Stronger Nation

Today's Students Education Levels

College degrees grow. See for yourself in our user-friendly tool.

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 […]

Courtney Brown

• Feb. 5, 2024

Today's Credentials Workforce Training

Short-term credentials leading to pay increases fell, highlighting the need for programs to pay off.

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.

Jamie Merisotis

• Jan. 31, 2024

Today's Credentials

A Stronger Nation: New Federal Data Show More Adults Earning College Degrees

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.

Jan. 31, 2024

Today's Credentials Bachelor's Degrees

Why counting degrees matters

The new data are clear: More Americans are learning and training beyond high school to pave powerful paths to well-paid jobs. But progress amid challenges is slow, leaving too many adults without college degrees or other credentials to struggle in their careers and lives.

Courtney Brown

• Feb. 3, 2023

Today's Credentials Bachelor's Degrees

Lumina set a bold goal for a better-educated country 15 years ago. It worked.

In 2008, when Lumina Foundation committed to at least 60 percent of U.S. adults earning college degrees and other credentials by 2025, we did something that set us apart from most national funders.

Jamie Merisotis

• Jan. 27, 2023

Today's Credentials Bachelor's Degrees

More adults earning college degrees, new federal data show

Lumina Foundation today released an updated A Stronger Nation, the foundation’s online tool for tracking the share of working-age adults with degrees or other credentials of value. The national post-high school education rate among adults 25 to 64 years old reached 53.7 percent in 2021, an increase of nearly 2 percentage points since 2019 when the percentage was 51.9.

Feb. 1, 2023