Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in Indianapolis, Ind., that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. We envision a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation’s need for talent through a broad range of credentials. Our mission is to prepare people for informed citizenship and for success in a global economy. With an endowment of $1.5 billion, Lumina is the largest philanthropy in the United States focused solely on increasing the share of Americans with credentials beyond the high school diploma. The foundation set a goal that, by 2040, 75 percent of adults in the U.S. labor force will have college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperitywww.luminafoundation.org
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Search complete. 6 mentions across 6 episodes found for "Lumina Foundation".
Oct 5, 2026
Mallory WillseaHOST
So let's get into it.
Mallory WillseaHOST
Every summer, Gallup and Lumina Foundation take the country's temperature on higher ed.
Mallory WillseaHOST
This year, just 38% of Americans say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the sector, and that's down from 42% last year.
Mallory WillseaHOST
Students report something much better.
speaker_2HOST
Really? 'Cause the debt numbers.
speaker_1HOST
Well, if we look at the 2024 Lumina Foundation report, we see a record-breaking 73% of graduates stating their education was definitively worth the cost.
speaker_2HOST
Oh.
speaker_1HOST
Yeah.
Andrea BrandleyGUEST
Yeah.
Andrea BrandleyGUEST
So again, Utah ranks high based on some Lumina Foundation analysis.
Andrea BrandleyGUEST
We have the second highest well-trained and well-educated workforce.
Andrea BrandleyGUEST
This is measured as the share of adults with some sort of post-secondary certificate, certification degree.
Jeff SelingoHOST
So we're going to get started with a quick lightning round first.
Jeff SelingoHOST
So recently, the Lumina Foundation and Gallup came out with a survey that found 57% of college students use AI weekly in coursework.
Jeff SelingoHOST
Yet, as we all know, this spring, we had all these commencement speakers going viral at colleges and universities across the country for getting booed at commencements for praising AI.
Jeff SelingoHOST
So on one hand, you have students who use the tool daily, but yet they reject the celebration of it in the same breath.
Robert FarringtonHOST
If AI use quietly erodes the critical thinking skills that degree is supposed to build, students end up paying record prices for less learning.
Robert FarringtonHOST
How does that make sense? Students already sense the ground shifting a little bit, right? A Gallup and Lumina Foundation survey found 47% of college students have considered switching majors over AI.
Robert FarringtonHOST
An American's confidence in higher education has fallen to just 38%, with AI doubts a named driver of the decline.
Robert FarringtonHOST
The risks translate to K-12 education as well, where many fundamentals of learning need to be built, but heavy dependence on AI tools and online learning tools prevent them from forming.
Carolyn BeelerHOST
The World is supported by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace.
Carolyn BeelerHOST
More information at carnegie.org. By the Lumina Foundation, committed to a fair, universal system for learning beyond high school that offers every American the chance for a better life, luminafoundation.org. By the PRX Ambassador Council, whose members include Dodie and Billy Crockett, Katherine Harris and Tom Kaiser, and Judy Pigott.
Carolyn BeelerHOST
The World's theme music is composed by Ned Porter.
Carolyn BeelerHOST
The World is a co-production of GBH Boston and PRX.