We’ve been wondering how prison education programs have grown since the reinstatement of Pell grants for incarcerated learners a couple of years ago. So we sent our producer Jeff Young to learn more. It turns out colleges wanting to set up programs face complicated logistics and cultural challenges. To help, several states have recently set up statewide consortiums to help. On this episode we hear from the director of a new program in Minnesota building a playbook for colleges hoping to serve incarcerated students. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

0:00 - Intro

2:06 - A New Statewide Coalition

3:08 - How Financial Aid Rules Changed In 2023

5:27 - Prison Education Programs Need a Range of Resources

6:40 - Have College Prison Programs Expanded In Recent Years?

7:28 - Colleges Don’t Know Where to Start With Prison Programs

8:32 - What Is the Model for Minnesota’s New Prison Education Consortium?

10:40 - What Professors Need to Know About Teaching in Prison

12:24 - A Guidebook for Prison Education Programs

13:50 - A Student’s Perspective on Higher Ed in Prison

20:40 - The Importance of Learning While in Prison

23:15 - How a Prison Program Changed a Student’s Outlook

24:48 - A Student’s Advice for Professors Teaching in Prison

26:05 - Sponsor Break

26:24 - Online v. In-Person Prison Education Programs

29:29 - When Students Take Ownership of Prison Education Programs

32:17 - Cultural Factors of Setting Up Programs in Prison

33:47 - Technology Needed for Prison Education Programs

35:55 - A Student’s Perspective on Edtech in Prison

39:42 - What’s the Policy Outlook for Prison Education?

41:52 - An Argument for Non-Credit Programs in Prisons

44:51 - What’s the Future for Prison Education?

48:46 - Improving Re-entry Support

“Reinstating Pell Grants in Prisons Moves Slowly After 26-Year Ban,” in Inside Higher Ed.

“State Coalitions Emerge as Key Infrastructure for Higher Education in Prison,” in Open Campus.

“Advancing Opportunities for Higher Learning: An Evaluation of Minnesota's New Higher Education in Prison Programs,” by the U of Minnesota’s Center for Urban & Regional Affairs.

Check out our previous episodes on the topic: “‘College Unbound’ from the Traditional Model” from 2024 and “College in Prison” from 2022.

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It’s a time of change in higher education. Jeff and Michael look back on what they learned over the course of this ninth season of Future U in a one-on-one discussion. They recap key moments and share their favorite episodes. And one theme keeps emerging: “it’s all about institutional mission.”

0:00 - Intro

1:08 - Many of Today’s Challenges Were Predicted 10 Years Ago

3:51 - Why Mission Is Key

4:56 - A ‘Ghost Town Campus’

12:35 - Big Deficits at Colleges

13:47 - The Fire Sale on MBAs

17:05 - How to Restore Trust in Higher Ed

19:17 - The Many Software Vulnerabilities for Colleges

24:29 - How to Design the AI University

26:52 - Jeff’s Favorite Episode of Season 9

30:58 - Michael’s Favorite Episode of Season 9

33:11 - Thanks to the Podcast Team

“Season 9 Annual Listener Survey” - Help us prepare for next season

“2026: The seismic shifts for transforming the future of higher education,” by Jeff Selingo, in The Chronicle of Higher Education

“Sonoma State University is in crisis. Can a new president save it,” in The San Francisco Chronicle.

“What happens when students let an economist pick their college?,” in Marketplace. 

“Harvard’s FAS Is Running a $365 Million Structural Deficit. The Problems Started Well Before Trump,” in The Harvard Crimson.

“There is a Fire Sale on MBAs,” in The Wall Street Journal.

“Report of the Committee on Trust in Higher Education,” by Yale University.

“Designing the AI University,” by Jeff Selingo.

“Leading Faculty in an AI Era,” by Jeff Selingo.

"The Lie at the Center of Higher Education," by Melik Peter Khoury.

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The college athletics arms race has created a complex financing puzzle for many institutions. That has led athletics departments to become a kind of ‘shadow university’ within their campuses, with their own systems and processes. And university leaders need to pay closer attention. For this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with Karen Weaver, an expert on the finances behind college athletics. Do colleges need a whole new board structure for sports?

0:00 - Introduction

1:35 - Why All College Leaders Should Care About College Athletics

4:14 - Introducing Our Guest, Karen Weaver

5:12 - What Are University Presidents and Board Members Missing About College Sports?

6:38 - How is the Transfer Portal Impacting Graduation Rates?

8:26 - Do Athletics Align With College Mission Statements?

9:51 - What Washington Should Do to Regulate College Sports

11:50 - What If College Sports Lost Tax-Exempt Status?

13:23 - How Women’s Sports and Olympic Sports Fit In?

16:20 - Do NCAA Classifications Work Anymore?

20:22 - Who Defines Success for College Sports?

20:53 - Is Athletics Worth It As a ‘Front Porch’ of the College?

22:08 - How Should College Athletics Be Reformed?

25:36 - The Growth of Club Sports

29:18 - Do We Know the ROI of College Athletics?

34:00 - Getting Beyond Football and Basketball

37:05 - Connecting Athletics to Work-Integrated Learning

40:05 - Why Are People ‘All In’ on College Athletics

40:59 - How Injuries Play a Role

42:48 - The Connection Between Research and Athletic Prestige

45:07 - Is a Whole New Governance Structure Needed for Athletics?

46:05 - Lightning Round with Karen Weaver

“Four quick thoughts on the Protect College Sports Act: aka a college sports bill you should actually pay attention to,” by Matt Brown in his Extra Points newsletter.

“Sport Finance: Where the Money Comes From and Where the Money Goes,” by Karen Weaver.

“Trustees and Presidents: A Podcast for University Leaders,” by Karen Weaver

“Understanding College Athletics: What Campus Leaders Need to Know About College Sports,” by Karen Weaver

“The Future of Elite Youth Sports Is Here—and It’s a Mess,” in The Wall Street Journal.

“Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,” by David Epstein.

Closing down a college turns out to be a big job. For this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with a specialist on the complex and emotional process, Doug Moore. He shares all the things that college presidents and trustees should know—as well as surprising moments as he has helped colleges navigate finances, lawsuits, community impact, teach-outs, and more. And he explains why he sees signs of hundreds of college closures on the horizon.

“The Looming College-Enrollment Death Spiral,” by Jeff Selingo in The Atlantic.

“History auctioned as Iowa Wesleyan closes its doors,” in Homegrown Iowan.

0:00 - Intro

1:04 - The Surprising Complexity of Closing a College

3:00 - How a ‘College Closure’ Found that Profession

5:17 - How Do Colleges Find a Closer?

9:00 - Walking Through the Early Phases of Closing a Campus

14:53 - What Happens After the Final Graduation Ceremony?

18:55 - ‘Community Freebie Days’

22:33 - What’s The Most Surprising Thing a Closing Campus Had to Auction Off?

26:12 - Warning Signs That a College Might Fail

28:19 - Why College Sports Can Shutter Colleges

30:26 - 400 Colleges Could Fail in the Next 10 Years

32:11 - 20 or 30 Colleges Could Close This Year

33:18 - Why Don’t More Colleges Merge?

35:00 - Is Anyone Buying Closed Colleges?

38:33 - The Emotional Toll of Closing a College

42:06 - Sponsor Break

42:35 - Did Higher Ed Build Too Many Colleges?

49:28 - What Is Emotionally Lost When Colleges Disappear?

51:43 - What Will Happen to All These Closed Campus Facilities?

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Most public colleges get state funding based on “seat time,” — how many students are sitting through classes. Over a decade ago, leaders at Texas State Technical College bet on an experimental funding model that ties state support to the employment outcomes of their graduates. For this episode, we hear from the architect of the unusual approach, Michael Bettersworth, the college’s vice chancellor and chief marketing officer. And Jeff and Michael explore the lessons that all types of colleges can take from rethinking funding models to better match their missions. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

0:00 - Introduction

3:49 - A College That Only Gets Paid When Students Get Jobs

6:42 - How the Unusual Funding Model Started

9:49 - How Has the Funding Model Gone?

12:05 - Voters Approve Endowment for a Technical College

13:20 - A Quest to Better Map Skills Colleges Teach to Jobs

18:52 - The Importance of ‘Occupational Identity’

21:17 - Should Other Types of Colleges Try This Funding Model?

23:40 - How Much Should Colleges Be Responsible For Student Employment Outcomes?

25:43 - How Is AI Changing the Conversation About Skills?

29:01 - Creating Incentives to Map Teaching to Jobs

31:20 - How Can We Know What Skills Are Actually Needed in Certain Jobs?

34:41 - Funding Models Should Match College Missions

39:58 - Lightning Round with Michael Bettersworth

“If—” by Rudyard Kipling

“Inventing a Job-Skills Machine,” by Rebecca Koenig in EdSurge

“Taxonomies of Human Performance,” by Edwin A. Fleishman.

“Marc Andreessen says AI layoffs are a farce: Companies are 75% overstaffed, and AI is the ‘silver bullet excuse’ to clean house,” in Fortune.

There’s a growing movement to make sure colleges offer ‘degrees of value,’ meaning that offerings lead to higher-paying jobs for graduates than if they hadn’t gone to college. Jeff and Michael talk to a key proponent of the idea, Harrison Keller, the president of the University of North Texas and former Commissioner of Higher Education in Texas. He talks about his experiments to redesign colleges to better match their offerings to the needs of the labor market. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

“Building a Talent Strong Texas,” strategic plan from Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

“University launches regional partnership for Texas Talent Accelerator to meet industry demands,” in the North Texas Daily.

“University of North Texas to cut more than 70 programs and minors to trim $45 million deficit,” in the Texas Tribune.“

Syracuse Drops 84 Majors Including Classics, Ceramics and Italian,” in The New York Times (gift link).

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - A President Trying to Align Degrees to the Labor Market

3:43 - The Elevator Pitch for Ensuring ‘Credentials of Value’

5:50 - Creating a ‘Hub’ to Analyze Fast-Changing Employment Landscape

9:04 - Is There a Danger of Training Students for Dying Jobs?

12:11 - What Programs at UNT Aren’t Working?

14:14 - What About Majors With Social Value That Don’t Pay Much?

17:21 - How Do State Funding Formulas Need to Change?

20:06 - How Do Universities Need to Change Their Structures?

23:32 - What Should Universities Do to Respond to AI?

28:07 - Sponsor Break

28:46 - Colleges Need to Do More to Connect Liberal Arts to Job Skills

33:14 - The Case for a More-Detailed Mapping of Liberal Arts Skills to Work

41:56 - A Move to Shorter Degree Offerings in Some Fields

45:33 - Eliminating Programs With Low Demand

50:40 - Lightning Round with Harrison Keller

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These days colleges are under fire from the Trump administration and critics on multiple fronts. Dartmouth's president, Sian Beilock, is one of the few Ivy League presidents not getting hauled before Congress, though her approach has plenty of detractors. Jeff and Michael talked with Beilock about the purpose of college, and how to lead in this polarized and uncertain time. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

“It feels like there’s no jobs,” in The New York Times. 

“Dartmouth announces AI partnership with Anthropic, company accused of plagiarizing Dartmouth professors’ publications,” in The Dartmouth.

“What an Ivy League Education Really Gets You,” in The Atlantic.

0:00 - Introduction

1:52 - An Up-and-Coming College President

4:17 - ‘Leading With Values’

6:24 - The Choice to Be Outspoken in this Moment

7:16 - How Should We Think About the Modern College Presidency?

8:33 - How to Respond to Controversial World Events

10:00 - Why Does College Seem So Much Harder and Less Satisfying to Students Today?

12:24 - How Can Colleges Provide More Work Experience?

15:30 - Helping Students Learn Soft Skills

18:04 - What Role Should Colleges Play With AI?

20:15 - Do Students Need Colleges to Learn in an AI Era?

22:27 - How Should College Presidents Engage With Students?

24:53 - Should Highly-Selective Colleges Expand Their Classes

26:39 - Sponsor Break

27:24 - The Importance of Clarity of Mission

33:04 - How Should Colleges Talk About the Soft Skills They Teach?

35:20 - How Personal Stories Bleed Through in Leadership

37:10 - The Challenge of Presidents Forging Relationships With Students

40:27 - Lightning Round with Sian Beilock

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As winter thaws and spring arrives, Jeff and Michael reflect on six big issues facing higher education. First up, why they think the campus building boom is over — and what comes next. They also discuss how AI is changing both higher ed and the world of work; what recent scandals involving college presidents mean for the sustainability of that job; and why the finances of college sports just don’t add up. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

“From Building to Stewardship,” by Jeff Selingo.

“Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence,” by Anthropic.

“AI Isn’t Lightening Workloads. It’s Making Them More Intense,” in The Wall Street Journal.

“2026 Survey of College and University Presidents,” in Inside Higher Ed.

0:00 - Intro

1:59 - The Campus Building Boom Is Over

4:30 - Moving to ‘Facilities Stewardship’

12:47 - Is Higher Ed Too Negative About AI?

17:47 - ‘AI-Native Universities Will Be Pretty Disruptive’

21:13 - Why the Cost of Acquiring Students Is Key

23:13 - New Report on How AI Is Changing Jobs

29:22 - What’s Happening With the University Presidency?

32:00 - New Survey of College Presidents

33:22 - Why the Finances of College Athletics Don’t Add Up

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It’s March Madness, a prime time for college sports – and for sports betting. Some two-thirds of college students now bet on sports, and the meteoric rise in popularity brings a mix of tough challenges for campus leaders. On this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with two officials from the NCAA, Clint Hangebrauck and Mark Hicks, to understand why a rise in student gambling could become “the next big public health crisis” for campuses. This episode is supported exclusively by Ascendium Education Group.

“U.S. sports betting: Where all 50 states stand on online sports betting sites,” in CBS Sports.

“Federal prosecutors charge 26 men with alleged conspiracy to manipulate college basketball games,” in The Athletic. 

Suspensions, arrests and lifetime bans: A timeline of sports betting scandals since the repeal of PASPA,” in ESPN.

“NCAA won't allow pro sports betting by college athletes and staff amid gambling scandals,” in PBS NewsHour.“

‘Is This Insider Information?’ The Prediction Market Bets Driving a Campus Frenzy,” in The Wall Street Journal.

0:00 - Sports Betting Is Suddenly Everywhere

2:10 - The Turning Point That Drove a Gambling Boom

3:11 - Scandals Threaten the Integrity of Games

3:53 - Why ‘Prop Bets’ Pose Threats for Athletes

4:44 - The NCAA’s Role and Introducing Our Guests

5:45 - Laying Out the Landscape of College Betting

8:37 - How Widespread Are Problems Related to Sports Betting?

12:07 - Why College Presidents Should Be Concerned About Gambling

15:56 - Which Sports or Schools Face the Biggest Impact of Sports Betting?

20:04 - Should Student Athletes Be Allowed to Bet on Pro Sports?

22:51 - What Should Colleges Do About Sports Betting?

25:15 - What Is the NCAA Doing to Protect Student Athletes?

29:40 - How NCAA Collaborates With Betting Companies

33:52 - What’s Next for Sports Betting?

36:42 - A Wake-Up Call to the Issue of Sports Betting

40:53 - Sports Betting Touches Many Parts of Campus

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For 30 years now, colleges have relied on the Learning Management System, or LMS, as a key portal for professors and students to teach and learn. It's a tool that has helped colleges adapt to online learning and bring digital tools to classroom teaching. But generative AI seems poised to disrupt the LMS. And it’s unclear whether the LMS will evolve—or be replaced altogether. For this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with a pioneer of the technology, Matthew Pittinsky, about the lessons of past moments of tech disruption like the smartphone and cloud computing and about what could be different this time. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

The LMS at 30: From Course Management to Learning Management (At Last), by Matthew Pittinsky in OnTech.

LMS at 30 Part 2: Learning Management in the AI Era, by Matthew Pittinsky in OnTech.

“Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils' Intellectual Development,” by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson

“Two-Sigma Tutoring: Separating Science Fiction from Science Fact,” by Paul T. von Hippel in Education Next.

0:00 - Intro

1:34 - How the LMS Became Key Infrastructure at Colleges

3:04 - What Was the Sales Pitch When the LMS First Emerged?

5:15 - Why Blackboard Bought Up So Many Competitors

7:36 - AI Will Disrupt LMS Even Though Previous Tech Didn’t

10:57 - Could AI Can Bring ‘Hogwarts Magical Study Aids’?

12:22 - Is the LMS Needed In an Age of AI?

14:14 - Should LMS Providers Build Guardrails to Prevent Cheat-Bots?

18:25 - What Lessons From the Past Can Help Respond to AI?

19:52 - A New Leader at Blackboard

21:06 - Sponsor Break

22:00 - How Faculty Are Key to Change

28:03 - Why Change From AI Might Be Discipline-Specific

34:50 - Lightning Round With Matt Pittinsky

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