Jamie Merisotis
In 2008, the Lumina Foundation, a national private foundation focused on higher education and workforce development, set a national attainment goal that by 2025 60% of working-age adults would earn college degrees, certificates or industry-recognized certifications. Seventeen years later, the percentage of adults 25 to 64 who have achieved education attainment after high school has increased from 38% to 55%.
“We tried to focus on system change,” said Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina. “Today, of course, we’re facing a fresh set of challenges—rising costs, doubts about job opportunities and things like the influx of artificial intelligence—have caused people to question whether a college degree is really worth it. … We had to rethink how education creates opportunities.”
With that in mind, Lumina has set a new goal with a focus on credentials and their tangible benefit for individuals and society. That goal is by 2040, 75% of working-age adults (25 to 64) in the U.S. labor force will have college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity. Lumina is defining economic prosperity as people earning at least 15% more than the national average for adults with only a high school education. Currently, 44.1% of people have such a credential.
“Today, we’re at another inflection point because college access has improved, but not enough, credential attainment has improved, but not enough,” said Merisotis. “At the same time, questions about the value of degrees and really the time, the expense and the relevance of these programs are in many ways have the potential to undermine progress. Our view is we’ve got to do more to transform higher education, workforce systems in order to meet human talent needs. … Today, we have to make sure that higher education literally serves more people better.”
Dr. Courtney Brown
