Higher education is in the middle of a shift, and not a small one.
What we are seeing now goes beyond policies, court decisions, or changes in campus programs. It’s about access, visibility, support, and the learning environment that colleges create. While many start the discussion with affirmative action, the real concern is about access.
The Real Issue Is Access
Access shapes a student’s perception of college as attainable or remote, affects their early exposure to opportunities, and determines the support they receive for navigating admissions, financial aid, campus life, and the challenges of being in an unwelcoming environment.
That is why this moment in higher education matters so much.
For years, affirmative action, outreach efforts, student support programs, and campus inclusion initiatives opened doors for students from communities that institutions too often overlooked or shut out. These efforts did not give anyone an unfair advantage. They acknowledged a simple truth: talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. They created real pathways for students who had the ability to thrive but too often lacked access to the resources, relationships, and encouragement that make higher education feel possible.
I know this personally.
Like many first-generation and underrepresented students, I did not arrive at higher education by accident. Exposure and encouragement helped me see college as a real option. Visiting a campus, joining a program, and having someone help me understand the process made a difference. Those early touchpoints can change the direction of a student’s life. They turn higher education from something distant and unfamiliar into something real and within reach.
That is what so many conversations about affirmative action miss. People focus on the final admissions decision but ignore everything that has to happen long before an application is submitted. They debate fairness without fully reckoning with how uneven the starting line has always been.
When institutions cut access programs, students lose more than services. They lose a bridge.
And once that bridge disappears, the impact shows up everywhere.
The impact shows up in application patterns.
It influences who gets admitted.
It shapes whether students feel like they belong once they arrive.
And over time, it affects retention, graduation, leadership pipelines, and eventually the workforce.
How the Higher Education Landscape Is Changing
This is one of the reasons the changing landscape of higher education should concern all of us, not just those working directly in colleges and universities. What happens on campus does not stay on campus. These institutions shape who gets credentialed, who gets connected, who gets hired, and who gets seen as ready to lead.
There is also a practical reality that many people do not want to say out loud: higher education is a business.
Colleges and universities are mission-driven in many ways, but they are also managing revenue, enrollment, brand reputation, donor expectations, and employer relationships. They are thinking about who they recruit, which populations they prioritize, and how they position themselves in a competitive market. That makes this moment even more complicated, because when institutions pull back from inclusion efforts, they are not just making symbolic decisions. They are making strategic ones.
And those decisions send a message.
Students are paying attention to whether campuses still feel welcoming. Families are paying attention to whether support systems still exist. Alumni are paying attention to whether the values their institutions once claimed are still reflected in action. Employers are paying attention, too, because many of them depend on colleges and universities to cultivate broad talent pipelines and prepare students to work across difference in an increasingly complex world.
Why Trust Matters in College Recruitment and Retention
This is where trust becomes central.
Recruitment has never come down to brochures, rankings, or polished talking points. It comes down to trust. Students choose institutions where they believe people will support them, challenge them, and help them grow. Colleges build that trust through relationships with admissions staff, faculty, alumni, community partners, and current students who can speak honestly about what the experience is really like.
When institutions remove programs, centers, and resources that once signaled care for marginalized students, they create a trust gap. Students notice when women’s centers close. They notice when LGBTQ+ spaces disappear. They notice when Black student centers are defunded or when programs designed to increase belonging are quietly scaled back. Even before a student steps foot on campus, those decisions shape what they believe will be possible there.
And once trust is broken, recruitment gets harder.
So does retention.
Because the issue is not only whether students can get in. It is whether they can stay, succeed, and imagine a future for themselves in that environment.
Inclusion in Higher Education Must Be Practiced, Not Just Promised
This is why institutions cannot afford to rely on statements alone. Inclusion has to be practiced, not just promoted.
That starts with listening, but real listening. Not performative listening tours. Not collecting feedback that never leads to change. Real listening means engaging students, families, alumni, and communities to understand what they need, where they feel unsupported, and what would make access more real. It means hearing what students are saying about affordability, safety, belonging, mentorship, representation, and opportunity, then responding in ways people can actually feel.
It also means building authentic relationships before recruitment season begins.
Too often, colleges engage communities only when they want applications. But meaningful access requires a longer view. It requires sustained partnerships with K-12 schools, community organizations, local leaders, and programs that help students see themselves in higher education early. It requires showing up consistently enough that people know the institution is invested in more than numbers.
That kind of relationship-building is not extra. It is foundational.
What Colleges and Universities Must Do Next
If higher education leaders are serious about navigating this changing landscape, they need to move from asking, “How do we replace affirmative action?” to asking, “How do we expand access in ways that are real, sustainable, and rooted in trust?”
That question opens up a much more useful conversation.
It pushes institutions to look closely at outreach, mentorship, student support, transfer pathways, affordability, community partnerships, and campus climate. It also forces a harder question: do recruitment strategies actually reflect the populations schools claim to want to serve? Just as important, leaders have to decide whether inclusion is truly part of the student experience or still limited to a few fragile programs that can be cut the moment pressure builds.
This moment also requires institutions to get honest about who they are for.
Access is not just about admitting more students from different backgrounds. It is about creating environments where those students do not have to fight every day to prove they belong. Once they arrive, they need resources, relationships, and structures that actively support their success. Diversity without support is not progress. Representation without belonging is not enough.
The Future of Higher Education Depends on Access
The truth is, many of the efforts now under attack made institutions stronger, not weaker. Those efforts helped students build confidence, form meaningful connections, and gain clarity about what was possible for them. They made campuses more reflective of the world students are preparing to enter, widened talent pipelines for employers, and moved higher education closer to its promise as a path to opportunity.
Institutions should not respond to this moment by retreating into neutrality or hiding behind compliance language. They need to get clearer about what access requires and more intentional about how they protect it.
If higher education is serious about preparing people for the future, it cannot narrow who gets the chance to participate in it.
Yes, the landscape is changing. But institutions still have choices.
They can use this moment as an excuse to pull back, reduce support, and hope no one notices the long-term cost.
Or they can take a different path. They can rethink access more deeply, invest in relationships, and rebuild trust. They can create pathways that do not depend on outdated assumptions about who belongs in higher education. And they can recognize that the future of higher education will be shaped not only by who gets admitted, but by who is welcomed, supported, and given a fair chance to thrive.
That is the conversation we need now. Tune into the full conversation with this week’s guest, Terrance Gresham.
Not just about affirmative action.
Not just about policy.
But about access, and who we are willing to make room for when it matters most.
If your institution is rethinking how to build trust, support belonging, and strengthen access in this changing landscape, let’s talk about what that can look like in practice.
