Resource Archive

College remains a strong financial investment even after accounting for student loan payments: degree holders earn on average $8,000 more per year than similar non-completers when accounting for debt ($10,400 without accounting for debt).

For many students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, college affordability concerns are not new. Generations of Asian American and Hispanic or Latino students have faced unmet need—the gap between what families can afford and what students must pay—that persists long after arriving in the United States. When broad averages mask differences within these groups, policymakers and…

Press Release Guidelines for states participating in Lumina’s State Attainment Collaborative

Despite the Trump administration’s continued assault on colleges and universities, Americans’ confidence and favorability toward colleges and universities has increased from recent lows.

Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances, and performance of education systems in OECD and partner countries.

Faced with a steep demographic cliff and a growing chorus of questions about value, higher education is wrestling with a somewhat unfamiliar question: How can the college admissions process evolve from gatekeeper to gateway?

Community colleges and broad-access universities (those with minimally selective admis­sions policies) provide an opportunity for students across the United States to attain post­secondary degrees and achieve economic mobility. However, graduation rates from such colleges are often low and there are many obstacles that can be difficult to overcome, es­pecially for students who must balance work…

This resource examines the role of stronger data systems in addressing challenges and barriers students must currently overcome to access postsecondary education, highlights efforts states and institutions are undertaking to streamline the admissions process, and identifies best practices that have emerged in the field.

More than 82 million adults 25 years old and over have never enrolled in any postsecondary education, and another 43.1 million adults have some college credits, but no credential. Black, Hispanic, and Native American adults are disproportionately represented in both of these categories. But the fundamental structures and practices of colleges were not built with…

Americans have much more confidence in public colleges and universities than in private ones, accorindg to a new survey by Vanderbilt University’s Project on Unity and American Democracy.

This study sheds light on the motivations, challenges, and successes of the strategies and practices used by a set of postsecondary institutions that have enacted institutional change in support of adult learners of color.

As the postsecondary landscape has changed, it is critical that the field develop a common language through the creation of a typology that can be used to describe the landscape of admissions innovations and the characteristics of each type as the basis to better understand their impact.

An analysis reveals the rapid growth of state investments in short-term credential pathways. Total investments now exceed $5.6 billion across 70 initiatives in 32 states.

Getting a head start on college coursework in high school has become an even more important goal for high school students in recent years, due in part to the rising costs of obtaining traditional four-year college degrees coupled with the disruptions in learning for high school and college students because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One out of every five undergraduate students are caring for one or more children while enrolled in college. That amounts to just over three million undergraduate students, along with nearly a million graduate students with children. Many students, especially those with children, grapple with housing insecurity and homelessness.

Latino students in Texas make informed, pragmatic choices to afford college, often shaped by state policy and institutional practice, says a new brief from Excelencia in Education.

What happens when student parents receive the financial, institutional, and emotional support they need to excel in college? They don’t just earn degrees—they lead, innovate, and uplift their communities.

Private, nonprofit colleges and universities continue to significantly discount their published prices for undergraduates, according to a new study from the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

The urgent need to build a strong pipeline of career-ready high school graduates is growing rapidly, just as more parents, students, and employers are questioning the value of traditional higher education.

A new survey from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that more than half of student loan borrowers consider themselves financially insecure, with an overwhelming majority (74 percent) of borrowers saying they had experienced at least one negative financial event in the last 12 months—such as not being able to pay the full amount due on…