News Archive

Higher education is in triage mode as it scrambles to lessen the negative impacts from this year’s delayed rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

A new national survey shows college is too expensive for most Americans, forcing 38 percent of undergraduates to plunge deep into debt. Most borrowers then struggle for years to repay their loans, delaying major life decisions such as starting a family, buying a home—or returning to school. 

Pardis Mahdavi, president of the University of La Verne, a private, nonprofit Hispanic-Serving Institution in the Los Angeles area, has joined Lumina Foundation’s board of directors, which concluded its spring meeting today.

Teresa Lubbers, a leader in higher education policy and former commissioner of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, has joined Lumina Foundation’s Board of Directors, which concluded its spring meeting today.

Recently released data on Lumina’s Stronger Nation tool shows that the national education attainment rate has reached 54.3 percent. The country has increased in education attainment by 16 percentage points since 2008. Courtney Brown and Chris Mullin of Lumina Foundation share the stories, insights, and considerations under these banner numbers.

It might be the most common question college students get. “What’s your major?” While it may be a great conversation starter on campus, the question isn’t all that effective in predicting someone’s job choice.

And my equity journey continues. Four years ago, I wrote a column about sending my son off to college and my fears for him as a young Black man finding his way as a student and citizen. Today, I’m the proud mom of a college graduate. Though the world shut down during my son’s freshman year, and he spent […]

Believe it or not, there were more than 144 local time zones in the United States before 1883. This made it difficult for railroads to schedule and coordinate routes, resulting in train collisions. So, the country adopted standard time zones to end the confusion.

Amid rising costs and questions about higher education, fewer young people are going to college, and that’s bad for all of us.

In the fall of 2022, gun violence shattered the tranquility of my son’s college experience at the University of Virginia. In an urgent call, he said, “Mom, there’s an active shooter on campus. I think some people have died not too far from here. No one knows where the shooter is, so we’re all locked […]

Of all the discussions about the cost and price of college, the most important often happen far from the seats of power in Congress and university boardrooms.

Jamie Merisotis and Tony Carnevale share insights on American views on higher education, including: What is the enduring value of an undergraduate degree? What majors (if any) bring a career dividend despite the rising cost of obtaining it? And does “the duality of a good job and a good life” still matter? (Yes.)

Late last year, we at Lumina Foundation saw a unique opportunity to rethink the college admissions process for the better.

More than $3 million awarded to transform how students get into college INDIANAPOLIS – In response to the evolving landscape of college admissions, Lumina Foundation has announced the winners of The Great Admissions Redesign. This challenge seeks to revolutionize the admissions process and increase accessibility to higher education for all students, particularly those not admitted […]

As state legislatures across the country get deeper into the policymaking process this year, we’re getting a clearer idea of how they may act on the top issues facing college students and families.

When we think of ways to make college more affordable and make degrees more valuable in the workplace, we don’t think about Chris Jones. I mention Jones, an Indiana electrician, but there are many like him: People with degrees in the humanities making a good living in fields far from the subjects they studied in […]

Welcome to the era of data-driven transformation, where fresh insights pave the way to a brighter future. We recently unveiled new data in Lumina Foundation’s Stronger Nation tool, an interactive map guiding us toward our national goal of helping 60 percent of Americans earn college degrees or other quality credentials by 2025.  Even amid skepticism […]

Thirty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, saw declines in the share of residents having industry certifications and college certificates with significant wage premiums. This unusual decline in short-term credentials, surfacing in Lumina Foundation’s update of A Stronger Nation today, highlights the importance of paying attention to the labor market payoff of such credentials. Short-term programs like these are often alternatives to associate and bachelor’s programs.

Lumina Foundation Data Show 54.3 Percent of U.S. Working-Age Adults Have Bachelor’s and Associate Degrees and Short-Term Credentials of Value While Racial, Ethnic Disparities Persist.

Even with American higher education’s need for reform, our system is the world’s envy. This is partly because of the diversity of institutions students in the United States can benefit from, including prestigious, world-class universities and research centers. For a privileged few, success at an elite school can open doors to service in the halls of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the inner sanctum of the White House. These graduates often land coveted positions at Fortune 500 companies, investment banks, and tech startups.

New information about the immense value of college degrees will delight supporters of higher education. But what’s behind the numbers tells a tale of the unfinished business of college attainment.

Adult learners of color lean on trusted family and friends to help them decide if returning to college fits their hectic lives, according to three studies that explored how Americans choose to finish—or not—a degree.

College students graduating this year have gotten mixed signals about the strength of the job market, but this much is clear: Just as for those final exams in the spring, preparation is everything when it comes to a solid career launch.

This interview with Elise Zhao was originally published on Phenix Capital’s Faces of Impact.

The trouble with good advice is that it's often not good enough. That is the case with higher education. Yes, getting a college degree or other high-quality credential pays off very well—a college degree is worth $2.8 million in lifetime earnings, for example.

Perhaps, like you, I doubted if college was worth it. In my first semester at the University of Florida, I spent a day weighing my options to drop out or stay enrolled. Why? Because I couldn’t sit through one more long, tedious class lecture. I had enough of being talked at.

As U.S. policymakers push to create more manufacturing jobs, here’s a disconcerting fact: Most adults who earn manufacturing degrees in Ohio don’t end up working in the industry there. In fact, some leave manufacturing and Ohio altogether.

AI is today's version of the Prometheus story—or it could be without proper safeguards focused on individual rights and responsibilities.

Despite the flame-throwing heat in today’s public discourse, it’s actually possible to find agreement—to weigh two conflicting ideas at once. As F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, that is the test of a first-rate intelligence.

Over the last two years, Lumina has supported the REACH Collaborative, which stands for Racial Equity for Adult Credentials in Higher Education and works with community colleges to help adult students of color attain associate degrees and other credentials.