Lumina Foundation sets new goal for higher education achievement

Higher education funder Lumina Foundation is setting an ambitious goal as confidence in higher education decreases in the United States, according to recent surveys.

The Indianapolis-based private foundation’s new goal, announced Tuesday, is for 75% of adults in the U.S. labor force to achieve a college degree or another education credential that leads to economic prosperity by 2040.

The Lumina Foundation defines “economic prosperity” as earning a salary at least 15% higher than the national median annual salary of a high school graduate. The degrees and certificates that lead to those outcomes are what Lumina is calling “credentials of value.”

Jamie Merisotis, CEO of Lumina Foundation, said the initiative responds to “a fresh set of challenges.” Those include rising costs, doubts about job opportunities and the rise of artificial intelligence, all of which have “caused people to question whether a college degree is worth it.”

Since 2008, Lumina Foundation has worked to reach 60% post-high school educational attainment for working-age adults. That goal was slated to end in 2025. Currently, 54.9% of adults in the U.S. have a post-high school credential. In 2008, it was just 38%.

Merisotis called that increase “one of the most significant but least recognized success stories in the last decade and a half.”

However, Lumina Foundation leaders believe questions surrounding the relevance, cost and value of higher education “are undermining, or have the potential to undermine progress,” Merisotis said.

That’s why the new goal is about measuring—and working to increase—the economic value of post-secondary education.

“That’s the concern for most Americans,” said Courtney Brown, Lumina Foundation’s vice president of impact and planning,. “They want an affordable credential that leads to higher earnings and a better job.”

Using 2023 data from the American Community Survey, Lumina Foundation found that 44.1% of adults in the U.S. labor force have some sort of college degree or certificate and earn 15% more than those with just a high school degree.

Lumina’s study group is adults aged 25 to 64 in the labor force. The labor force includes employed people, people looking for work and anyone in the armed services. To land on a percentage, Lumina is dividing the share of Americans with a credential and earning the additional 15% by the total number of Americans in the labor force.

Lumina’s new goal is to increase that by about 31 percentage points in the next 15 years. Merisotis said that work will include making sure that degree programs are aligned with the workforce and reworking how colleges connect students to careers.

“We’re going to be focusing first on trying to build the case for why increasing the number of quality degree and credentialing programs helps students realize their life and career goals, and therefore why the country benefits from that,” he said.

The foundation’s new dashboard also separates the goal by individual states. In Indiana, 43.5% of the labor force aged 25-64 had a post-high school degree, certificate or certification and wages and salaries at least 15% above the high school graduate median.

Founded in 1991, the Lumina Foundation focuses on expanding access to high-quality secondary education for all people. The foundation reported  $1.45 billion in assets in 2023.