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.
Lumina Fact Sheet
March 28, 2025
Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. We envision a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation’s need for talent through a broad range of credentials. Our goal is to prepare people for informed citizenship and success…
The Leadership Model of Philanthropy
March 10, 2025
As our global society grows more complex and the need for greater economic and social opportunity more pronounced, the role of philanthropy becomes ever more important — and more nuanced. The days are long past when the field of philanthropy could pin its hopes solely on grantmaking and other means of providing direct service or…
Lumina Foundation Strategic Plan 2025 to 2040
March 4, 2025
By 2040, 75 percent of adults in the U.S. labor force will have college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity.
Student Basic Needs Survey Report (2023-2024)
Feb. 25, 2025
This report shares findings from 91 institutions across 16 states that participated in Hope Impact Partnerships (HIP) and fielded The Hope Center Student Basic Needs Survey between Spring 2023 and Summer 2024.
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…
Reorienting Colleges Toward Student-Centered Practices
Jan. 29, 2025
As policymakers in the higher education policy community look for ways to improve the higher education system so that it better meets students’ needs, they should draw on lessons from the health care sector and its patient-centered care model, states this report from the Center for American Progress. By focusing on the holistic needs of…
Flexible, Holistic Approaches
Jan. 27, 2025
Suppose postsecondary spaces, campuses, curricula, and classrooms (hybrid, virtual, or traditional) are deeply held as bastions of opportunity, growth, and pipelines to economic growth in and for our communities. In that case, we must examine the message of the late bell hooks. How do we facilitate welcome? How have we established ourselves as a place…
State Priorities for Higher Education in 2025
Jan. 27, 2025
Public higher education leaders enter the 2025 legislative sessions in an environment marked by both stability and uncertainty. The national economy remains on solid footing with low unemployment and cooling inflation, but the sizable state budget surpluses that have defined the post-pandemic era have given way to deficits in many states. The 2024 elections did…
Strategies Colleges Can Use to Support Student Navigation
Dec. 19, 2024
Navigation supports are the actions college staff take to help students navigate their college experience, persist, and succeed in college. Examples include advising, mentoring, orientation programming, and other approaches that provide information, as well as access and connections to support services useful for getting ahead. Effective student navigation interventions support persistence, build students’ social capital,…
The Net Benefits of Raising Bachelor’s Degree Completion through the City University of New York ACE Program
Dec. 18, 2024
Bachelor’s degree attainment is one of the most reliable indicators of an individual’s future economic and social advantage. Four-year college graduates earn more, pay more in taxes, practice healthier behaviors, and are more likely to vote and volunteer. Despite these documented benefits, gaps in BA attainment have widened over time, even as overall rates of…
Geography of Opportunity
Dec. 17, 2024
Public broad access institutions (BAIs) play an important role in expanding educational opportunities and promoting upward mobility; however, not all communities have equal access to BAIs. This inequality affects where students go to college—it even affects how they get there, how much they pay, and whether they complete their degrees.
Preparing Today’s Youth for the Jobs of the Future
Dec. 13, 2024
The United States is experiencing unprecedented investment in infrastructure, semiconductor, and climate careers, along with a surge in technological innovations and automation. It’s a turning point for the future of work; the careers of tomorrow will look vastly different from those of prior generations.
Silence in the Classroom
Dec. 11, 2024
A new report from the foundation for Individual Rights and Expression finds that faculty members are four times more likely to self-censor than they were in the 1950s at the height of the Cold War and McCarthyism.
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.
The Student Loan Default Divide
Dec. 10, 2024
Black and Hispanic student loan borrowers experience disproportionate repayment challenges compared to their white peers, says this report the Pew Charitable Trusts shows.
Strong Relationships
Dec. 5, 2024
Culturally Sustaining Processes involve a range of practices that acknowledge the different lived experiences of marginalized populations. Historically underrepresented populations may include low-income students, first-generation students, adult learners, students of color, and women in STEM, with students often having intersecting identities that include more than one category of marginalization.
Empowering Environments
Dec. 4, 2024
In the wake of multiple pandemics (including COVID-19 and racial injustice), community college leaders have increasingly sought to be forward-leaning on issues of equity, reflecting a significant step forward in advancing social justice. However, prominent and frequently used frames and approaches, like anti-racist frameworks, may ultimately fall short of producing the type of leadership necessary…
College Students Who Voted for Trump Were Twice as Likely to Rely on Podcasts for News
Dec. 3, 2024
A new poll from Intelligent.com shows that college students who voted for Donald Trump in November 2024 were twice as likely to get their news from podcasts as those who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Communicating about Lumina Foundation
Dec. 2, 2024
Lumina Foundation believes communication has the power to amplify its work by building awareness and deepening understanding of our strategies. The foundation’s communications team wants to aid our partners in sharing lessons from projects.