College Joins Lumina Foundation Effort to Advance College Completion

Thomas Edison State University is partnering with the Lumina Foundation and six other nonprofit institutions of higher learning that focus on adult learners to explore ways to develop and scale a business model that can be offered nationally to help more nontraditional students leverage their prior learning and complete a college degree.

The collaboration is directly aligned with Lumina’s Goal 2025, which seeks to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality college degrees, certificates or other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.  In support of this goal, Lumina has committed $700,000 to begin the collaborative project.  In addition to Thomas Edison State University, the collaboration also includes Charter Oak College; Colorado State University - Global Campus; Empire State College; Excelsior College; Governors State University; and Granite State College.  The institutions and Lumina are joined in this work by HCM Strategists and Community Wealth Partners.

All seven institutions have a strong focus and core competence in serving adults who have accumulated college credits but did not complete a degree. The goal is to explore how the business model of the institutions can be reimagined, expanded and offered in more states to help more students translate their experiences into a high-quality college degree at a reasonable cost.

“We are honored to participate in this important consortium aimed at improving the quality of our nation’s human capital,” said William J. Seaton, provost and vice president of Thomas Edison State University. “Our goal is to work together and share our best practices to ultimately create a business model that can better serve many more students than any one institution could serve on its own.”

Lumina’s commitment funds the intensive design process and associated market research; it does not fund any individual institution. The goal of the work is to learn from and improve current models building on the unique strengths of the participating institutions, known as “completion colleges,” in order to make the system easier to navigate for adult students, including thousands of returning military members, regardless of where they reside or relocate.