June 30, 2026

Closures, Innovation, and the Future of Higher Ed with Brian Rosenberg

Why has the higher education industry been so resistant to structural changes? Will a lack of innovation lead to school closures? How can colleges reinvent themselves to prevent this from happening? Brian Rosenberg answers these questions and more in this episode!

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About the episode

In this episode, Dr. Brian Rosenberg, former president of Macalester College and Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, opens by debunking one of the most persistent myths in higher education: that the sticker price is what families actually pay. With average discount rates approaching sixty percent at private colleges, Brian encourages students and families to look past the top-line number before ruling out a school. He then pulls back the curtain on why higher education has been so resistant to change and shares what genuine innovation actually looks like, and how students can tell the difference between a school that is truly distinctive and one that is simply using the right buzzwords.

Brian then offers a candid assessment of where higher education is heading, including a frank conversation about college closures, declining enrollment demographics, and the schools most at risk. He shares his perspective on how struggling colleges can reinvent themselves by leaning into their local communities and expanding beyond the traditional 18-to-24 student market. The episode closes with a wide-ranging discussion on AI’s impact on both teaching and admissions.

Mentioned in this episode

Host

Will Geiger

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut.Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

Guest

Brian Rosenberg

Brian Rosenberg is currently Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 2003 until 2020, he served as the 16th President of Macalester College. He is the author of “Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Resistance to Change in Higher Education (2023), a frank and often provocative book in which he draws on decades of experience to expose the entrenched structures, practices, and cultures that inhibit meaningful postsecondary reform. His articles on higher education appear regularly in The Chronicle of Higher Education and have also appeared in publications including The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times. He serves as Senior Advisor and Director at the African Leadership University and Chair of the Board of the Teagle Foundation.