Indiana selected as finalist for Lumina Foundation grant

Indiana has been selected as one of 11 states to receive a grant to help graduate more students with two- and four-year degrees.

The grant, which is given out through an initiative by the Lumina Foundation for Education, is supposed to help the states proceed with their goals to help make higher education more accessible.

Through the Making Opportunity Affordable Initiative, the Lumina Foundation wanted to make higher education more efficient and cost-effective, said Lumina Foundation Policy Coordinator Kevin Corcoran. There is a need for more people with college educations, he said.  

“Part of our belief as a foundation is: colleges and universities need to start by looking at how they spend their money now, and rather that money is actually being spent to help students get educations,” Corcoran said.  

Indiana, as well as the other 10 states to receive the grant, gets $150,000 this year as a learning year. The Lumina Foundation will give the states support to implement their plans to help graduate more students.

This fall the 11 states will be narrowed down to five, and each will receive a four-year grant worth $2 million to continue to implement their plans on a larger scale. 

Indiana, which was selected as a recipient for the grant out of 37 states that applied, was selected because of its performance-based funding plan. Historically, IU received funding for enrollment rates, which disregarded dropout rates, but the new plan addresses graduation rates, Corcoran said.

Indiana Commission for Higher Education Commissioner Stan Jones said that the state will work with each of the individual state schools, including IU, to ensure that more students will graduate with two- and four-year degrees.  

Current college students will most likely not be affected by the grants because it will take time for the state to implement the plan, Jones said.