Inside Lumina's Strategic Plan

Lumina's big goal calls for increasing the proportion of
Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials
to 60 percent by the year 2025.

critical outcomes
lead to achievement
of the big goal.

Preparation

Students are prepared academically, financially and socially for success in education beyond high school.

Success

Higher education attainment rates are improved significantly.

Productivity

Higher education productivity is increased to expand capacity and serve more students.

Jamie Merisotis | Community colleges are a change agent

The rapidly changing global economy demands education and training that prepares all citizens for success. Community colleges play a vital role in making this happen. Recently on C-SPAN, Lumina Foundation President and CEO Jamie Merisotis discussed President Obama's $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare millions of people for a new generation of jobs. View the 30-minute segment.

Building public will | College attainment: Shared priority
Lumina's Dewayne Matthews, vice president for policy and strategy, and Kiko Suarez, senior vice president of external affairs for Lumina, discuss building public will and creating conditions for change that will result in dramatic increases in higher education attainment. Listen to the podcast .

Goal 2025 | Behind Lumina's strategic plan
Lumina President and CEO Jamie Merisotis and Jim Applegate, senior vice president for program development, discuss the thought process behind Lumina's strategic plan for its "big goal" and the three critical outcomes it seeks to achieve to reach 60 percent degree attainment by 2025. Watch the video podcast.

Attainment | Anthony Carnevale on the changing workplace
Anthony Carnevale, one of the nation's leading voices on education, training and workforce development issues, discusses the relationship between higher education and future job opportunities. In this 20-minute podcast, he speaks about how technology and industry changes have produced a strong bias in favor of increased higher education levels. Carnevale says jobs that didn't require college training won't come back after the recession. This reinforces the importance of higher education and why the United States must dramatically step up its college attainment goals to produce more degrees, apprenticeships and other college-related credentials and training. Listen to Carnevale's podcast.

Public Policy | College-readiness debate at critical crossroads

Defining what it means to be ready for college is open to interpretation, with states, schools, and policymakers still unable to agree on how to measure college readiness. Diplomas Count 2009: Broader Horizons: The Challenge of College Readiness for All Students, from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, tracks graduation policies for all 50 states and the District of Columbia and presents an updated analysis of graduation rates and trends for the nation, states, and the country's 50-largest school systems.

Effective Practices | Academic, social support policies go hand-in-hand

What conditions influence college readiness and success, especially among underserved students? According to a recent report , the answer entails a cohesive and unified framework in which academic and social support policies and practices go hand-in-hand with increased expectations and student success. Read Removing Roadblocks to Rigor: Linking Academic and Social Supports to Ensure College Readiness and Success from the Institute for Higher Education Policy and the Pathways to College Network.

Access | Study: Appalachian Ohio gaining college-access ground
In Appalachian Ohio, 14 percent of individuals aged 25-34 possess a college degree compared to 28 percent nationally. Participation in college-access programs during high school has a strategic influence on postsecondary pathways and degree-completion rates, concludes a recent study, Access & Success: Appalachian Ohio, from the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. At the same time, the study says lack of financial aid information has increased as a barrier to college for Appalachian students and parents.

Information gap | Misperceptions keep college from reach

Higher education attainment is more critical than ever. It improves individual lives and ensures the nation's economic health and social stability. Yet, many low-income students miss out on college because they don't know how much it actually costs or how to access financial aid opportunities. Promoting Economic Mobility by Increasing Postsecondary Education, from the Pew Charitable Trusts, offers a set of policy recommendations to help make college more broadly accessible.

Access | More students forgo dream schools in favor of affordability
The effects of the economy are weighing heavily on high school students and college admissions offices. A study from the National Association for College Admission Counseling shows 70 percent of high schools report an increase in the number of students who are altering their dream school ambitions and opting for more affordable options. On the college side, 45 percent of institutions report a decrease in the number of students accepting admission offers. Read Effects of the Economy on the Admission Process, 2008-09.

Learning Outcomes | Accountability systems need work

Most states fall short when it comes to higher education accountability systems, says a report from the Education Sector. In grading every state accountability system in 21 categories, Ready to Assemble: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems shows that 38 states have little, if any, system for measuring learning outcomes. The report also says it's rare for a state to use accountability data to drive policy decisions.

Degree Completion | Putting student success first

Improving public policy for higher education is integral to raising college-attainment rates in the United States. Lessons from Achieving the Dream for Federal Efforts to Improve College Completion Rates, from Jobs for the Future, highlights how strategies involving institutional change and data-driven decision making are driving improved outcomes for community college students.

Public Policy | How policy can reduce the need for developmental education

Too many students who enroll in community college are not on track for success. Six out of 10 must take at least one developmental education course before they can enroll in college-level courses. Setting Up Success in Developmental Education: How State Policy Can Help Community Colleges Improve Student Outcomes, from Jobs for the Future, examines promising initiatives in 15 states to reduce the need for and improve developmental education.

Developmental Education | Tackling the assessment challenge

Sixty percent of community college students are required to take developmental coursework. Toward Informative Assessment and a Culture of Evidence, from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, examines the efforts of 11 California community colleges that combine traditional and innovative measures of student performance and data collection to improve pedagogical practice and to enhance student learning.

Workforce Development | Closing the skills gap in California

California was once a national leader in higher education. Today it faces a shortage of nearly 1 million college-educated workers by 2025. Closing the Gap: Meeting California's Need for College Graduates, from the Public Policy Institute of California, presents a plan to help California reduce its education skills gap in half by making modest improvements in college attendance, community college transfers, and college graduation rates.

Student Success | Report examines campus veterans' programs
How well prepared is higher education to serve more than 2 million veterans who will be returning from Iraq and Afghanistan? From Soldier to Student: Easing the Transition of Service Members on Campus assesses the current state of programs and services for veterans on college campuses. Findings shed insight on the most veteran-friendly campuses, while helping campus leaders identify gaps in their own offerings.

Capacity Building | Study examines disparities in college graduation rates

At a time when increasing college productivity has become part of a national conversation, fewer than 60 percent of new students graduate from four-year colleges within six years. Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't), from the American Enterprise Institute , documents the dramatic variations in graduation rates across 1,300 postsecondary institutions, including those with comparable admissions selectivity. The findings suggest some schools are more effective in educating similar students. Among colleges requiring high school grades of a B-minus or better, John Carroll University in Cleveland and Chicago State University in Illinois graduated 74 percent versus 16 percent, respectively.

Workforce Needs | Preparing today's workers for tomorrow's jobs
Employers demand workers who can think critically and solve problems. This means future prosperity will require greater worker investment in postsecondary education and training. Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow, from the Council of Economic Advisers, examines which parts of the labor force will grow the most and offers ways to improve the educational system so that more workers can adapt to a knowledge-based society and economy.

Effective Practices | Colleges get creative in response to fiscal crisis

More public colleges and universities are reeling from the effects of the recession, with 14 states experiencing their own version of a "Misery Index," reports a study from the Ingram Center for Public Trusteeship and Governance of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. In response, colleges and universities are evaluating or implementing several creative cost-cutting strategies, including three-year bachelor's degrees and alternative college-degree programs for non-traditional students. Read Public Institution and University System Financial Conditions Survey.

Research | Survey: Private college tuition rises at lowest rate in 37 years

As more families struggle financially, private colleges are attempting to hold the line on tuition and fees, according to a survey from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. The annual survey of tuition costs at private four-year institutions projects tuition and fees to increase an average of 4.3 percent in the new school year, the smallest increase since 1972-73. The survey also shows more colleges offering new affordability measures in 2009-10, including accelerated degree programs and public university tuition matches.

news

Community colleges' new clout
"This is the higher education equivalent of the moon shot," said Jamie Merisotis, president of the Lumina Foundation, in a July 15 New York Times article about the Obama Administration's $12 billion investment to boost enrollment in community colleges. more »

Lumina's 2008 Annual Report
The nation's future depends on increasing college-attainment levels. To achieve this goal, Lumina is working simultaneously toward three critical higher education outcomes: Student preparation, student success, and increased productivity. more »

Lumina elects new board member
Lumina has elected Mark G. Yudof to its board of directors. Yudof is president of the University of California. more »

Measure of America
The Common Good Forecaster from United Way and American Human Development Project is a new Web-based tool that forecasts how various conditions, from life expectancy to prison populations, might change in communities if educational outcomes improve. more »

Raising aspirations
Every nine seconds, a child in the United States drops out of high school, but imagine if this wasn't true. That is the premise of a new documentary called Ten9Eight. Watch the trailer or become a Facebook fan. Underwritten by the John Templeton Foundation, Ten9Eight is scheduled for release this fall. more »

Real advice from real students
The KnowHow2GO campaign now offers an online library of student success stories, giving middle and high school students the chance to hear from peers about what it takes to prepare for and succeed in college. more »

Lumina announces grants
Lumina awarded grants totaling more than $18.3 million in the second quarter of 2009. more »

data points

California's productivity challenge
If California were to raise college attendance rates to 61 percent by 2025, increase transfer rates by 20 percent over the next 15 years, and modestly improve California State University graduation rates, it could close about half of its projected education gap, adding more than 500,000 new college graduates to its population.
Source: Closing the Gap: Meeting California's Need for College Graduates »

Upskilling in Appalachian Ohio
College-going rates have increased from estimates of 31 percent and 43 percent in 1992 to 51 percent in 2006 for Appalachian Ohioans.
Source: Access & Success: Appalachian Ohio »

Retention & community colleges
Each year, more than 6 million students enroll for credit at the nation's 1,200 community colleges, but only about 555,000 earn a two-year degree.
Source: American Association of Community Colleges »

Reaching G.I.s
Nearly two-thirds of colleges have increased their emphasis on service members and military veterans since 9/11, with 60 percent including programs for these students in their long-term strategic plans.
Source: From Soldier to Student: Easing the Transition ;of Service Members on Campus »

Read our strategic plan »

Lumina's big goal calls for increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025.