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EWA​, the professional organization dedicated to ​strengthening the community of education ​writers and improving the ​quality of education coverage ​to better inform the public, hosts ​a weekly podcast featuring lively interviews with journalists.

Feb 9, 2021

COVID-19 is remaking the college landscape, especially when it comes to who’s pursuing - and who’s pausing - on higher education. New data shows the decline in enrollment is seven times as large for men as for women. That’s exacerbating an already existing gender gap, and it could have serious long-term consequences for men’s career paths, says Jon Marcus, higher education editor for The Hechinger Report. He also discusses the impact of the coronavirus on rural colleges, special challenges for first-generation students, and how the decision by many postsecondary institutions to go “test optional” temporarily hasn’t solved the inequality issues in the college admissions game. Marcus, who teaches journalism at Boston College and Northeastern University, shares his syllabus for the semester, and what he’s learning from his students about the challenges of pursuing a degree amid the pandemic.