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News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2001

USA Group Foundation becomes Lumina Foundation

Foundation clarifies program focus — financial access, student retention and nontraditional learning.

INDIANAPOLIS — Next week a new light will dawn on American higher education.  USA Group Foundation will become Lumina Foundation for Education.  With assets approaching $1 billion, Lumina Foundation will be among the nation’s 60 largest private foundations. Lumina Foundation plans to focus its work in three areas:

• Addressing the issues of financial access to postsecondary education.


• Encouraging successful retention of postsecondary students to achieve their educational objectives.


• Understanding and addressing the challenges faced by nontraditional students, including adult learners, first-generation college goers and under-served groups of students.

Although our name and identity will change, we remain steadfast in our mission to improve access to education, and so help people achieve their potential," said Martha Lamkin, president and chief executive officer of Lumina Foundation.  “The Foundation’s leadership and staff have devoted their first several months to surveying the higher education access landscape and consulting with a variety of knowledgeable advisers.  This research has directed the Foundation’s leadership to better define its program agenda and develop an identity that reflects who we are and what we do.”

In its first year, Lumina Foundation will focus its efforts on essential capacity building and strategic planning efforts.  These prerequisite activities will provide the basis for a well-conceived grant-making program in future years.  Although the Foundation will engage in many preparatory discussions and research in 2001, its leadership expects to award relatively few grants in its first, formative year.

Lumina Foundation anticipates awarding grants to proposals that satisfy one of the following objectives:

Research that casts new light on the various dimensions and factors contributing to higher education access and attainment.

Programs that present innovative and potentially replicable approaches to addressing one or more challenges to access to higher education.

Communications initiatives that effect positive change by sharing and leveraging the lessons of access with educational leaders, policy-makers, media and the public.

“The Foundation’s grant making is not likely to focus on the singular needs of individual postsecondary institutions and their students unless the benefits of the project are designed to extend well beyond the requesting institution and its own students,” Lamkin said. “The Foundation will fund research or programs that can assist a broad spectrum of students and institutions, either by virtue of their scope or innovation.”

USA Group Foundation changed from a modest corporate giving program under the auspices of USA Group Inc., into a significant private foundation on July 31, 2000, when Sallie Mae purchased USA Group’s guarantee servicing, student loan servicing and secondary market operations.  The proceeds of that sale enabled the USA Group Foundation to become a completely independent, private foundation.

Lumina Foundation for Education, one of the nation’s 60 largest private foundations, is dedicated to expanding access to education beyond high school.  By supporting research, innovative programs and communications initiatives, Lumina Foundation plans to help improve financial access, student retention and opportunities for nontraditional learning.

For more information, contact Sara Murray-Plumer, director of communications, at 317-951-5493 or splumer@luminafoundation.org