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Twelve states will identify and support training policies that deliver real economic value for taxpayers and individuals.

FutureReady States is a project to improve work

With growing skepticism and doubt about the value of a traditional college degree, many Americans are opting for short-term credentials that offer a quicker route to economic opportunity. But with more than a million certificate programs out there, how can students (or employers, for that matter) know which ones actually lead to better jobs and bigger paychecks?

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.

Shelby Rogers, Ph.D., is the strategy officer for student success for Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Rogers guides Lumina’s strategy to improve retention and completion outcomes for students at four-year colleges and supports them in making lasting, student-centered […]

Jasmine Davis-Randolph, Ph.D., is the strategy officer for research at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. She works across strategy areas, managing grants and synthesizing key learnings from our work to share internally and with the field. Davis-Randolph brings […]

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College students today often face a variety of challenges academic pressures, social and family stresses, financial/ economic hardship stresses, a rapidly shifting technological environment, an increasingly polarized political environment, and more.

In a time of tense scrutiny of higher education, it helps to be reminded why college matters.

Video: Meet Natrielle Shorty and Matthew Reno, biology majors at Adams State University, a public institution that turns its students loose in southern Colorado’s high country to do on-site research. As one administrator puts it: “The mountain ranges are our labs.” And that’s true even for first-year students such as Shorty, who spent hours wading in mountain streams with her freshmen classmates, collecting and studying macroinvertebrates. Reno,
a third-year student, sees huge value in the field trips. “It makes the in-class work more meaningful,” he said. “It’s one thing to take notes, but applying research to a lesson made me realize, ‘Oh, there’s a reason we’re learning this!’”

With its robotics lab, rapid prototyping suite, video studio, and collaborative research spaces, the Innovation Studio marks Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a leader in STEM education.

Colleges and universities categorize learning outside the classroom in multiple ways. Some call it project-based learning. Others use terms such as place-based, community-based, or work-based. Some refer simply to student internships.

Video: Meet five student sleuths from University of Michigan’s Cold Case Partnership. The members of this specially selected group, all majoring in
criminology or criminal justice, work directly with Monroe County Sheriff’s detectives in an effort to crack an unsolved double murder from 1990.

The boxload of typewritten notes, yellowed newspaper clippings, audio cassettes and videotapes might well have been museum pieces for the group of Gen Z students visiting the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

First-year Adams State University student Natrielle Shorty, clad in a pair of hip-length rubber waders, swayed in the rapids of North Crestone Creek, fighting to keep her balance—and her dignity.

We fund editorially independent news coverage to heighten public awareness and understanding of how colleges and universities must evolve to better serve today’s college students.

When it comes to learning—substantive, deep, lasting learning—there’s no substitute for hands-on experience.

Last month, during Mental Health Awareness Month, posters went up on campuses across the country, and social media hashtags trended. Now we’re in June, and the conversation begins to fade—while students’ struggles do not.

Nearly 9 in 10 Americans that currently do not have a degree believe that earning an academic credential is valuable. And yet, there is waning confidence in higher education across the country, as many people ask if they will get a return on their investment. In this episode, we visit Lupita Trujillo, a mother of three, who shares how these decisions sounded in her household. We also review the latest Gallup-Lumina Foundation reports about perceptions of higher education with Dr. Courtney Brown.

The investment analyst will research and analyze investment managers, asset allocation, risk and liquidity, and will evaluate and analyze the foundation’s $1.5 billion endowment.