Three focus areas for driving national attainment among adult learners

In early April, nearly 500 institutional leaders, researchers, funders, and student success practitioners convened in Washington, D.C., for the Celebrating and Accelerating Attainment: 2025 & Beyond event. The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) was the managing partner for the two-day event, along with support from nine philanthropies. 

The convening focused on accelerating postsecondary degree and credential attainment, and highlighted ways higher education leaders and stakeholders will need to pivot in order to serve students better and drive completion.

“Center student voice, not in a performative way, but in an authentic way,” said Dr. Karen Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream. “In times of uncertainty, we really need to go back to our roots and understand the students we’re serving.”

Stout was among other panelists who discussed the need for student-centered solutions, including operational adjustments, and requiring leaders to assess and eliminate unnecessary processes and procedures that end up being hurdles for students, particularly those from underserved communities.

During the convening, Dr. Mike Flores, chancellor of Alamo Colleges District, talked about the value of degrees and credentials being multifaceted.

“It’s about return on investment, yes, but also, about the benefit to individuals and their families, the value to employers, and the economic impact generated through increased wages tied to that credential,” Flores said.

Attendees also heard about the need for investing in data and resources and how data can help institutions “identify and remove barriers to degree or credential attainment.” According to an IHEP press release, “discussion also called for stronger alignment between education and workforce data systems to ensure credentials connect meaningfully with career pathways.” 

In his recent Postsecondary Success Notes, Patrick Methvin, director of postsecondary success at the Gates Foundation, said the event was a “moment to reflect on where we’ve been, and where the field is heading next to continue advancing postsecondary value.”

The rise in college attainment, Methvin said, has been “driven by years of  coordinated work across philanthropy, policymakers, practitioners, advocacy organizations, and institutions.”

“We’ve made real progress and there’s more work to do,” he said. 

Nearly two decades ago, the Lumina Foundation set a goal for 60% of working-age adults in the country to have a degree, certificate, or industry-recognized certificate by 2025. When the goal was set in 2008, only 38% of adults held one. From 2008 to 2025, the number of 25-to-64 year-olds who hold a postsecondary credential grew from 38% to 55%.

In March, the Lumina Foundation announced a new national attainment goal, to increase the number of adults in the United States with college degrees or credentials of value to 75% by 2040. In North Carolina, the statewide attainment goal is for 2 million North Carolinians aged 25-44 to hold an industry-valued credential or postsecondary degree by 2030. 

In his post, Methvin reflected more on the convening, sharing three themes that stood out and their importance in the national attainment story. 

First, alignment matters. Methvin shared how philanthropy and advocacy need to move in the same direction. Some of that alignment, he said, looks like building better data systems at the state and federal level, establishing common-sense indicators of value, and advocating for policies that ensure ongoing progress. 

“Whether it’s identifying thresholds for economic return, pushing for better transparency in program-level outcomes, or improving how cost and success data are shared, our work is increasingly coordinated to help students — and particularly students from low-income backgrounds and communities of color — access credentials that pay off in the workforce and in life,” Methvin said. 

Second, states are key to this work. Methvin explained that translating innovation to impact requires scale and that scale happens first at the state level. 

And third, courage counts. Methvin said that expressing clear values and creating conditions for partners, those closest to students, to do their best work is important. 

“Every student should leave college better off — academically, economically, and in life,” Methvin said. 

Emily Thomas

Emily Thomas is the Director of Postsecondary Attainment for EducationNC.