The comeback starts here: How university leaders are reclaiming the future of higher ed

After the shocks of 2025, it’s time for a higher education comeback.

Colleges get it. We need to protect the vitals of any higher education sector worthy of the name, but also to enliven old tenets and address new expectations. “Tell our story better,” and tell a better story.

Take the Initiative

The litany of challenges is familiar: softening enrollment, uninspiring completion rates, and concerns about value-for-money and return-on-investment; not to mention the headaches of politicization, federal rebuke, and the AI earthquake.

Higher education and its leaders, faculty, and staff feel misunderstood and underappreciated. No one dismisses the problems, but palpable at the institutional level are also the gutsy innovations, the priceless relationships, and the student lives transformed.

The current administration put forward a (widely rejected) “compact” in the fall, an attempt to reset relations and formalize priorities. But the strength of American higher education is decentralization, a multitude of models and institutional types — a cultural movement, not a bureaucratic or partisan instrument.

A grand compact is unlikely to come to the rescue, but the pressures are real. Higher education leaders know they cannot sit back.

Higher education is the victim of its own success. America was the first nation to embrace mass higher education, turning the sector into a ladder of opportunity for the many. College matters to everyone: who gets in, what type of school they attend, what is taught, what it costs, and what is the value for students, taxpayers, and society. Colleges are the targets of so much criticism because higher education is so important.

Higher education still has a great story to tell:

Degree attainment continues to grow as a share of the adult population.
Contrary to the hype, non-degree credentials (as highest education attainment) are marginal (and losing share).
Average net tuition has been flat this decade.
College graduate unemployment and underemployment rates are stable (and similar to those of a generation ago when degree attainment rates were much lower).
Adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher are by far the most likely to have well-paid jobs.
Americans’ loyalty to “my” college is as strong as ever.

Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, College Board, Lumina Foundation.

As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, what better time to recommit to higher education’s contribution to American exceptionalism through free inquiry, cutting-edge research, and access to opportunity?

Colleges need to tell “this” story better but also acknowledge where the narrative must change.

More data, yes, but the story must resonate with the intended audience. Degree + skills, yes, but the new offer cannot be longer and more expensive. More online learning, yes, but modality innovation must drive experiential transformation, not just convenience. Embrace AI, yes, but it’s a distraction if it does not boost learning and cut costs. Lower tuition, yes, but tuition that does not even keep up with inflation is not sustainable without demand and productivity breakthroughs.

The Winds of Change

What would it mean for higher education to take the initiative on some of the most strategic and contested topics at the top of the sector’s to-do list?

Topics such as:

Class-Conscious Admissions: Could class-conscious admissions be the best and fairest way to diversify college campuses?
Higher Education, Workforce Development, & AI: How do we examine the shifting boundaries between higher education and workforce development, evolving demand for hard versus soft skills, and the truth of the impact of AI on education and employment? 
Strategic Storytelling: How do enrollment teams reach new heights of authenticity and distinction?
Navigating the Political Landscape: Where is federal higher education policy headed next, given the funding outlook, litigation prospects, plans of congress, and mid-term forecasts?
A New Campus Climate: Higher education leaders must begin to heal our nation’s fractured ideological landscape. Making college campuses cradles of dialogue and understanding is vital if higher education is to navigate back to the center ground.

Join the Colleges Making the Comeback

There are no easy answers, but colleges and universities must recommit to fundamentals, reframe contested issues, and find a firmer footing in our fracturing world.

Again, “tell our story better,” but also tell a better story.

Higher education endures, predating our nation’s founding and outlasting wars and depressions, nurturing leaders and shaping American identity despite perpetual change and uncertainty. American higher education is still great, and our future holds great promise.

Leaders across the country are gathering in Chicago this June 15-17 for Eduventures Summit 2026, higher education’s premier thought leadership event, to take control of higher education’s narrative and pave the way for a brighter future.

Join these leaders at Eduventures Summit with top-notch keynotes and discussions on — among other topics — class-conscious admissions, AI in the classroom, storytelling, federal policy, and campus climate. Learn more and register at encoura.org/summit.