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The latest Inside Higher Ed<\/em>\/Hanover Research Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers, released today, reveals concerns about near-term uncertainty and financial sustainability\u2014buoyed by confidence in the longer-term outlook. <\/p>\n One of the most significant findings is that federal policy uncertainty has created difficulties in conducting basic financial planning as the Trump administration has introduced a flurry of changes impacting federal funding for higher education, international students, how students pay for college and more.<\/p>\n That uncertainty, experts noted, has had a palpable effect on the sector.<\/p>\n \u201cChief business officers like certainty, whether it\u2019s certainty about revenue streams or potential costs,\u201d said Kara Freeman, president and CEO of the National Association of College and University Business Officers. \u201cAnd right now they just are not getting it and that leads to anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n The annual Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers, now in its 15th year, offers insights from financial leaders at 169 institutions in 2025, both public and private nonprofits. Responses were gathered in April and May. <\/p>\n Amid the uncertainty, about three in five CBOs (58\u00a0percent) rate their institution\u2019s financial health as good or excellent, with differences by institution type. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n In last year\u2019s survey, 56\u00a0percent of CBOs expected that their institution would be in better financial shape a year later. That number fell to 43\u00a0percent in this year\u2019s survey, which asked the same question. <\/p>\n CBOs who believe their institution will be worse off financially next year cited concerns about the federal policy\/funding environment for the sector (82\u00a0percent), potential increases to nonlabor operating costs (67\u00a0percent), rising labor costs (67\u00a0percent) and general economic concerns (62\u00a0percent).<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. E.T., Inside Higher Ed<\/em> will present a free webcast to discuss the results of the survey, with experts who can answer your most pressing questions about higher education finance\u2014including how to plan effectively amid the current financial and policy uncertainty. Please register here. <\/p>\n The 2025 Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers was made possible by support from Strata Decision Technology and CollegeVine.<\/p>\n Inside Higher Ed<\/em>\u2019s 15th annual Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers was conducted by Hanover Research. The survey included chief business officers, mostly from public and private nonprofit institutions, for a margin of error of 7\u00a0percent. The response rate was 7\u00a0percent. A copy of the free report can be downloaded here.<\/p>\n Larry Ladd, a subject matter specialist at AGB Consulting, noted that colleges are taking a number of measures to protect themselves in the short term, such as delaying building projects, freezing hiring and\/or travel, and pulling other levers to protect themselves this coming fall.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re seeing colleges do everything they can to preserve their liquidity,\u201d Ladd said. \u201cThe biggest reason to do that of course is that they don\u2019t know what their fall enrollment will be.\u201d<\/p>\n Of particular concern, he noted, is the potential for disruption to federal financial aid funds, given mass layoffs at the Education Department, which has raised concerns about disbursement. Just 12\u00a0percent of CBOs support the elimination of the department.<\/p>\n Other possible signs of caution: On deferred maintenance, 63\u00a0percent of respondents said that their institution was poised to fund less than a quarter of identified needs in the then-current fiscal year. Some 24\u00a0percent said their institution was freezing hiring to control costs for students; another 62\u00a0percent said their institution would consider doing this.<\/p>\n Despite these challenges, respondents were much more confident in their institution\u2019s five- to 10-year outlooks, with 73\u00a0percent believing their college or university will be financially stable over the next five years and 71\u00a0percent expressing that same level of confidence over the next decade. For reference, in 2024, 85\u00a0percent of CBOs were confident in the five-year outlook, and 73\u00a0percent in the 10-year outlook.<\/p>\n Some 11\u00a0percent of CBOs say senior administrators at their institution have had serious internal discussions in the last year about merging with another college or university, about the same as last year\u2019s survey. Most of these CBOs indicate such conversations are about proactively ensuring the institution\u2019s financial stability rather than risk of imminent closure.<\/p>\n Another 16\u00a0percent of CBOs report serious internal discussions about consolidating some programs or operations with another college or university. Two in five (42\u00a0percent) say it\u2019s highly likely that that their college will share administrative functions with another institution within five years. CBOs in the Northeast, with its relative concentration of institutions, are especially likely to say so, at 63\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Ruth Johnston, vice president of NACUBO consulting, said that while business officers may be stressed by the immediate pressures, they are confident in their scenario planning for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll figure it out. Higher ed, even if it\u2019s slow to change, is resilient. So I expect that we\u2019re going to see new, creative solutions that will help bolster higher education,\u201d Johnston said.<\/p>\n That said, just 28\u00a0percent of CBOs described themselves as very or extremely confident in their institution\u2019s current business model. Another third expressed moderate confidence.<\/p>\n View online<\/p>\n Top issues for those CBOs with just some or no confidence in their institution\u2019s business model: lack of diverse revenue streams (64\u00a0percent of this group), ineffective cost containment and\/or operational efficiency (54\u00a0percent), and insufficient cash reserves for \u201crainy days\u201d or strategic investments (50\u00a0percent).<\/p>\n Tuition discounting is another standing concern. Among all CBOs, more than half (54\u00a0percent) are at least moderately concerned about the financial sustainability of their institution\u2019s tuition discount rate; two in 10 (21\u00a0percent) are highly concerned. Similarly, 50\u00a0percent of CBOs are at least moderately concerned about the sustainability of their institution\u2019s tuition sticker price increases. In both cases, private nonprofit CBOs are the most concerned, by sector.<\/p>\n Respondents also saw government efforts to influence institutional strategy and policy as an increasing risk to their institutions, with 71\u00a0percent registering this as a concern. That number is up slightly from last year\u2019s 65\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n CBOs in 2025 were much less concerned about donor efforts to influence institutional strategy, with 16\u00a0percent worrying that this amounts to an increasing financial risk to their college or university.<\/p>\n Internally, at least, some 81\u00a0percent of CBOs agree that they have sufficient agency influence within their institution to ensure its financial stability. Most also report a strong working relationship with their president, and understanding among trustees of the financial challenges facing their institution.<\/p>\n Survey respondents were notably concerned about federal student aid policies, overwhelmingly picking that as the top federal policy-related risk over the next four years, at 68\u00a0percent. Some experts suggest that concerns about other federal policy matters may have been heightened if the survey were administered after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier this month. It included major changes for higher education as well as cuts to other public programs that could have downstream effects on the sector. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are both direct and indirect implications of the bill, some of which have not fully been explored by colleges and universities,\u201d Ladd said. \u201cI think of the Medicaid cuts\u2014even those will have implications for colleges and universities.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about general financial risks to their institution over the next five years, many CBOs\u2014especially those at publics\u2014flagged state and federal policy changes, along with state and federal funding reductions. Enrollment declines, rising personnel costs and infrastructure and deferred maintenance costs also registered. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n As for what would most improve their institution\u2019s financial situation and sustainability, CBOs\u2019 top responses from a list of options were: growing enrollment through targeted recruitment and improved retention programs; optimizing operational efficiency through process improvement and strategic cost management; and\u2014in a more distant choice\u2014forming strategic partnerships with employers, community organizations and\/or other educational institutions. Cutting faculty and cutting staff were especially unpopular options.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Asked about value and affordability, CBOs largely agreed that their institution offers good value for what it charges for an undergraduate degree (93\u00a0percent) and that its net price is affordable (88\u00a0percent). Two in three (65\u00a0percent) said their institution has increased institutional financial aid\/grants in the last year to address affordability concerns.<\/p>\n The survey also found that CBOs are increasingly using artificial intelligence. Nearly half of respondents\u201446\u00a0percent\u2014indicated that AI helps them make more informed decisions in their role. That number is up from 33\u00a0percent in last year\u2019s survey.<\/p>\n Despite that uptick, respondents at most institutions aren\u2019t all-in on artificial intelligence yet. Only 6\u00a0percent reported that their college has made a comprehensive, strategic investment in AI. But many are experimenting: 39\u00a0percent of CBOs noted that their institution is in the early exploration phase with AI, while another 28\u00a0percent are piloting such tools in select departments.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is here to stay,\u201d Johnston said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The latest Inside Higher Ed\/Hanover Research Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers, released today, reveals concerns about near-term uncertainty and financial sustainability\u2014buoyed by confidence in the longer-term outlook. One of the most significant findings is that federal policy uncertainty has created difficulties in conducting basic financial planning as the Trump administration has introduced<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[303,535,189,4490,1592,982,568],"class_list":{"0":"post-11714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-college","10":"tag-finds","11":"tag-officers","12":"tag-resilience","13":"tag-risks","14":"tag-survey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pressure Tests<\/h2>\n
More on the Survey<\/h4>\n
Beyond the Fog<\/h2>\n