Elissa Nadworny
Elissa Nadworny reports on all things college for NPR, following big stories like unprecedented enrollment declines, college affordability, the student debt crisis and workforce training. During the 2020-2021 academic year, she traveled to dozens of campuses to document what it was like to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. Her work has won several awards including a 2020 Gracie Award for a story about student parents in college, a 2018 James Beard Award for a story about the Chinese-American population in the Mississippi Delta and a 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in innovation.
Nadworny uses multiplatform storytelling – incorporating radio, print, comics, photojournalism, and video — to put students at the center of her coverage. Some favorite story adventures include crawling in the sewers below campus to test wastewater for the coronavirus, yearly deep-dives into the most popular high school plays and musicals and an epic search for the history behind her classroom skeleton.
Before joining NPR in 2014, Nadworny worked at Bloomberg News, reporting from the White House. A recipient of the McCormick National Security Journalism Scholarship, she spent four months reporting on U.S. international food aid for USA Today, traveling to Jordan to talk with Syrian refugees about food programs there.
Originally from Erie, Pa., Nadworny has a bachelor's degree in documentary film from Skidmore College and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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Researchers say the pandemic is largely to blame for this year's drastic enrollment declines, but college-going has also been on a decade-long downward trend.
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Congress hit pause on federal student loan payments in the CARES Act. The latest extension of this relief will last until after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
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As Thanksgiving break approaches, many schools are seeing spikes in coronavirus cases. Some campuses are using students to work the phones as contact tracers.
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Young adults are preparing to travel home for Thanksgiving, but the coronavirus is making things complicated. Epidemiologists say there are things families can to do reduce the risk of infection.
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As the new president sets his priorities, will having an educator as first lady help schools and colleges get what they hope for?
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People ages 18 to 29 are turning out in record-breaking numbers for early voting. But will pandemic-related disruptions to campus life affect student voter turnout on Election Day?
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Wastewater offers an ideal testing opportunity for colleges: People often poop where they live; colleges know who lives in each dorm; and testing wastewater is a cheaper way to monitor virus spread.
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Data from more than 1,400 colleges, obtained by NPR, show that most colleges with in-person classes have no clear testing plan or are testing only students who believe they have the coronavirus.
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Often during a recession, enrollment in community colleges goes up. The first numbers for this fall show a decline — down nearly 8% compared with last year.
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Our roundup of education stories looks at the turmoil following Mayor Bill de Blasio's latest delay announcement; and the continuing struggles on campus to control COVID outbreaks.