The Great Admissions Redesign
Lumina Foundation is seeking to work with states, higher education systems, and groups of colleges and universities ready to transform how potential students apply, enroll, and access their institutions.
Featured Resources
Some highlights of Lumina's work
We're sharing tools and takeaways from our efforts to create a better-educated nation.
A Stronger Nation
We're tracking America's progress toward the nation's 60% attainment goal.
Community College Challenge
The Million Dollar Community College Challenge team is shining a spotlight on the great work of community colleges around the country.
REACH Collaborative
We're supporting community colleges in six states to create short-term credential-to-degree pathways for adults who are Black, Latino, Hispanic, and Native American.
Changing the Narrative on Student Borrowers of Color
A collection of essays from student loan experts sets the record straight on borrowing among students of color.
Community Grants
Our community grants portfolio supports local organizations in our hometown of Indianapolis and around central Indiana.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Hear stories about how HBCU's help students thrive.
Tuition Reimbursement
Meet a few of the workers and employers participating in tuition reimbursement programs.
Lumina Impact Ventures
Lumina Impact Ventures is the Foundation's impact investing arm partnering with mission-aligned social enterprises.
Local Talent Handbook
A guide for local leaders to build talent pool in their communities.
I Want That Job!
A series from WorkingNation on promising career paths for early-career workers
History of Federal Student Aid
A film series documenting the policy and the political origins of federal financial aid programs
Beyond Financial Aid
How colleges can strengthen students’ financial stability, leading to higher completion rates
State Strategy Labs
Lumina supports state leaders’ efforts to increase education levels by offering nonpartisan research, data, peer advice, and technical support.
Degree Qualification Profile
A learning-centered framework for what college graduates should know and be able to do to earn the associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Focus Magazine, Spring 2023: Short and Sweet
April 3, 2023
Shortcomings associated with short-term credentialing programs have for years been neglected. Too often these programs have led to low-wage jobs, including some that workers could have found with no credential at all. People who are Black and brown were routinely tracked into career and technical programs rather than directed toward programs leading to college degrees.…
Young Adults in Registered Apprenticeship
Nov. 8, 2022
Young adults are invaluable members of our labor market and bring critical talent, capacity, skill, and innovation to the workforce. However, many young adults—especially those ages 16-24 from low-income communities—face significant barriers in the labor market. This fact sheet from Jobs for the Future provides resources, key metrics, and more information about how Registered Apprenticeship…
Bundled and Sequenced Supports
Sept. 8, 2022
A closer look at the second pillar of the REACH framework: the importance of bundling and sequencing supports to understand and address the many complexities of the lives of adult students of color.
Part-Time Students Must Be a Full-Time Priority
Aug. 1, 2022
Acting on data about both part-time and full-time students is essential to moving the needle on college completion. It also is an equity issue. Part-time student attainment rates severely lag behind those of their full-time counterparts, regardless of sector or timeframe. And part-time students are disproportionately BILPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, People of Color) students, community…
Re-Imagining What Works for Adult Learners of Color
June 7, 2022
An introduction to the REACH Collaborative, the focus of the effort, and the three pillars that drive the work.
Targeting the Technical
Jan. 7, 2022
Degree reclamation is a proven strategy to capture the momentum of existing credits and put “some college no degree” (SCND) students back on track to a degree. This report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy offers recommendations to help colleges and universities implement practices that yield the greatest benefit to current and former students.
Remote-Ready?
Nov. 12, 2021
Low-income older workers have largely been left out of the dramatic shift toward remote work, potentially cutting off valuable opportunities for greater productivity, flexibility, and economic advancement. This report from Jobs for the Future explores how to make remote work more accessible to these workers as part of the new pandemic-fueled economic landscape.
How to Achieve More Equitable Community College Student Outcomes
Sept. 21, 2021
Hundreds of community colleges have sought to implement whole-college reforms using the guided pathways model, either on their own or as part of a national or state initiative. This report from the Community College Research Center describes the evolution of guided pathways reforms, as well as the next frontiers for guided pathways practice and research.
Digital Skills and Older Workers
Sept. 15, 2021
The acceleration of the shift to online and remote learning and working brings new opportunities, but it also brings the potential for further inequities in the labor market. This report from the Urban Institute documents some of the barriers and opportunities that exist for older workers accessing online programs, with a focus on their digital…
The Adult-Ready Playbook
Sept. 1, 2021
A first-of- its-kind resource from the Education Strategy Group pulls together the most promising strategies for serving adult learners into a single, comprehensive framework—one that fundamentally re-envisions education for this population of students.
Adult Enrollment Design Guide
Aug. 26, 2021
Many states are working to increase college attainment among their residents, and for good reason: College degrees create significant economic opportunity for degree-holders and their communities. But reaching these attainment goals will be impossible if states focus only on recent high school graduates. Increasing attainment among adults is essential as well.
The Comebacker’s Odyssey
Aug. 16, 2021
Forty-five million adults 25 and older in the United States have some college credit but no degree. This relatively invisible group represents 20 percent of the adult population. This report from The Graduate Network! explores the “comebacker’s journey” and the top policy and communication priorities that can help these students return to college and complete…
The Transfer Reset
July 23, 2021
Countless students would agree: The transfer process does not work. Despite sustained efforts to “fix” transfer over the past several decades, the current system continues to produce dismal, inequitable outcomes and unnecessary roadblocks that thwart students’ educational goals. A new report from HCM Strategists, Sova and the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program examines efforts to…
Get Ready
May 19, 2021
California faces a shortfall of more than two million degrees and certificates to meet employers’ needs and promote economic mobility for its residents. This report from California Competes examines which groups of California adults intend to enroll in higher education or training; which types of institutions they are interested in; whether they are interested in…
Busy With Purpose
March 18, 2021
A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research describes common challenges to persistence and college re-entry faced by adult students with children, factors that allow them to go back to school, and, in student-parents’ own words, tangible actions that policy and education leaders should take to better support their success.
A Portrait of Student Parents in the California Community Colleges
March 11, 2021
The path to and through college is challenging for many people, but the challenges are especially acute for students seeking a credential or degree while also raising children. This report from Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research includes details about how student parents differ from their non-parenting peers in their demographics, their…
From Reconnection to Graduation
Feb. 11, 2021
Across Tennessee, more than 595,000 working-age adults have earned college credit but do not have a postsecondary credential. This report from The College System of Tennessee Office of Policy and Strategy aims to build a body of evidence about the challenges that returning adults face, the strategies that promote their success after they return, and…
How Guided Pathways Reforms Can Improve Support for Adult Students
Jan. 11, 2021
Guided pathways reforms are emerging as a promising strategy for improving student outcomes and closing equity gaps at community colleges, but little is known about how the guided pathways approach can help address challenges facing adult students. Drawing on interview data, this report from the Community College Research Center discusses strategies that three guided pathways…
COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility, and Progress: Fall 2020 Final Report
Dec. 21, 2020
A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that the total number of transfer students fell slightly more than 8 percent this year compared to fall 2019. Reverse transfers—four-year college students transferring into two-year colleges this fall—decreased the most, by 19.4 percent.
The PLA Boost
Dec. 1, 2020
Adult students who receive college credits for prior learning are more likely to complete academic programs than their peers without prior learning assessment (PLA) credits, suggests this report from the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Students with PLA also save time and money in earning their degrees, according to the study.