When Compassion Drives Completion
The big picture: Students carry life with them into learning. Family responsibilities, health crises, and loss don’t pause for coursework—and too often, these challenges derail even the most determined learners. Why it matters: Compassionate design in higher education...
REQUIRED READING
Recent Stories
Redesigning Affordability to Make College Work for Students
The problem College costs have outpaced earnings for decades, and the system that determines them is too complex for students to navigate. Affordability can’t just mean cutting expenses — it must mean redesigning higher education around the needs of learners. The idea...
Student Voices Matter More Than Ever
The big idea November is all about Student Voices—the stories and perspectives that remind us why innovation in higher education must start with the learner. Why it matters Students are the pulse of every conversation about change. Their lived experiences cut through...
Mastery Over Minutes: Modernizing Federal Aid for Today’s Learners
Why it matters: Higher education still measures learning by time—the Carnegie Unit. But “seat time” doesn’t reflect what students actually know or can do. The shift: Competency-Based Education (CBE) measures mastery, not minutes. It’s built for working parents,...
Designing Easier Paths to Student Success
The big picture: Chancellor David Andrews from UMass Global and President Brian Blake of Georgia State University, reframed what it means to make higher education easier. It’s not about lowering standards — it’s about smarter design, stronger connections to work, and...
Boston 2025: Action and Alignment
The big picture: At the Presidents Forum Boston 2025 meeting, higher ed leaders, researchers, and policymakers came together to confront the defining challenges shaping the future of colleges and students — from declining enrollment and public trust to the governance...
AI, Cheating Services, and the Fight for Academic Integrity
The big picture: Artificial intelligence hasn’t changed what academic integrity means—submit your own work, credit sources—but it’s made violations easier, faster, and harder to detect. The result: a new arms race to preserve credential credibility. Driving the news:...
Designing for Persistence: Embracing a Student-Centered Approach to Completion
By Gregory W. Fowler, PhD, with Susan Hawkins-Wilding and Matthew Belanger At University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), we serve a population with extraordinary potential and complexity—adults in the workforce and the military, career changers, first- generation...
Redefining College Completion Through Partnership and Persistence
The big picture Higher education has a completion problem—and a completion opportunity. Only 62% of students finish a four-year degree within six years. Another 43 million Americans have college credit but no credential. Why it matters Degrees change lives—but only if...
Reducing Friction in Higher Ed
The big picture: Higher education was built for a different era. Today’s students expect the same simplicity they find everywhere else—but too often, they get roadblocks instead. Why it matters: When institutions cling to outdated processes, students lose time, money,...
Workforce Pell Panel
The big picture: Rosemary Lahasky, Vice President of U.S. Government Relations at Pearson, and Mary Jane (MJ) Michalak, Vice President of Government Relations at Ivy Tech Community College, discussed the new Workforce Pell expansion—an historic change allowing Pell...
October Executive Director Update
The big picture Presidents Forum members convene in Boston on Oct. 23–24 for in-person, strategic discussions on AI and institutional strategy, upcoming Negotiated Rulemaking, national enrollment and funding trends, and Executive Branch priorities for 2025. Why it...
U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Roundtable
Why it matters: At a House Education & Workforce Committee roundtable in Utah, Chair Tim Walberg and Higher Education Subcommittee Chair Burgess Owens framed Utah’s collaboration culture as a national model for aligning tax policy, school choice, and workforce...
Academic Integrity in the Age of AI
Why it matters: AI is reshaping higher ed. Leaders are grappling with how to harness innovation while protecting academic integrity. Key points: Balance, not tradeoffs: Academic integrity and innovation aren’t opposites — they must be integrated into education and...
Affordability, Access, and Accountability in Higher Education
Why it matters: Affordability is the central barrier to equitable access in higher ed. David Andrews (UMass Global) and Eloy Ortiz Oakley (College Futures Foundation) unpack what’s broken—and what needs to change. The big picture: More than tuition: Real costs include...
September Update
The big picture: The Presidents Forum has advanced regulatory engagement while preparing for its upcoming Boston meeting and shifting focus to education funding outcomes. Driving the news: The Forum submitted comments on the Negotiated Rulemaking process and submitted...
How BYU-Pathway Worldwide Is Making Education Affordable Globally
Why it matters: BYU-Pathway Worldwide has reduced degree costs to as little as $300 in Africa, making higher education accessible to 80,000+ students globally, with 40% in Africa. The big picture: Traditional higher education models aren't serving adult learners who...
Extending Faculty Reach with AI
Why it matters: Rajen Sheth, CEO of Kyron Learning and former Google leader, sees AI as a way to authentically extend faculty capabilities and make higher education more accessible to underserved populations. Key insights: Faculty concerns addressed: While AI adoption...
Janet Spriggs: Access, Success, and Student-Centered Leadership
Why it matters Forsyth Tech President Janet Spriggs brings a unique perspective to higher education leadership: she started as a community college student herself. That experience shapes her belief that access, student success, and economic mobility must remain at the...
Become a Member
Send us your request or questions about joining the Presidents Forum, and our Communications Director will reach out to you about next steps.
