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Your Higher Education Planning Library

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Trends for Higher Education

Published
November 14, 2025

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Trends for Higher Education | The Student Voices Edition

This special issue of Trends describes student perspectives on four trends featured in recent issues of Trends for Higher Education: AI, personal finances, enrollment and attrition, and international students. Learn more about the opinions, reactions, and perspectives students have about these critical topics, preparing your institution to engage with your students in a more informed way.
Abstract: Integrated planning leverages stakeholder insights and knowledge to make better, more informed decisions. No stakeholder is more important than our students, which is why we’re releasing a special issue of Trends focusing on their perspectives.

This Trends for Higher Education: The Student Voices Edition describes student perspectives on four trends featured in recent issues of Trends for Higher Education. Campus Sonar, a social listening firm, collected data from social platforms like Reddit and X to analyze what students are saying about artificial intelligence, their personal finances, enrollment and attrition decisions, and international students.

Learn more about the opinions, reactions, and perspectives students have about these critical issues, preparing your institution to engage with your students in a more informed way.

Use this report to:
  • Inform your student stakeholder engagement strategies
  • Develop questions for student surveys and focus groups
  • Benchmark against findings from your student stakeholder engagement efforts
  • Add context to what you’ve learned about your students and their perspectives

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Webinar Recordings

Published
September 17, 2025

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Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning Fall 2025

By: Jason Nicholas, Northern Michigan University | Tina Dee, Muskegon Community College

Join Jason Nicholas and Tina Dee for a dynamic conversation exploring the external forces shaping higher education in 2025. Drawing from SCUP’s upcoming Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2025 report, they’ll offer their perspective on what these trends really mean for your institution—and how to act on them.
Abstract: Join Jason Nicholas and Tina Dee for a dynamic conversation exploring the external forces shaping higher education in 2025. Drawing from SCUP’s upcoming Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2025 report (available September 15), they’ll offer their perspective on what these trends really mean for your institution—and how to act on them.

You’ll gain more than a list of trends. This session brings fresh insights, real-world context, and practical takeaways that go beyond the report. Leverage what you learn to enhance your team’s strategic, scenario, and contingency planning—and stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly volatile landscape.

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Trends for Higher Education

Published
September 12, 2025

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Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2025

By: Apryl Motley, CAE

How is the world outside your institution changing? From the growth of microschools to the decline of digital platforms and services, colleges and universities continue to face an environment that is uncertain and rapidly changing. Learn the key trends and movements that might impact your institution.
Abstract: Integrated planning prepares your institution for change by ensuring its decisions are informed by realities in the external environment.

How is the world outside your institution changing? From the growth of microschools to the decline of digital platforms and services, colleges and universities continue to face an environment that is uncertain and rapidly changing. Learn the key trends and movements that might impact your institution.

This issue curates and summarizes 40–50 trends happening outside the world of higher education that could impact colleges and universities. Each trend includes a brief summary, a footnoted source, and discussion questions to help you analyze and act on the trend.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
August 18, 2025

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Strategic Alignment for Degree Completion

Leverage an Integrated Planning Approach to Improve Credit Momentum and Student Success

By: Nicole DeCapua, EdD, Mildred Mihlon, PhD, and Tracy Louisse S. Chacon, MEd

By coordinating cross-functional teams, employing real-time data, and strengthening communication systems, a university bolstered student retention and completion without requiring new funding or staff.

From Volume 53 Number 4 | July–September 2025

Abstract: This article presents how a small, resource-constrained university leveraged integrated institutional planning to launch a 30-credit completion strategy that significantly improved student momentum, graduation rates, and institutional planning culture. By coordinating cross-functional teams, employing real-time data, and strengthening communication systems, the university built a scalable and sustainable framework that bolstered student retention and completion without requiring new funding or staff. This case offers a roadmap for similarly situated institutions aiming to align credit accumulation initiatives with broader strategic goals to drive measurable student success outcomes.

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Conference Presentations,Conference Recordings

Published
June 16, 2025

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Reimagining the Student Experience and Stewarding Campus Resources

By: Cory Clippinger, Architect, DLR Group | Matthew Damschroder, Vice President for Student life and Dean of Students, Juniata College | Kaveri G. Singh, Higher Education Leader, Architecture, DLR Group | Lisa Keegan, Vice President for Student Enrollment, Engagement, and Success, Bucknell University

Institutions are seeking to improve student experience to support recruitment and retention on campus, but making big impactful moves can be daunting in the midst of overwhelming deferred maintenance needs.
Abstract: Institutions are seeking to improve student experience to support recruitment and retention on campus, but making big impactful moves can be daunting in the midst of overwhelming deferred maintenance needs. Solving for a renewed focus on student wellbeing and resource-strapped environments, we'll share two case studies of transforming the campus experience through strategic investment in capital-constrained environments. This session will outline a path for converting the threats of deferred maintenance numbers into an opportunity to enhance the student experience on campus by providing a tool kit to guide institutions through the planning process.

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Report

Published
May 23, 2025

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The Future of University Planning in 2040 (and Beyond)

I Used Foresight Analysis to Help SCUP Look Ahead, Adapt, and Innovate

By: Lisa Jasinski, PhD, President, Associated Colleges of the Midwest

This is a SCUP FellowResearch Project Final Report for the 2023–2024 program. This report explores how foresight analysis can be used to prepare and plan for uncertain futures in higher education.
Abstract: In this SCUP fellowship project, Lisa Jasinski applies strategic foresight methods to explore what university planning could look like in 2040—and how we can better prepare for it today.

Informed by environmental scanning, futures thinking, and stakeholder engagement with SCUP members and campus leaders, she developed four plausible scenarios grounded in current trends such as AI, climate change, political polarization, and declining public trust. These scenarios aren’t predictions; they are planning tools that help teams and organizations stress-test strategies, surface assumptions, and engage in meaningful future-focused conversations.

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Conference Presentations

Published
May 20, 2025

Reimagining the Student Experience and Stewarding Campus Resources

Abstract: Institutions are seeking to improve student experience to support recruitment and retention on campus, but making big impactful moves can be daunting in the midst of overwhelming deferred maintenance needs. Solving for a renewed focus on student wellbeing and resource-strapped environments, we'll share two case studies of transforming the campus experience through strategic investment in capital-constrained environments. This session will outline a path for converting the threats of deferred maintenance numbers into an opportunity to enhance the student experience on campus by providing a tool kit to guide institutions through the planning process.

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Conference Presentations

Published
May 20, 2025

Educational Programs and Community Partnerships for Skilled Trades Pathways

Abstract: Skilled trades education programs provide a viable and equitable option for students who choose not to pursue a four-year degree. Program expansion into high schools through career and technical education promotes these pathways even further for completion and success. This session will show how Howard Community College (HCC) is responding to labor shortages in skilled trades occupations by creating educational programs and partnerships to provide additional access to high-quality jobs that offer family-sustaining wages and benefits. Join us to discover new approaches to education and partnerships that address equity gaps in economic and professional opportunities in our communities.

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Conference Presentations

Published
April 7, 2025

Making and Measuring Equitable Economic Impact

Abstract: Regional economic growth is often central to an institution's mission, with co-benefits for learning and research. Effective, equitable industry and government partnerships can open student internship and job opportunities, translate research into community benefits and prosperity, build town-gown synergy, and draw more students, faculty, and resources. In this session, our panel will outline strategies for building effective industry and government partnerships as well as measuring, improving, and communicating results. We'll show you how to find and build partnerships that genuinely, equitably deepen economic impact and student opportunities; critically examine results; make changes to optimize impact; and demonstrate your success.

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Conference Presentations

Published
April 3, 2025

Leveraging New Campus Development for Community Empowerment

Abstract: Affordable and accessible higher education is key to upward mobility and community transformation, especially for many rural and remote suburban communities that have limited access to resources. In this session, we'll explore the potential synergies between existing community colleges and their satellite locations. How can institutions drive community-engaged development in places that really need it? Is it better to build on existing assets or to build new? Discover how a community charted its own path toward a new college campus by organizing, passing a bond, and ultimately developing a tech-enabled, high flex learning environment with community space.

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