@luminafoundation.bsky.social
We’re a private foundation committed to increasing the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity to 75 percent by 2040. Learn more about our work and mission: www.luminafoundation.org/
Community colleges drive local economies, improve health, and strengthen democracy, yet these contributions rarely count in value measurement.
This new project redefines success for open-access colleges by capturing their real impact on communities. Download the report to see this new framework:
Higher education’s job is to teach students how to think, not what to think.
As Gerardo Martí writes in this Inside Higher Ed piece, universities must be curators of knowledge, not platforms for unchecked ideology.
Protecting that mission matters for learning, fairness, and democracy.
The fact that fewer students now expect to go to college than at any point in the past 20 years isn't a shift in ambition. It’s a sign that the systems meant to support opportunity are failing, and we can't ignore those signs.
10.10.2025 15:29 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Leaders like Morgan State University President and Lumina Foundation board member David K. Wilson don't just guide institutions; they transform them.
This great Q&A from Capital B showcases how he leads with clarity, courage, and community in mind.
Read the full piece:
Rick Kahlenberg, long a critic of race-based affirmative action, warns that Trump's push to ban race-neutral tools could lead to the resegregation of higher education.
"Most people like racial diversity. They just didn’t want racial preferences as the means of getting there," he said.
Why does Lumina, a foundation focused on education after high school, invest in local journalism?
Lumina President and CEO Jamie Merisotis joined American Journalism Project CEO Sarabeth Berman this morning for a frank chat about the value of local news and the civic infrastructure it creates.
Please join us at noon EDT today to learn how your institution can apply for a new funding opportunity in Career-Connected High-Impact Practices (HIPs), designed to expand access in inclusive, intentional ways that align with workforce needs.
Register now:
"People want it. They value it. But they don’t trust the current system can deliver it," Lumina Vice President of Impact and Planning Courtney Brown said.
To rebuild confidence in higher ed, we need a system that’s accessible, transparent, and built for today’s students.
Rewarding the wrong values, The Washington Monthly Editor Paul Glastris said, gives a "hot nightclub idea of what a college is." So they took a different path, focusing on affordability, public service, and upward mobility.
Let's stop asking who’s the most elite and start asking who’s delivering.
Career-connected experiences like internships, research, and service learning build real-world skills and make learning more meaningful.
That's why we're excited to launch a new grant opportunity to scale this work.
Please join us for a webinar at 12 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 8, to learn more:
Freedom to learn depends on freedom to teach, but when that's at risk, transparency, inquiry, and trust erode.
These campaigns distract from the real work of helping students learn and thrive, and could prevent students from the education they need to build a fair, secure, and prosperous future.
At the Athens Democracy Forum this week, Lumina’s Jamie Merisotis joined a global panel on “Silencing the Academy.” The conversation covered higher ed’s enduring value and underscored why defending academic freedom is vital to protecting democracy and creating fair learning opportunities.
02.10.2025 16:52 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Fresh eyes offer clarity into just how much higher ed is shifting:
The data doesn’t always match reality.
The value of college is too often reduced to dollars.
And too many students are left out of the picture.
Degrees still deliver. It’s the systems around them that must change. And while we're at it, let's archive the myth of the "overeducated American."
Nate Weisberg's @Washington Monthly Washington Monthly piece is a great look at this narrative and what we can do about it:
Quote of the Day: “The U.S. is an example of frogs in the boiling water when it comes to talent.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/p...
Colleges can’t serve adult learners with minor tweaks or adjustments. Progress will mean institutional overhauls to design with today's students in mind.
For the 43 million Americans with some college but no degree, many of them Black, Hispanic, Latino, and Native American, this work is urgent.
Too many adults in rural communities are ready to return to college, but colleges aren’t reaching them.
We’ve launched a new initiative with CollegeAPP and StrategyForward Advisors to support six rural colleges as they reimagine how they connect with adults who left college before finishing.
Let's turn "I don't think I can get in" into "I'm going to college.
We're investing nearly $3.3M in states, systems, and colleges ready to transform admissions. Join our webinar at 2 p.m. EDT Sept. 30 to learn more about this funding opportunity. https://bit.ly/4mqvxIv
Short-term credentials only work when they deliver real, genuine value for students. That means better wages, job stability, and career growth. We must design short-term programs with today’s students in mind and alongside employers to connect learning to real careers.
12.09.2025 19:54 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0"Freedom to give is not about politics. It's not about ideology. It's about people." https://cof.org/page/public-statement-philanthropy
#UniteInAdvance
"The admissions process is acting as a gatekeeper instead of a gateway. There was this really unique opportunity for us to fundamentally just change the system."
And they did.
More than 2 million students now have access to redesigned admissions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4qdL-QCYs&t=3794s
This piece from the @chronphilanthropy.bsky.social does an excellent job of telling the story of the @luminafoundation.bsky.social approach to philanthropy - with a laser-like focus on catalyzing the nation toward a quantitative, time-limited goal www.philanthropy.com/article/this...
03.09.2025 13:39 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Please join us at 1 p.m. EDT today as we go live with a special recording of our "Today's Students, Tomorrow's Talent podcast."
We’ll share what we've learned in the first year of the Great Admissions Redesign, a nationwide effort to rethink college admissions from the ground up.
Register now:
The @luminafoundation.bsky.social threw almost all its resources at changing one metric. Now, with its holy grail in sight, it's making the goal even harder to reach.
https://phlnthrp.com/46iHJWZ
Please join us at 1 p.m. EDT today as we go live with a special recording of our "Today's Students, Tomorrow's Talent podcast."
We’ll share what we've learned in the first year of the Great Admissions Redesign, a nationwide effort to rethink college admissions from the ground up.
Register now:
In its Labor Day special, @theworld.org examines the value of American higher education at a time of deep uncertainty.
The global impact of U.S. education is clear. What’s at stake is whether America continues to open or close doors for students.
Take a listen:
"Our ambition for outcomes and driving toward results means that we have to see ourselves differently. We do have to see ourselves as not just grant makers, not just cash registers with a conscience," Lumina President and CEO Jamie Merisotis told The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
03.09.2025 12:33 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
ICYMI: Our Labor Day special offers an in-depth examination of the value of an American higher education for international students and the challenges they now face in studying in the US. We also hear about American faculty and researchers faced with funding cuts and a potential brain drain.
02.09.2025 13:00 — 👍 4 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
The US economy could lose $7 billion in spending and 60,000 jobs as a result of the bans and restrictions imposed by the White House on international students. That is according to NAFSA, the Association of International Educators.
01.09.2025 22:11 — 👍 16 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 0
Our Labor Day special offers an in-depth examination of the value of an American higher education for international students and the challenges they now face studying in the US. We also hear about American researchers faced with funding cuts and a potential brain drain.
Tune in 📻 bit.ly/3xyRRfD
