Resource: The Great Admissions Redesign
Lessons Learned from Year One
Faced with a steep demographic cliff and a growing chorus of questions about value, higher education is wrestling with a somewhat unfamiliar question: How can the college admissions process evolve from gatekeeper to gateway?
In 2023, Lumina Foundation launched The Great Admissions Redesign, seeking the country’s most innovative ideas for transforming admissions. Lumina challenged states, systems, and institutions to propose bold approaches to simplifying and automating processes that have historically expected students and their families to carry much of the burden. From a pool of more than 70 applicants across 32 states, Lumina awarded three implementation grants and four planning grants to leading thinkers and practitioners across seven different states. Throughout the past year, ESG and other national experts provided the grantees with coaching and support as they worked to advance their ambitious visions.
This report unpacks six major lessons from a year of innovative work across the grantees. Check it out to learn more about their unique approaches and key strategies that can help transform admissions into a proactive tool to bring students in rather than filter them out.
