The Season of Value and The Great Admissions Redesign with Lumina's Melanie Heath

The Lumina Foundation is a private philanthropy foundation that is devoted to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to everyone. One of the things it’s best known for is setting a goal for the nation around post-secondary attainment. That includes Tennessee’s Drive to 55 goal which aims to increase the percentage of working age Tennesseans with a college degree or certificate to 55 percent by 2025. The Drive to 55 served as a launching point for the Tennessee Promise.

In this episode of the At Scale Podcast, Lumina’s Strategy Director for Access Melanie Heath talks about the next big goal Lumina is setting for 2040 and the direction it’s taking to Empower America’s Workforce Through Education and Training. It aligns directly with the tnAchieves vision to taking a human approach to Building Tennessee’s Future Workforce. One key is ensuring students are graduating with credentials of impact/value before entering the workforce. Research shows 84.7% of tnAchieves graduates are living and working in Tennessee after they graduate. These credentials will lead to a more skilled and more prepared workforce, which in turn leads to a more thriving state.

Furthermore, on July 23, 2025, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) announced a partnership with Lumina to redesign of the college admissions process. As part of this pilot, seniors in the Class of 2026 will receive a letter showing which colleges, universities and TCATs have already accepted them without submitting an application. This innovative concept is called Direct Admissions. In Tennessee, it will connect automatic college admissions for students with an estimated financial aid package. The goal is to help students see where they’ve already been accepted to college and how they can afford to enroll.

Tune in to get a better understanding of this process, and how the state of Tennessee continues to lead the way in putting students first by eliminating barriers to post-secondary education.