The Next Frontier: States and Systems Leading the Way in Admissions Redesign

Today, we are proud to highlight a major expansion in this work. With leadership and generous support from Lumina Foundation, a new cohort of 10 grantees have joined the Great Admissions Redesign (GAR). Backed by more than $3.5 million in funding, these states and systems are working to fundamentally simplify how students access higher education.

Beyond the Enrollment Crisis: A Shift Toward Integration

When the first cohort of GAR began, the work was largely driven by the immediate enrollment crisis facing higher education. However, as enrollment numbers begin to stabilize, an even broader shift is taking place. Leaders are building on initial ideas to reimagine the front door to college as part of a holistic journey.

The second cohort of GAR grantees illustrate how the field is evolving from focusing on improving one piece of the process to a total integration of the student pipeline—intentionally linking admissions strategy to financial aid, advising, and career exploration.

The Power of State and System Leadership

A standout trend in this new cohort is the dominant role of states and systems as the primary agents of change. Because they sit at the intersection of policy and practice, state and system actors are uniquely positioned to create sustainable, scaled, and integrated efforts.

To drive this “structural change,” leadership is focusing on three critical levers:

• Governance: Engaging cross-sector leadership to ensure high schools, colleges, and state agencies are rowing in the same direction.
• Communications: Replacing student uncertainty with clarity by coordinating trusted on-the-ground messengers with transparent, streamlined information platforms.
• Data: Integrating technical systems so that student information—from transcripts to eligibility—flows automatically and securely.

Innovation in Action: Cohort 2 Highlights

Grantees are already putting these principles into practice through bold, scalable ideas:

• The Georgia Governor’s Office of Student Achievement plans to evolve the Georgia Match program from “informed admission” to true direct admission by eliminating application barriers and integrating real-time admissions, financial aid, and career guidance within its Career Navigator platform. This will mean automating admissions confirmation, providing personalized financial aid estimates, and aligning admissions with high-demand career pathways at all public colleges in Georgia.
• The University of Hawai‘i System is working to develop the UH OneApp, a unified portal for all ten campuses. This centralizes communications and expands “navigator” support to ensure rural and underrepresented students have an equitable path to entry.
• The University of Wisconsin System aims to tackle a specific barrier: math pathways. They are using AI-driven processes to review and approve math courses statewide, ensuring students in under-resourced districts have clear, verified routes to direct admission.
• The Minnesota Office of Higher Education is working to modernize the state’s financial aid model. By simplifying the State Grant formula and integrating aid communications with direct admissions, they are making college costs more predictable and accessible earlier in the process.

These are just a few examples of exciting ideas that will be incubating and materializing during this next phase of the Great Admissions Redesign. And importantly, the movement to reimagine admissions writ large is building major momentum; what began as a set of promising ideas in a few states has rapidly evolved into a national movement. Today, nearly 28 states are advancing some form of redesign, impacting an estimated 2.7 million students.

At its core, this work is about more than just a better application form. It is about building a better system and clearer paths for students to reach their postsecondary goals and the futures that lie beyond.