Higher Education in Crisis!
A Call for Collective Leadership and a New Vision
Today, institutions of higher education in the United States stand at a historic crossroads, facing a convergence of unprecedented challenges. Never before have these institutions encountered such simultaneous pressures threatening their foundational missions, economic sustainability, and global leadership. This critical moment demands an urgent, unified response from the leaders of America’s colleges and universities.
The crises confronting higher education are both numerous and severe. Federal support, the lifeblood of access and research innovation, faces mounting pressures. Proposed congressional changes threaten to restrict Pell Grant eligibility, jeopardizing the educational dreams of 4.4 million low-income students nationwide. Without coordinated advocacy, these cuts will dramatically exacerbate educational inequities and severely impact institutional diversity and vitality.
Additionally, legislative attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have intensified alarmingly. More than twenty states are actively working to dismantle campus DEI offices and initiatives. Such aggressive political maneuvers, exemplified by Iowa’s recently enacted SF 2435 bill, undermine not only institutional autonomy but also compromise higher education’s fundamental commitment to fostering inclusive and diverse communities.
Simultaneously, the international student pipeline, a critical driver of intellectual diversity, innovation, and institutional revenue, is under assault. Recent directives halting visa processing have further disrupted this vital global academic exchange. The suspension of critical F-, M-, and J-visa interviews threatens to erode America’s longstanding reputation as a beacon for global academic talent, undermining both economic stability and international academic collaboration.
Moreover, the rapid diffusion of generative AI tools presents a dual-edged challenge. While offering transformative opportunities for teaching and institutional efficiency, AI poses significant threats to academic integrity, complicates classroom management, and creates uncertainty around intellectual property and research ethics. Surveys suggest an overwhelming 86% of students now regularly use AI tools, underscoring the urgent need for clear policies, responsible innovation, and collective strategies to manage this technological shift.
Most concerning is the erosion of the traditional business model underpinning higher education. With private non-profit institutions reporting record-high tuition discount rates — now averaging an unsustainable 56.1% — and facing a looming demographic “enrollment cliff,” reliance on traditional tuition-based models has become untenable. The economic pressures confronting institutions today demand visionary thinking, collaboration, and new financial paradigms.
In isolation, no institution can adequately address these multifaceted crises. Higher education leaders must recognize that their future survival and flourishing depend upon immediate, strategic collaboration. To effectively confront these threats, college and university presidents must come together, transcending competition and historical rivalries, and despite this collection of local crises, to collectively reimagine higher education’s future.
Such a unified response could be mobilized through the creation of the Presidents’ Compact on the Future of U.S. Higher Education. This Compact could provide presidents with an urgently needed platform to articulate collective policy positions, pilot shared innovative solutions, and present a unified voice capable of engaging federal, state, and philanthropic support.
Within its first year, this Compact should aim ambitiously and pragmatically to secure and diversify federal support, safeguard inclusive excellence through shared legal defenses, restore global academic mobility via coordinated advocacy and litigation, responsibly harness the potential of AI, and reinvent the sector’s economic foundations through collaborative, data-driven experimentation.
These goals would need to be operationalized through tangible deliverables, including a public action plan, a portfolio of shared pilot projects, and a transparent annual progress dashboard. Governance must be inclusive, adaptive, and grounded in collaborative leadership principles — ensuring that institutions of all sizes, sectors, and geographies participate meaningfully in shaping the future.
The Compact’s inaugural summit could offer a historic opportunity to establish clear action steps, prioritize strategic initiatives, and forge new alliances. Immediate actions following this summit — ranging from publicizing collective policy stances to initiating critical legal and innovative projects — could demonstrate to policymakers, the public, and philanthropic stakeholders that higher education leadership is united, responsive, and forward-thinking.
Today, higher education stands not merely at the precipice of challenge, but also at the threshold of opportunity. Through collective leadership, presidents can redefine the narrative around higher education in America. Together, they have the power to secure federal investment, reaffirm the core academic values of inclusion and intellectual freedom, responsibly navigate technological advancements, and pioneer innovative business models.
The call to action is clear: America’s higher education institutions cannot — and must not — face these unprecedented crises alone. By acting decisively, collaboratively, and boldly through the Presidents’ Compact, college and university leaders can turn today’s daunting headwinds into an historic opportunity for renewal and innovation. The moment for unified, visionary leadership is now.