News Archive

Three years ago, Lumina Foundation launched the REACH Collaborative with a very clear and specific goal: to increase the number of Black, Hispanic and Latino, and Native American adults with quality credentials and degrees. Alongside our partners, we welcomed more than 100 community colleges in six states into the collaborative and supported them in implementing the REACH Framework, which includes three pillars.

The 2024 #FAFSA season was rough. Released late, riddled with errors, and dogged by processing issues, the launch of a simplified form led to a chaotic college enrollment season for students, families, and colleges.

Today, nearly 55 percent of working-age adults in the United States hold a degree or credential beyond high school—a milestone highlighted in the most recent 2023 data from A Stronger Nation, Lumina Foundation’s annual “report card” tracking educational progress.

Amid growing concerns over student debt and skepticism over the value of a degree, many students find themselves asking: Is college worth the time and money?

A shift to skills-based hiring is a good development, but don’t be fooled—the advantage for college-educated workers will continue to grow, Jamie Merisotis writes.

The end-of-year news retrospectives are over, and the “what’s ahead” predictions are wilting faster than New Year’s party flowers. But one significant 2025 milepost got little notice: Generation Z, the world’s largest generation, now makes up more than a quarter of the global labor force.

Community colleges around the country have found new ways to recruit and connect with students, and now they can show off tactics that work.

In this episode of Sparking Equity, host Lande Ajose explores the critical role higher education can play in addressing the climate crisis while advancing equity. Joined by Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president and CEO of the College Futures Foundation, and Jamie Marisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, this thought-provoking discussion delves into actionable strategies for colleges and universities to empower underserved communities, foster climate literacy, and turn knowledge into meaningful action. The episode highlights the intersection of climate change, equity, and education—and what leaders, students, and communities can do to shape a sustainable future.

Educational certificates, which have been around for decades, have become increasingly popular among students looking to gain skills to move up in their careers, or switch jobs.

The so-called “enrollment cliff” we’ve been waiting a generation for is nearly here, and we now have clear and detailed projections to help us as we prepare to reach the edge.

Higher education has an opportunity to use this moment of extreme stress to pursue genuine, urgently-needed systemic change.

We know what works when it comes to helping adult learners of color thrive at college. We know because they’ve told us what they need. The hard part is changing to meet those needs with practical solutions.

Half a year after the Class of 2024 donned caps and gowns, even some highly skilled graduates are struggling to find jobs in their field or at the level they expected.

Enormous questions confront America in this historic presidential year. But regardless of who moves into the Oval Office in January, we know this much: America will need more from our colleges and universities in 2025, not less, and we need to plan for that.

Marketers love them. Politicians court them. Colleges want them—badly. For the 69 million members of Gen Z in America, things might finally be looking up.

The devastation of recent hurricanes in the U.S. Southeast brings a sobering reminder that none of us can ignore the growing dangers of climate change. Hurricanes Helene and Milton gained intensity from warming ocean temperatures, to catastrophic and deadly effects on parts of the country that once felt safe from these types of threats.

Medical billing, supply chain management, web design and development—name a field, and there’s probably a course available to learn it. Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of workforce credentials—degrees, certificates, badges, apprenticeships—over 1 million nationwide by one count. They are offered by nearly 60,000 providers, ranging from week-long courses to programs extending over months or years.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: American higher education is failing millions of people, and the cracks grow deeper by the day.

Football games, open houses, booths selling swag—it’s fall homecoming season on college campuses, and your alma mater is eager to show off its athletic accomplishments, its new energy-efficient buildings, and its innovative academic programs. A goal of these perennial pep rallies, of course, is to raise money—the hope being that alums will be sufficiently moved by the old school spirit to open their wallets wide.

In this episode of the Innovating Together podcast, Bridget Burns, CEO of the University Innovation Alliance and Sara Custer, Editor-In-Chief of Inside Higher Ed are joined by Lumina President and CEO, Jamie Merisotis.

I found out the hard way that family income doesn’t predict a student’s college financial aid needs. As a first-generation college student, navigating the college financial aid system was very challenging. From the technical jargon to the tedious forms, I heavily relied on my mother, who previously sought student aid for herself and my older brother. Ultimately, I began my college career at the University of Georgia through a combination of federal, state, and private financial aid. 

Higher education and workforce leaders from more than 30 states gathered this week in Baltimore to explore national trends related to education and training after high school, equitable public financing and individual benefits, and the value and purpose of colleges and universities in American society.

Given that higher education is all about developing critical thinking skills and challenging assumptions, educators should welcome the increasingly tough questions about the value of college degrees.

Colleges and universities are facing a demographic shift now dubbed the “enrollment cliff.”  Concerns over a decline in the number of traditional age students has led some institutions to rethink admissions processes.

Some of the nation’s biggest tech companies have announced efforts to reskill people to avoid job losses caused by artificial intelligence, even as they work to perfect the technology that could eliminate millions of those jobs.

North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) built a distinguished history of serving adult learners with a clear, caring focus on students’ needs—and now they are leading the way for others to follow.

Lumina Foundation has selected the winners of its mini-grant opportunity through its first-ever Instagram challenge.

This country is in a crisis of confidence in our higher education system.

Students are deeply concerned about college costs and the availability of jobs—but even so, more people than ever are interested in higher education. That’s the news from Gallup’s State of Higher Education 2024 report—and the fact that both those can be true says a lot about higher education in these turbulent times.

Flexible. Supportive. Innovative. Effective. Community colleges are all of these things as they prepare millions of students for in-demand jobs.