News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2004

Lumina Foundation announces 75 grants to improve college access and success

Indianapolis -- Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education has announced 75 grants totaling almost $24 million to expand college access and student success nationwide.

"The final quarter of 2003 demonstrates the Foundation's dedication to student groups that may need additional assistance to achieve their higher education goals," said Martha D. Lamkin, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation for Education. "Students at the nation's community colleges, as well as students leaving the foster care system, received special attention in 2003."

Highlights of grants approved by Lumina Foundation in the fourth quarter of 2003 are listed below, grouped by the Foundation's primary theme areas: postsecondary access, success and adult learners. Approved grants also reflect Lumina Foundation's emerging interest in student access and success at the nation's community colleges.

Access

Many financial and nonfinancial factors inhibit college access. The following grants address some of these barriers.

Academy for Educational Development (Washington, DC) -- A $3 million grant to develop sustainable partnerships among community colleges, four-year institutions, K-12 schools, businesses and community organizations to ensure that they address critical local issues that affect postsecondary access and success.

American Youth Policy Forum (Washington, DC) -- A $187,600 research grant to help policy-makers better understand the effective structures and student outcomes of programs that link secondary and postsecondary education.

Institute for Higher Education Policy (Washington, DC) -- A $252,500 research grant to better understand the nature, extent and distribution of private scholarship aid.

National College Access Network (Cleveland, OH) -- A $1,891,200 grant to implement a plan that will expand successful models of college access services to underserved students and families in high-need communities.

National Public Radio (Washington, DC) -- A $237,300 grant to raise awareness about issues of postsecondary access and success.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL) -- A $212,600 grant to examine new curricular models that extend from high school to college.

University of Maryland College Park (College Park, MD) -- A $323,800 research grant to inform Southern and border-state policy-makers about diversity and equity issues in public higher education.

University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) -- A $902,000 research grant to better understand the perceptions of and access to financial aid and college access information by low-income urban youth and their families.

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (Boulder, CO) -- A $1 million research grant to encourage policy-makers to integrate state and federal financing policies and practices in order to increase participation, access and success in postsecondary education for students and families.

McCabe Fund -- The 16 grants listed below are awarded as part of the McCabe Fund, which supports organizations that enable students -- particularly first-generation college students, low-income students and students of color -- to gain access to postsecondary education.

Action Center for College Educational Services and Scholarships (ACCESS) (Boston, MA), $75,000.
Aid for College Opportunities (Springfield, OH), $49,600.
Calumet College of St. Joseph (Whiting, IN), $50,000.
Cathedral Trustees, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN), $75,000.
Community Education Coalition of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation (Columbus, IN), $75,000.
Fathers and Families Resource/Research Center, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN), $75,000.
Fulfillment Fund (Los Angeles, CA), $75,000.
Japanese Community Youth Council (San Francisco, CA), $75,000.
Lund Family Center (Burlington, VT), $47,200.
Marin Education Fund (San Rafael, CA), $50,000.
National Heritage Foundation (Falls Church, VA), $50,000.
Philadelphia Futures for Youth (Philadelphia, PA), $50,000.
Saint Louis University (St. Louis, MO), $63,200.
University of California -Irvine (Irvine, CA), $73,600.
University of Portland (Portland, OR), $75,000.
University of South Florida (Tampa, FL), $75,000.

College Goal Sunday^SM -- College Goal Sunday provides free information and assistance to families applying for college financial aid in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Financial aid professionals in these states help families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The College Goal Sunday program was created by the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association with funding from Lilly Endowment, Inc., and with supplemental support from Lumina Foundation. Lumina Foundation awarded grants to the following organizations to plan and/or conduct a College Goal Sunday program in their states. The following organizations received one-year, $7,500 exploratory grants to plan for College Goal Sunday in their states:

University of Alaska (Fairbanks, AK).
Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (Boston, MA).
Student Assistance Foundation of Montana (Helena, MT).
University and Community College System of Nevada (Las Vegas, NV).

Four organizations qualified for implementation grants to conduct College Goal Sunday for the next three years.

Illinois State University (Normal, IL), $237,300.
Hawaii Association of College Admission Counselors (Honolulu, HI), $57,400.
Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid Personnel (Kirksville, MO), $150,000.
Partnership for Learning (Lansing, MI), $201,400.

Student Success/Attainment

Once in college, many students confront stumbling blocks that inhibit them from reaching their educational goals. The following grants promote student persistence and goal attainment.

The Education Trust (Washington, DC) -- An $888,700 grant to raise awareness about disparities in degree attainment and make reliable information about the relative effectiveness of colleges and universities more widely available.

Trustees of Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) -- A $1,202,400 grant to increase retention and graduation of all college students in Indiana by improving the effectiveness of student support programs.

Adult Students

Today's learners include a growing proportion of older students, as well as students who attend school part time and intermittently throughout their lives. The following grants focus on the special needs of adult students.

Center for the Study of Accelerated Learning, Regis University (Denver, CO) -- A $747,700 grant to establish a self-sufficient network of colleges and universities with accelerated degree programs to collaborate and enhance the learning, persistence and degree completion of working adults.

Southern Regional Education Board (Atlanta, GA) -- A $1,026,400 grant to establish a regional campaign to increase the participation of adult learners in postsecondary education in the South.

Community Colleges

Community colleges serve the highest concentration of historically underserved students, who are more at risk of dropping out of school. Lumina Foundation places special emphasis on student success at community colleges, and the following grants are part of that effort.

American Council on Education (Washington, DC) -- A $905,600 grant to establish leadership fellowships for future community college leaders.

American Indian Higher Education Consortium (Alexandria, VA) -- A $785,000 grant to benchmark tribal college student success indicators and assess data collection and analysis efforts at 35 tribal colleges.

Brown University, The Futures Project (Providence, RI) -- A $100,000 grant to conduct a "listening tour" among policy-makers and community college stakeholders in six states about policies to improve community college access and success.

Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University (New York, NY)

A $248,000 grant to conduct an audit examining state policies that affect access and success in community colleges.
A $186,800 research grant to provide data tools and background information on community colleges to support the implementation of Lumina Foundation's community college initiative.

MDC, Inc. (Chapel Hill, NC) -- A $900,000 grant to lead Lumina Foundation's community college initiative and manage the work of partner organizations and institutions.

San Francisco Community College District (San Francisco, CA) -- A $2,550,400 grant to design and pilot-test the Articulation and Transfer component of CollegeStepz, an interactive Web-based system, before its national rollout in 2006.

University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) -- A $349,500 grant to improve and effectively measure African-American and Hispanic students' progress toward transferring between two-year and four-year institutions.

Scholarship America (St. Peter, MN) -- A $1,500,000 grant to design and test an emergency financial aid program to provide emergency assistance to students at community colleges.

University of Massachusetts (Boston, MA) -- A $163,800 research grant to enhance the ability of community college administrators to conduct effective evaluations of campus-based programs that promote students' success.

Indiana-focused Initiatives

As an Indiana-based foundation, Lumina Foundation sets aside a modest portion of its grant money each year to fund projects that are specific to its home state. Most of these grants are focused on the Foundation's education mission; a relatively modest number support charitable civic participation.

Hispanic Education Center, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) - A $200,000 grant to support the Center's pre-college access program, El Puente.

Breaking the Cycle -- Nearly 800 Indiana youth age-out of foster care each year. Studies indicate that only 1 to 11 percent of former foster youth who enroll in a four-year college graduate with at least a bachelor's degree. Lumina Foundation launched Breaking the Cycle, an Indiana-based pilot project, to help former foster youth prepare for and transition to college. The following organizations are testing projects that may help close the gap in postsecondary achievement for former foster youth.

Ball State University (Muncie, IN) -- A $208,000 grant to increase postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates of former foster youth by improving selected support services at Ivy Tech State College and Ball State University.
Encouragement Services, Inc. (Bloomington, IN) -- A $73,500 grant to improve programs and services that increase the postsecondary access and success of youth who age-out of the Indiana foster care system.
IARCCA Institute for Excellence, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) -- A $121,800 grant to improve the quality of pre-college access programs and activities for foster care youth and youth transitioning out of the Indiana foster care system.

President's Fund for Student Success in the First and Second Years of College -- The President's Fund was designed to ensure student success during the critical first years of college. The following nine regional Indiana campuses received grants to help improve their student retention and degree attainment for underrepresented students.

Indiana University East, $71,100.
Indiana University Kokomo, $100,000.
Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne, $100,000.
Indiana University Northwest, $100,000.
Indiana University South Bend, $100,000.
Indiana University Southeast, $100,000.
Purdue University Calumet, $100,000.
Purdue University North Central, $99,900.
University of Southern Indiana, $100,000.

Special Grant

The Foundation periodically considers grants that seek to improve the state of philanthropy.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Stanford, CA) -- A $75,000 grant to examine and improve the strategic and practical connections among foundations, higher education and schools.

Lumina Foundation for Education, a private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school. Through research, grants for innovative programs and communication initiatives, Lumina Foundation addresses issues surrounding access and success -- particularly among underserved student groups, including adult learners. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people. For more information contact David Powell, Director of Communication, at 317-951-5834.