This is a big year for Lumina Foundation: In 2025, we are marking Lumina’s 25th anniversary, looking back on our ambitious 15-year college attainment goal, and celebrating the launch of a new goal. It’s the perfect time to reflect on progress made and how Goal 2040 can help even more Americans learn and earn credentials of value.
When Lumina was founded in 2000, it was the only national foundation solely dedicated to learning and training after high school. In 2009, Lumina launched a bold goal for a better-educated country: for 60 percent of Americans to earn college degrees or other quality credentials by 2025. Today, 54.9 percent of U.S. adults have achieved that goal, an increase of 16 percentage points and climbing.
Partnerships with state leaders, educators, and employers played key roles in this work, with 49 states setting their own college attainment goals. The District of Columbia, Colorado, Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota, and Connecticut have surpassed that 60 percent goal. These and other states enhanced support for basic needs such as food, housing, wellness, transportation; streamlined enrollment and transfer processes; improved programs for adult learners; and charted new ways to make schools more inclusive for all students.
But numbers only tell part of the story. As a member of Lumina’s state policy team, I’m proud that we collaborated to elevate the national narrative around college access and affordability, work toward fair outcomes, drive significant shifts in public policy, and match classes with workforce needs. In every case, Lumina empowered states to take the lead in finding the best solutions for their students.
Strategy Labs, data, and more
With the idea that states are laboratories for innovative ideas, Lumina created Strategy Labs. These labs support state leaders’ efforts to increase education levels by providing nonpartisan research, data, policy expertise, and technical help. Lumina’s data, disaggregated at the state and county levels and available to all at A Stronger Nation, helped leaders act on trends. HCM Strategists, Lumina’s state policy partner that manages the labs, recently reflected on the work to detail progress and ways to build on it. The report gives us plenty to consider as we continue working with states to improve access and success, address concerns about college’s value, and support redesigning systems of higher learning to better serve all students.
What really stands out to me is the way we achieved policy, practice, and program results through unique state collaborations. That’s the sweet sauce! Here are just a few examples:
- Adult learners: A staggering 42 million Americans have some college, but no degree or credential. We’re working to bring those students back by removing barriers such as transfer holds and increasing support for food, housing, mental health, and more. Lumina collaborated with four states—Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Mexico—to offer financial aid programs aimed at the needs of adult learners.
- Short-term credentials: In 2016, short-term credential pathways were integrated into A Stronger Nation data. More than $5.5 billion was invested in 68 initiatives across 31 states. States are using these funds to align higher education with workforce demands, leading to better jobs.
- Student success: Fifteen states adopted outcomes-driven funding for higher education, rewarding schools that focus intently on student success. These programs offer increased resources to enroll, retain, and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.
- Fair outcomes: Lumina’s Talent, Innovation, and Equity (TIE) initiative gave grants to six states—Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia—to close attainment gaps for Black, Latino, Hispanic, and Native American students by five percentage points. The states are using policy, budget, and practice changes in this work.
Goal 2040
We have momentum, but there’s plenty of hard work ahead. A recent Lumina-Gallup poll shows that only 36 percent of Americans have confidence in higher education and its promise of a better life. The reasons? Rising tuition, staggering student debt, and misalignment with the labor market. Add in the shifting economy and political polarization, and we can’t let up now.
With the many changes in the federal government, the time is now for states to reshape the narrative around higher education. We need to quickly adapt to the needs of today’s students, many of whom juggle school, jobs, and families. Nearly half are students of color, and many live below the poverty line. It’s essential that we make systems easier to navigate, lower costs, prioritize students’ health and mental well-being, and ensure all students receive the support they need to reach their degrees or credentials.
With Goal 2040, we will continue to partner and push for affordable, accessible, equitable, quality learning and training for all Americans. Lumina will be a lighthouse of expertise and support for the nation’s goals, working with states, sharing the power of learning, and leaving no one behind.
[Courtney B. Francis, Ph.D., is the strategy officer for state policy for Lumina Foundation, an independent foundation committed to making learning opportunities beyond high school available to all. Working from Lumina’s D.C. office, she supports states’ efforts to increase educational attainment and eliminate racial disparities through Lumina’s state policy work. Her former colleagues Scott Jenkins and Amanda DeLaRosa, along with HCM Strategists, helped to lead the efforts highlighted in this story.]
