Lumina Foundation invests over $3.5 million to simplify college admissions and expand student access

INDIANAPOLIS, April 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For decades, students have been expected to navigate a complex, fragmented path into college: managing applications, financial aid, transcripts, and deadlines across multiple systems. Lumina Foundation is working to flip that model. Through its Great Admissions Redesign initiative, Lumina today announced over $3.5 million in grants to 10 states, systems, and institutions that are leading a national shift to make admissions simpler, more proactive, and student-centered.

The 10 selected grantees are:

Implementation Grants

• Georgia Office of Student Achievement
  
  
• Washington Student Achievement Council
  
  
• University of North Carolina System
  
  
• University of Hawaii System
  
  
• Idaho State University, College of Eastern Idaho, College of Southern Idaho

Planning Grants

• Tennessee Board of Regents
  
  
• Universities of Wisconsin
  
  
• Minnesota Office of Higher Education
  
  
• Technical College System of Georgia
  
  
• Miami Dade College, St. Petersburg College, Indian River State College

These grants support both implementation and planning efforts to redesign how students access and navigate higher education. Projects focus on integrating admissions, financial aid, advising, and enrollment systems to create more seamless, student-centered experiences.

"Across the country, we're seeing real momentum to rethink how students access college," said Melanie Heath, Lumina strategy director. "This cohort reflects a clear shift from fragmented fixes to coordinated, student-centered systems. By aligning admissions with financial aid and other key processes, these efforts have the potential to remove longstanding barriers and help many more students successfully enroll and thrive."

The Great Admissions Redesign reflects a broader national push to increase post-high school attainment and advance Goal 2040, which aims for 75 percent of working-age adults to hold a credential of value that leads to economic prosperity. By simplifying admissions and reducing friction in the transition from high school to college, these efforts are designed to help more learners enroll, persist, and complete programs that lead to meaningful economic opportunity.

Many of the selected projects build on the growing use of direct admissions—proactively offering students acceptance based on available data—as a foundation for broader systems change. By connecting direct admissions with financial aid, advising, and other supports, grantees are working to create end-to-end pathways that better serve today's learners.

"Students are telling us that higher education can deliver real value, but too many still face unnecessary complexity getting there," said Debra Humphreys, Lumina's vice president of strategic engagement. "These grants are about meeting students where they are and designing systems that work for them, not the other way around. If we're serious about expanding access and simplifying admissions, we have to remove the barriers that keep millions of people from enrolling and completing."

Together, these efforts represent a shift from isolated improvements to coordinated, scalable solutions that can expand access and success across states and systems.

For more information about Great Admissions Redesign, visit https://www.luminafoundation.org/admissions-redesign/

About Lumina Foundation

Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. We envision higher learning that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation's talent needs through a broad range of credentials. We work toward a system that prepares people for informed citizenship and success in a global economy.

SOURCE Lumina Foundation