The State of States’ Postsecondary Attainment Goals

In 2009, the Lumina Foundation launched an initiative to increase “the proportion of Americans with high quality degrees, certificates, and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.”^[1] This goal was based on workforce projections from the Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce, and related efforts have been supported by numerous grant-making organizations – including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Helios Education Foundation, and Kresge Foundation – and intermediaries – including Complete College America and the Community College Research Center. Also in 2009, the Obama administration publicly called for an increase in the US college graduation rate and challenged higher education leaders to make the US, once again, the best-educated country in the world.^[2]
 
To achieve these national aims, Lumina encouraged individual states to set their own attainment goals that aligned with the 60 percent national goal and to outline the strategies and policies needed to achieve those goals. By March 2018, 42 states had set attainment goals, and many of those states formulated strategic plans to achieve those goals.^[3] As states’ current attainment rates vary, so do their goals. While some states have adopted Lumina’s national goal outright, others have customized their goals’ thresholds, target populations, and focus credentials.

Massachusetts and Colorado have the highest attainment rate when all postsecondary credentials are counted (including, bachelors, associates, and workforce-relevant certificates). States’ attainment levels are influenced by several factors, including the net migration patterns of educated persons, so states’ goals and approaches to increasing attainment levels naturally vary. Some states’ attainment goals are more ambitious than others – with Oregon’s attainment goal of 80 percent far exceeding other states.

Complete report