters favor major proposals to provide health insurance coverage. Read More
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
cites some funding that Public Law 117-2 will provide for higher education. Other information is about enumeration of education credentials and certain impacts of COVID-19 on higher education. Read More
QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)
U.S. State Life Tables, 2018
Prescription Drugs For Older Adults And The Risk Of Falling
Sex Differences In Neurodegenerative Diseases
Female College Athletes And Traumatic Brain Injury Read More
OBTAINABLE RESOURCES
Academic Incentives And Research Impact
Student Debt And Its Impact On Black Americans
Adult Family Care As An Alternative To Nursing Homes Read More
EMERGING CLINICAL ROLE OF WEARABLES
indicates that although these devices have certain limitations, they hold much promise towards expanding the clinical repertoire of patient-specific measures. Read More
FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE IN MID-TO-LATER LIFE
pertains to a concept regarding how individuals orient to and consider their futures, which is considered fundamental to motivation, well-being, and relevance to healthy adaptation to life’s circumstances. Read More