INDIANAPOLIS – 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.
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.
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.
The nation faces an urgent and growing need for talent. To meet that need, many more people must earn college degrees, workforce certificates, industry certifications, and other high-quality credentials. That’s why Lumina Foundation focuses on an ambitious goal for education attainment. We want to ensure that, by 2025, a system exists that is easy to navigate and has helped 60 percent of Americans earn credentials that prepare them for informed citizenship and for success in a global economy.
