Collaborating During These Trying Times

This year’s National Association of Colleges and Universities (NACAC) national meeting is next week, and as noted on its website, we are all experiencing change:

Change after change. Challenge after challenge. The past few years have tested college admission counseling professionals in ways we never imagined. And yet — we are still here.

We show up for students. We fight for access. We strengthen our institutions. We believe in the transformative power of education.

This work is not easy. Many professionals are exhausted and stretched thin. That’s why now is the time to come together. Because when we stand united, we don’t just endure — we rise.

No question, these are trying times.

Is higher ed in its most unpredictable, tumultuous era to date? The Chronicle of Higher Education posed this question to academic leaders in a recent virtual event. While answers varied, all agreed that today’s economic uncertainty, combined with threats to the autonomy of higher ed from the Trump administration, creates an unstable environment that makes long-term planning and articulating a vision nearly impossible.

As the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) recently noted, “Higher education headlines this week reflect mounting political pressures, shifting federal policies, and the persistent challenges to institutional resilience.” The lingering uncertainty among colleges and universities about their future is feeding a chaotic conundrum for so many in higher education leadership—not just in enrollment management, but for governing boards.

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Without a doubt, today’s colleges and universities face multiple difficult problems that are often too hard to figure out. The solution, though, is not to just sit back and wonder what should be done and who should do it, but rather to engage in active collaboration to facilitate viable solutions that can lead to legitimate problem solving. People do support what they help create. And actions speak louder than words. Now is definitely the time to get done what needs to be done.