STUDENT PREPAREDNESS

The United States faces the challenge of increasing the annual production of individuals with a college degree. By 2025, the gap between the number of college degrees that the United States expects to produce and the number needed to compete with the best-performing nations is projected to reach nearly 16 million college degrees—an increase of 60 percent. More »

An essential step in this process is bridging the divide between K-12 and higher education. Lumina's grantmaking focuses on student success in postsecondary institutions. However, we recognize that our work involves helping K-12 education systems create a student preparedness agenda, which includes greater accountability for elevating both the expectations and educational attainment of students in the United States. Among our objectives are the following:

Academic readiness. Students must meet college-readiness standards. This includes promoting efforts to ensure high school students—especially underrepresented groups such as students of color, low-income families and first-generation students—are academically and socially prepared to enter college and succeed without remediation.
College knowledge. Students need to know what it takes to get to college. This involves creating access to career information, college-preparation and planning guidance and mentoring relationships.
Financial access. Students and their families must have the financial information and resources to enter and graduate from college. This entails reducing the "information divide" that prevents many students from attaining their higher education goals.