Future U Podcast - The Pulse of Higher Ed

In a discussion with George Mason University president Dr. Gregory Washington, Jeff and Michael delve into a few ways to get to and through college: programs that allow students to more seamlessly move from community college to four-year college programs, the difficulties faced by transfer students, and the importance of presidential leadership to improve the situation. This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group.

At the recent National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) annual meeting, Debra Wilson, the incoming president of the NAIS, flips the script and interviews Jeff and Michael about key takeaways from the pandemic for schools and higher education, how mental health plays into students’ transition to college, and how colleges can encourage more students to enter the teaching profession. This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Course Hero.

It’s often a forgone conclusion that you should not only go to a four-year college, but also that the better the university’s ranking, the better you’ll do in life. On this episode, Jeff and Michael dig into the data behind these assumptions. Might the U.S. News and World Report college rankings even disappear?And do you still need to invest in a four-year degree in order to excel professionally or are employers putting less stock in a bachelor's? This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Course Hero.Relevant LinksReport on Bachelor's Degrees from Jeff Selingo and Matt Sigelman

With Florida politics and the current governor’s recent moves in higher ed attracting so much attention, we caught up with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to add context to the current debates. Bush reflected on his own experiences, successes, and regrets when it comes to the higher ed policies he championed. This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Course Hero.

As Chat GPT and other AI tools have garnered immense interest in the last few months, people have begun to wonder how these tools will impact higher ed: Will it represent the end of writing? Will we see a rampant rise in cheating? Or maybe these tools herald a new age of an improved quality of student work? Jeff and Michael pose these questions and more to computer science experts Charles Isbell of Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing and Michael Littman of Brown University. This episode is made possible with sponsorship from Course Hero.

The role of Online Program Managers (OPMs) in the recruitment of students for online university programs has been a controversial issue, and one that is still up for debate. Michael and Jeff delve into OPMs, as well the federal government’s guidance on third party services, like OPMs, over the last few administrations.Relevant LinksWhat's the OPM Episode?The Credential Cluster

The digital economy has been driving job growth across the country for much of the last decade-plus. But nearly all of those jobs, no matter the industry, were created in major metropolitan areas. Michael and Jeff look at how one town and one university in Ohio can serve as a national blueprint for growing the rural economy. This episode made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group.Listen to more episode on our website at www.futureupodcast.com.Relevant LinksEconomic Impact of Hospitals and Higher Education Institutions Revealed in New Tool from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

As the Supreme Court prepares to rule on affirmative action yet again, the president of James Madison University, who played a key role as a lawyer in the University of Michigan's Supreme Court cases 20 years earlier, joins the show to offer historical perspective and an explanation of how the Court's decision could impact far more than just higher education admissions. This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Course Hero.

New CDC data show that more than half of teenaged girls in the U.S. felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, but it's not just girls who are struggling. Lisa Damour, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, breaks down the struggles of teenagers and the implications for colleges and universities from admissions to graduation and beyond. This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Course Hero.Relevant LinksThe CDC report on increased sadness and exposure to violence among teen girls and LGBQ+ youthLisa Damour’s latest book, The Emotional Lives of TeenagersLisa’s podcast on the psychology of parenting

The pandemic didn’t bring the wave of mergers and acquisitions that many in higher ed expected. Michael and Jeff talk with the head of Northeastern U’s M&A committee and an expert on M&A in health care and education about what’s next. This episode is made possible with support from Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Course Hero.Listen to the March 2022 Future U episode on college consolidations at https://www.futureupodcast.com/episodes/is-consolidation-coming/Higher Ed Dive is tracking closings, mergers, acquisitions and other consolidation among public and private nonprofit institutions from 2016 to the present: https://www.highereddive.com/news/how-many-colleges-and-universities-have-closed-since-2016/539379/Fitch Ratings anticipates a deteriorating credit environment for U.S. Public Finance Higher Education in 2023 relative to 2022. A new study from researchers at Harvard University and the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that health system mergers only marginally improve the quality of care, but at significantly higher cost.In the late 1990s, several members of Congress made a push for cost controls in higher education. To learn more, listen to Episode 119 of Future U for our interview with Bill Troutt, former chair of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education who's also President Emeritus of Rhodes College in Tennessee, and Harvard economist Susan Dynarski.