Creating an Ecosystem for New Colleges

Recorded live at the 2025 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Stig Leschly, President at Postsecondary Commission; Pano Kanelos, President at University of Austin; Courtney Hills McBeth, Chief Academic Officer & Provost at Western Governors University; and Meghan Cressman, Vice President of Development and Partnerships at Merit America.

The session explored the significant barriers to creating new colleges in a higher education system where most institutions are more than 50 years old. The speakers discussed how higher education is not an open marketplace and emphasized the need for new models and innovative leaders to emerge. They highlighted what it will take to foster a movement of new colleges, including the roles that accreditors, state and federal leaders, and philanthropy can play in jumpstarting this transformation.