High-impact practices have long been part of higher education for years. Yet too often, they are treated as optional experiences available to only some students. A new generation of colleges and universities is working to change that by embedding career-connected learning directly into the fabric of the undergraduate experience so that every student can connect their education to meaningful work.
Last summer, we launched a grant opportunity with the vision of transforming how colleges and universities prepare students for successful careers.
Nearly 200 campuses nationwide answered the challenge, and today, Lumina Foundation is proud to announce that 16 campuses and institutions will each receive $100,000 to expand and strengthen career-connected high-impact practices (HIPs) on their campuses.
The selection process for the From Campus to Career: Advancing Career-Connected High-Impact Practices initiative was highly competitive, and the recipients stood out for the meaningful groundwork they were ready to build on.
In other words, this is not a pilot.
Across these campuses, the work was already underway. Long before this grant opportunity, faculty were redesigning courses to integrate career-relevant skills. Institutions began aligning student employment with learning outcomes. Leaders have been using data to find gaps in access to high-impact practices and address inequities. These efforts created a strong foundation, demonstrating both commitment and early results. Our investment builds on that momentum.
With Lumina’s support, these 16 institutions will deepen and scale work. The selected institutions include regional public universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, each bringing distinctive strategies for embedding career-connected learning. They will expand proven models to reach more students and embed career-connected learning more systematically across campus. Some plan to scale industry-aligned microcredentials to make sure students’ skills are more visible to employers. Others will strengthen employer partnerships so curricula reflect evolving workforce needs. Many will equip faculty to serve as champions of career-connected learning across disciplines—not just traditionally career-oriented majors.
This work directly advances Lumina’s new goal: ensuring that 75 percent of the U.S. labor force holds a credential of value that leads to economic prosperity by 2040. With so much changing in the nature of work, it is imperative that we ensure that all today’s college students have the opportunity to apply their developing skills in real-world settings during their educational journeys. We must make the connection between learning and work clearer, more intentional, and more equitable.
If this initiative succeeds, students should feel the difference.
Career-connected learning won’t be confined to a handful of departments or reserved for select groups. All students, including those historically underserved, will have access to transformative, high-impact experiences. But access alone is not enough. Our strategy calls for fundamentally redesigning high-impact practices so that all of them are explicitly career-connected. Because when that transformation happens, students in the humanities, sciences, education, and the arts will graduate with a clear understanding of how to apply their knowledge and skills toward meaningful work and service in their communities.
This clarity matters. Most bachelor’s degrees have value and lead to improved earnings and opportunity. Still, public skepticism about the worth of college persists. Part of what is missing is a shared understanding between students and employers about what college delivers. When students can clearly articulate their skills, and when employers recognize and trust that preparation, confidence in higher education grows.
The response to this initiative reinforces something we already believed: campuses nationwide aren’t waiting for change. They’re leading it. By investing in institutions ready to scale career-connected high-impact practices, we’re accelerating momentum toward a future where credentials open doors to economic mobility and personal growth.
To expand the share of workers with valuable credentials, we need to work together by championing faculty leadership, employer partnerships, and a commitment to ensuring every student graduates prepared to thrive.
When learning and work are intentionally connected, college becomes what it should be for every student: a bridge to opportunity.
