In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Jamie Merisotis, president & CEO of Lumina Foundation, to discuss the foundation’s goal to help more Americans obtain a credential beyond high school, one that leads to lifelong economic stability and prosperity.

One of the core principals of Lumina Foundation’s mission is the idea that “education should remain accessible, valuable, and align with today’s workforce needs.”

In 2008, Lumina set a goal of 60% of working-age adults with college degrees, certificates, or industry-recognized certifications by 2025. Today, the number of adults with one of those credentials of value has risen from 38% to 55%.

“It’s one of the greatest social progress examples that we can see in the last 20 years,” says Merisotis. “That’s led to literally millions of adults being able to get more education training, get new and better jobs in their field, earn more money, and, in general, become better citizens and participants in their community.”

While Lumina celebrates the progress made over the last two decades, Merisotis says the demand for talent in the American labor force has never been higher, with most jobs soon requiring some form of post-high school credential. He points to several studies, including one from Georgetown University forecasting that 72% of jobs by 2031 will require a post-high school credential of some type.

So, Lumina has set a new goal: 75% of adults with a credential of value by 2040. Whether its a college degree or an industry-recognized credential, it needs to ultimately lead to a career with financial stability.

Lumina’s new goal focuses on increasing access, completion, and ensuring credentials have real value in terms of higher wages, career growth, and adaptability.

“The truth is you do earn more and you have more stability and greater long-term security and ultimately prosperity if you get higher credentials. But it doesn’t mean that everyone should start aspiring to a bachelor’s degree. It could be that they need this industry-recognized credential to get them into the labor force or to get them onto the ladder of opportunity.

“What’s really important, in our view, is that people are able to earn family-sustaining wages that allow them to have stability in their lives, but that also gives them a chance to continue to grow.

“We believe that these shorter term credentials, the quality ones, certainly do provide that. The ones that add the wage benefits, et cetera, do that. And at the same time, they create pathways for further learning, which leads to greater advancement,” Merisotis tells me.

In the podcast, we discuss some of the challenges that still exist for Americans trying to obtain those credentials that lead to economic prosperity.

“Access is a combination of things. It’s like a three-legged stool of things that create barriers to access – finance, social, and academic. We tend to focus a lot on the finance side – because costs are high – but we tend not to focus on the real-life circumstances of the students or their shortcomings academically.

“For these students who are low-income, or rural, or coming from communities of color, creating more assurance that the process itself is simpler and easier for them to get through, so that admissions isn’t difficult, is really important.”

Merisotis says that for students who feel marginalized, there needs to be more awareness that there is tutoring, mentoring, and other supports that provide “opportunities for them to be successful when they get in, but also to help them get through.”

Merisotis and I also go deeper into what makes a credential valuable in today’s workforce – yes, we do talk about AI – and how Lumina Foundation intends to achieve its goal of 75% of working-age adults having those credentials in our conversation.

I encourage you to listen!

You can listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find our podcasts on the Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 358: Jamie Merisotis, President & CEO, Lumina Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here