From polycrisis to synchronized compression to constant disruption, there’s no shortage of frameworks for thinking about this moment in higher education. What to do about it is another question—one without clear answers. But as economic, demographic, political and technological forces reshape the sector, presidents are experimenting, including in ways that blur the traditional lines between institution types, and between college and work.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Kevin Doyle, president and CEO of Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School, which is now offering an alternative pathway for learners without bachelor’s degrees, based on a robust set of credit for prior learning (CPL) requirements. “The time is clearly ripe for innovation, not just because of the federal policy environment but also economic pressures, industry needs, uncertainties about AI’s impact on the workforce, and the proliferation of online learning options.”
Risk and innovation were twin themes in Inside Higher Ed’s 2026 Survey of College and University Presidents with Hanover Research. While presidents (N=430) identified financial volatility (45 percent) and political interference (43 percent) as the fastest-growing risks facing their institutions, they also described an increasingly dynamic, adaptive sector. Looking ahead to 2030, nearly half of presidents (48 percent) said AI will have the greatest impact on higher education, while 45 percent pointed to cost and financial model pressures—with private nonprofit institution presidents especially concerned about the latter. At the same time, virtually all presidents and their institutions are evolving their education models in some way: Seven in 10 are considering adding or expanding short-term credentials aligned with employer needs over the next three years, six in 10 are exploring structured microcredential pathways and more than a third each are pursuing apprenticeship-based pathways, cooperative and other work-integrated learning and three-year bachelor’s degrees.
Institutions of all types are experimenting with new models: Regarding three-year bachelor’s degrees, for example, 18 percent of community college presidents expressed interest, as did 46 percent of those at public baccalaureate/master’s degree-level institutions, 54 percent at public doctoral institutions, 40 percent at private nonprofit baccalaureate institutions and 47 percent at private nonprofit master’s/doctoral institutions. At least 70 institutions already offer or are actively considering three-year degrees, according to recent estimates. Just last month, the University of North Carolina System announced it was looking into adding 90-credit degrees to its portfolio.
“There’s a lot to think about, but if we get this right, we can reduce debt, meet critical workforce needs, and preserve the intellectual breadth that defines the System’s undergraduate programs,” Dan Harrison, UNC system vice president for academic affairs and senior adviser to the president, said in a social media post. The state’s community college leaders have since signaled they want to be part of the discussion, according to reporting from The Assembly.
In another example of experimentation, some four-year colleges—not just community colleges, higher education’s traditional workforce workhorses—were winners in a recent round of federal grants for short-term programs eligible for the new Workforce Pell program.
Expanded transfer pathways and CPL—both of which student success advocates have long called for—are also in play nationally, according to the survey, as is competency-based education.
Blurred Lines
Doyle said that Hazelden Betty Ford opened up its alternative graduate pathway after years of turning away experienced members of the workforce who lacked a traditional bachelor’s degree—many of whom were in recovery themselves and showed clear passion for the work of substance-use counseling.
An undergraduate degree “may be the most common way of demonstrating readiness for graduate work,” he said, but it “should not be the only way. All of this was in the context of pressing workforce needs in the substance and mental health treatment community, as well.”
Rethinking longstanding norms and assumptions is also showing up in the growing overlap between education and workforce development—something that the organization Jobs for the Future (JFF) has coined “The Big Blur,” and its AI-era iteration, “The Big Blur 2.0.” In a recent call to action, JFF argued that AI is “compressing the time between skill development and obsolescence,” fundamentally undermining the “learn first, work later” sequencing of education systems. Urging leaders in higher education and beyond to “move toward a new architecture in which integrated learning and work are the default,” JFF said that adaptability, durable skills and applied competence are becoming “the real currency of opportunity.”
Maria Flynn, president and CEO of JFF, told Inside Higher Ed, “We’re seeing colleges explore real structural changes: rethinking credit loads, assessing skills beyond the limitations of the credit hour and using a thoughtful mix of AI and human support to coach students into careers.”
But that innovation must extend to how employers are engaged, she said, not just as advisers, but as pathway co-designers. “There has never been a better time to change the model of higher education toward optimized learning and outcomes.”
At the National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree at Reach University, executive director Holly Smith said that interest in apprenticeship degrees—which by definition revolve around a job—has accelerated over the past year.
“It’s no longer just community college workforce directors,” she added. “We’re now hearing from provosts and presidents at four-year institutions, including some of our largest college systems, who are facing enrollment and outcomes pressure and asking how this model fits into their strategic direction.”
Asked about her own thoughts on the big blur, Smith said, “This is fundamentally a pro–higher education story. The degree isn’t being replaced or diminished. It’s being revitalized and redesigned to meet working adults where they are, with work moving from an add-on to something integrated into the degree from the start.”
Even leaders of liberal arts institutions serving traditional-age students see urgency around work-integrated learning. Hendrix College, for example, just launched Via Hendrix, described as a co-op initiative that will provide every undergraduate with a semester-long professional experience integrated into the curriculum.
Employers need a clear talent pipeline, while students and families “need clearer, more visible connections between their investments in a degree and post-college life,” said Karen K. Petersen, Hendrix’s president. “This period of historic change for the economy, the marketplace and the workforce—driven largely by artificial intelligence—puts students under enormous new pressures.”
This presents opportunities for, not dilution of, the liberal arts, Petersen argued, as students “will need exceptional adaptability, experience and resilience, which provide a distinct advantage for liberal arts graduates given the skills we cultivate.”
Union College in New York is pursuing articulation agreements with local community colleges to make it easier for would-be four-year students concerned about affordability to end up there. “Union, with our smaller class sizes, personalized attention and opportunities to pursue undergraduate research, study abroad and internships, is a wonderful choice for these students,” said Elizabeth Kiss, president. “But we haven’t made it easy for them to discover us or communicated clearly enough that we want them and welcome them.” Union is simultaneously doubling down on post-graduate pathways, including via a 4+1-style master’s degree in business in partnership with the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School, and launching microcredentials to enable Union students to demonstrate their skills to prospective employers.
Risk and Reward
Other institutions are pushing even further into territory not captured in the IHE survey. Two dozen states have authorized their community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees. Conversely, a number of four-year institutions have opened their own two-year colleges.
Susan Burns, president of the University of Mount Saint Vincent, described Seton College—the institution’s two-year-old two-year pathway—as part enrollment strategy and part mission fulfillment.
“This degree path and design aligns so clearly and deeply with our mission and institutional commitment to serving the underserved,” she said. Beyond Seton College, the institution is also launching a College of Tech and Trade, featuring partnerships with film production studios and trade and medical certification schools.
Burns does see “some blurring” taking place across higher education, though she described the transformation as uneven. Highly selective, wealthy institutions appear committed to preserving traditional models, and will continue to offer that “luxury product” to affluent students and a limited number of others via substantial financial aid packages, she said. Otherwise highly traditional institutions seem to be “playing on the edges of the innovative space, but are not willing or able to significantly transform their design or operating model for those smaller innovations to take root for meaningful growth,” and will likely continue to struggle.
Even so, Burns said that experimentation is possible for many institutions, provided they have board support, faculty buy-in, offerings that make sense for their market and location, and sufficient financial stability to take risks.
That last condition may become increasingly difficult: Although more than eight in 10 presidents remain confident in their institution’s three- and five-year financial outlook, according to the survey, confidence in the 10-year outlook fell year over year, from 83 percent to 70 percent. Many presidents are also shortening their planning horizons accordingly.
Yet, not taking risks might be the riskiest move of all.
Flynn, of JFF, said that if “colleges can reposition themselves as lifelong learning partners—institutions that help people upskill, reskill and relaunch their careers over a lifetime—the growth opportunities ahead are real.”
Doyle, of Hazelden Betty Ford, said, “Everything needs to be on the table for review and reconsideration. Taken all together, it causes one to relook at everything—and as soon as you have success disrupting one tradition, it leads to looking at others with fresh eyes, too.”
