Rays of hope or trepidation in 2026-27

Sixty-one percent of colleges and universities expressed confidence that they would meet their 2026-27 enrollment targets. As campuses open, the enrollment projections are likely to vary by institutional size, location, and programs. While students presumably have the last word, parents (in the case of students directly out of high school) have significant influence. Parents place affordability and job prospects after graduation at the top of their list.

Higher education is definitely going through a major transition, largely brought on by the Trump administration's attacks but also confounded by cost, credibility, and demographic shifts. The problem is that Trump and Secretary of Education (what's left of it) McMahon continue to prod with assertions like, a "forthright conversation with the American people is long overdue." McMahon sent a list of questions on Monday, August 3, to the higher education community calling for open and transparent responses to what she presumes are public concerns. Some faculty are courageous enough to own the disconnect on some issues but called for equal transparency from Trump officials about what they are after.

Facing the current dynamics higher education faces requires letting go of responding as if "everything is fine." The new FINE is Feelings I'm Not Expressing. Coming from a psychiatric background, Jessi Gold recommends that decision-making meetings and interaction in general move from the niceness of "fine" and begin to be honest about what educators are feeling - devalued and under attack.

One of the most important challenges to discuss and to strongly assert is that Trump administration policies and practices are burning America's talent pipeline at both ends. Stephen Aguilar opines, "In the same month, Washington made it harder for Americans to afford advanced training and for international students to stay and finish theirs. You cannot win an AI race this way." Aguilar's perspective comes from experience in cultivating AI, a field fueled by approximately two-thirds international graduate students. Showing international students the door contradicts the fact the "more than half of America's billion-dollar startups had an immigrant founder," a quarter of whom arrived as international students.

The rise of progressive candidates for public office has met with hysteria among both mainstream Democrats and MAGA devotees. However, the assertions of these candidates that Trump cares little for the average American is anything but radical. Exposing the bizarre juxtaposition of anti-immigrant and America 1st perspectives versus welcoming talent from around the world and restoring conciliatory diplomacy is core to getting the U.S. back on track - hopefully sooner than later.