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.
The Reality of Free Speech on College Campuses
April 7, 2025
Learn more about student perspectives on free speech on college campuses Despite national debates suggesting that students face suppression of their views on college campuses, the latest Lumina Foundation-Gallup study tells a different story. The Beyond the Headlines: The Reality of Free Speech on College Campuses report finds that most bachelor's degree students, regardless of political…
In Students’ Own Words
Feb. 3, 2025
Research brief summarizes findings from interviews with Black students about the moment they knew they would be successful in their transfer journeys.
Moments of Insight
Jan. 29, 2025
You don’t know the courage it took for your adult students to get into that room, or just to show up virtually, to that classroom. So, try to meet them where they are. See the obstacles that they’ve already overcome. See their goals as strengths. You can turn those strengths from life into strengths in…
Knocking at the College Door
Dec. 10, 2024
Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates has been an important resource for policymakers, decision-makers, researchers, and planners in education and workforce development since the first edition was produced in 1979. The 11th edition includes this comprehensive report and interactive data visualizations.
Is College Worth It?
Nov. 28, 2024
The Pell Institute has released its latest report, Is College Worth It?: Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Student Voices on the Value of Postsecondary Credentials.
Insights from Adult Learners of Color
Nov. 5, 2024
These are pathways which reflect explicit race conscious policies, programs, and practices that actively address racial inequities to ensure student access and success and engage at an individual, system, and structural level to interrogate and ameliorate inequitable experiences and outcomes.
Factors Affecting First-Year Students’ College Choices
Sept. 30, 2024
This brief shares student perspectives on making application decisions, financing college, and choosing to attend their particular institution, helping leaders to understand students’ enrollment decisions and address challenges to postsecondary access.
Listening to Learners
Sept. 24, 2024
Listening to Learners 2024 links student perspectives on learning and support to institution-level practices and technologies. Connecting institutional and student perspectives enables stakeholders and partners to explore their impact on student success, access and equity, and overall institutional satisfaction.
Making Every Rung of the Credential Ladder Count
Sept. 16, 2024
Policymakers and educators have promoted vocational certificate programs at community colleges as an effective way to meet labor market demands and help individuals leave low-wage work.
Why Do Students Choose to Recommend Some Professors
Sept. 12, 2024
This study utilizes data from the ACUE Student Survey, which comprehensively captures information about students’ learning experiences and perceptions of their instructors. Through the analyses of both quantitative ratings and qualitative open-ended responses, this study aims to identify the key factors that shape students’ likelihood of recommending their instructors.
Time for Class 2024
June 12, 2024
This year’s Time for Class details the use of digital learning tools and how these innovations continue to improve access and flexibility in current online, hybrid, and in-person learning environments.
Insights to Support Adult Learners at Community Colleges
April 3, 2024
In partnership with Lumina Foundation and Achieving the Dream, Equal Measure explored strategies that community colleges are using to support adult learners. Our vignette about the Prioritizing Adult Community College Enrollment (PACCE) initiative highlights Colorado Mountain College’s promising progress for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners.
Community Colleges Creating Economic Mobility
March 29, 2024
This brief is a case study of successful efforts by manufacturing certificate programs at two community colleges that have resulted in economic mobility for graduates, especially for people of color. The programs included in this case study had racially diverse student enrollment, high rates of program completion, and favorable labor market outcomes. The findings of…
HBCU Adult Learner Initiative
March 26, 2024
This report provides an overview of best practices discussed across the campuses amongst faculty and staff. The student focus groups’ candidness provided myriad ways institutions can further enhance their campus experience.
Policies and laws: How they’re impacting college enrollment
March 14, 2024
The decision whether and where to pursue a college degree involves several often-competing considerations, and the importance placed on each factor varies across individuals. Layered upon these highly individualized decisions are state-level policies that impact students' on-campus experience.
Institutional Supports for Students with Stranded Credits
Nov. 9, 2023
A student survey evaluates the social realities facing students with stranded credits, how they acquired stranded credits, and what colleges and universities can do to support them better.
Exploring the Transfer Journeys of Over 7,000 Black Community College Students
Oct. 27, 2023
This report offers a selection of highlights from this comprehensive, statewide survey of transfer-intending African American/Black students.
Varying Levels of SUCCESS
Oct. 12, 2023
This report provides updated insight into the SUCCESS program after one year of participation for the first three evaluation student cohorts, covering fall 2020 through summer 2022.
Education for What?
Aug. 30, 2023
Despite enrollment and completion rates declining and Americans' confidence in higher education falling, the economic case for earning a college degree remains solid. College graduates earn about $1 million more over the course of their working years than U.S. adults with no college degree, on average.
Advancing Equity by Rethinking the Use of Tests in College Admissions
July 25, 2023
This brief discusses the equity implications of requiring college applicants to submit an SAT or ACT score as part of their application for admission, considerations for college leaders examining test-optional polices, and ways in which test-free policies may address equity concerns related to standardized tests in college admissions. The brief concludes with recommendations for college…