2025 Annual Risk Retrospective
There is a lot to say about the higher education risk landscape in 2025. The speed at which the executive orders came out generated news story after news story, but behind those stories are some underlying risks that may not have received the attention they deserved.
These risks didn't appear; instead, they grew over time. Higher education is at a crossroads, and it's not because of one factor or one administration. It's about what higher education needs to do to meet the needs of a globally technologically advanced society that doesn't have time to wait and where students of all ages need more affordable options, whether a bachelor's degree, an apprenticeship, or a 2-year degree. I have composed the following list based upon our posts at HigherEdRisk, the federal government, and from major higher education news outlets.
2025 Top Headlines
Crackdown on DEI
Cuts to federal research funding
Restructuring the Department of Education and Accreditation Reform
International student visas
The enrollment cliff remains top of mind.
College closures, cuts, and layoffs continue to grow.
AI and Higher Education- from governance to chatbots. Too much to cite here!
Anti-Semitism/Title VI: Universities settle with the Trump Administration. Brown, Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern restore federal funding and end investigations surrounding antisemitism and discrimination.
Trump College Pact - "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education"
Declining confidence in the value of Higher Education
Sounds all doom and gloom, right? But you have to dig deeper to understand how these risks can be mitigated. While many of the news headlines were shaped by the decisions of the federal government, many of these financial risks would have existed outside of the current political landscape; the impact was just hastened. This leads me to believe that you cannot underestimate the public sentiment as a risk indicator. Affordability, pedagogical reform, accreditation reform, and workplace preparedness appear to be leading risk mitigations.
Many crises have delayed impacts, and it is easy to confuse correlation with causation. Crises rarely have single causes. They typically result from multiple factors compounding over time—for example, the risks associated with deferred maintenance.
So, in the interest of ending this retrospective on a positive note, I will share a few headlines where we have seen higher ed risks being mitigated and with positive results.
FAFSA form rolled out early - contrary to the 2024 FAFSA fiasco, FAFSA completion rates for the 2025-26 form are about 15% higher than the previous year.
Shift Towards Skills-Based Education - Deloitte reports that apprenticeships in the United States have risen from 317,000 to 640,000 in the last decade, signaling an increased interest in career-relevant, hands-on learning.
Growth in "Degree in Three" Programs. As one participant said at the 2024 Forum on the New Era of Higher Education, Deloitte University - "We need to abandon time as a measure of outcome or success. Instead, we need to focus on the credit as a demonstrated competency."
Improvements in Student Mental Health.
The NSC Preliminary Fall Report showed undergraduate enrollment gains with community colleges experiencing the strongest growth at 4.0%.
The Trump administration redirected nearly $500 million in federal funding toward HBCUs and tribal colleges resulting in a total award of $1.38 billion for fiscal year 2025, a 48% increase over the previous amount.
The new Preliminary Fall Enrollment Trends report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that total enrollment at the nation's colleges and universities increased 2.0% this fall, powered largely by a 2.4% increase in undergraduate enrollment.
Several schools saw record enrollment, leading one college presidents to state: "The myth that a college degree is losing its value does not square with reality — the demand for Arizona State University (ASU) is only increasing," said ASU President Michael Crow.
Bottom Line:
Abandon reactive postures! Integrating risk insights across academic, operational, and financial domains over an extended period of time is essential to making more informed decisions to weather future legal, regulatory, and political challenges.
Assure institutional alignment. Fiduciaries, including trustees and regents, must view risk management intelligence as a strategic tool for competitive advantage.
Audits should be conducted to encourage more accountability. This may be the Sarbanes-Oxley moment for higher education - where fiduciaries recognize their duty is much greater than previously defined. Students, parents, and the public expect more transparency in university finances and governance.
Focus on rebuilding trust. By championing more affordable, career-ready options through pedagogical innovation, institutions can demonstrate positive career outcomes leading to increased public confidence in higher education.
The time is now to leverage enterprise risk management principles to help future-proof your institution and combat the next generation of risks.
