Dr. Michael Horowitz on Fixing Higher Education From the Inside

In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Dr. Michael Horowitz to unpack why higher education struggles to change and what leaders can do instead.Dr. Horowitz is the founder of the Community Solution Education System, a nonprofit network of independent colleges built on radical cooperation. Drawing from his career as a clinical psychologist, university president, and system builder, he explains how higher education became siloed, why small fixes fail, and how cooperation creates scale without erasing identity.The conversation moves from Dr. Horowitz’s personal story, including the early lesson of learning to ask for help, to the real pressures facing colleges today. He breaks down why tuition math confuses the public, why endowments are misunderstood, and why financial stress keeps pushing institutions toward closure. Joe and Dr. Horowitz also tackle the college versus trades debate, the myth of college for everyone, and why abandoning higher education altogether creates new risks.You hear how the Community Solution model works in practice, from shared governance and system wide leadership development to creating opportunities smaller colleges cannot achieve alone. Dr. Horowitz explains why urgency belongs at the leadership level, how collaboration strengthens credibility rather than weakens it, and why completion rates matter more than enrollment numbers.This episode is a grounded look at how leaders build resilient systems, protect mission, and create meaningful change without burning people out.