New report highlights the importance of state and institutional partnerships to transform student success 

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In a new report published today, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) outlines how four states – Louisiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Wyoming – are utilizing partnerships between their state chief academic officers (SAOs) and institutional chief academic officers (CAOs) to transform student success on college campuses.

In partnership with Sova, SHEEO launched the Pursuing Alignment for Student Success Across Higher Education Institutions & State Agencies (PASS) project in 2024. This project, generously funded by Ascendium, brought a new learning community together designed to address the critical need for better alignment between state higher education offices and institutions to support student success.

SHEEO’s new report, Shared Visions, Shared Outcomes: Transforming Student Success Through Partnership, provides an overview of the successes and strategies of collaborations among chief academic officers at the aforementioned four state agencies and the institutions participating in the PASS project and how they are centering student success as a priority.

As part of this project, each participating state did a policy scan (provided in the Appendix of the report) to reflect on their existing statewide student success policies. This exercise enabled state higher education agencies to evaluate current initiatives, identify gaps in implementation, and examine how state-level policies influence institutional practices. 

“The policy scan served as a foundation for deeper discussions between SAOs and CAOs, fostering a shared understanding of opportunities and challenges in scaling student success,” said John Lane, SHEEO Vice President for Academic Affairs and Equity Initiatives. “From using data-driven approaches to build a resilient workforce in Kentucky, to aligning financial incentives to workforce needs in Wyoming, the lessons learned and initiatives implemented by the four participating states provide valuable best practices that can be scaled among other states.”

Read the full report to learn more: https://bit.ly/PASS_sharedoutcomes.

New report outlines collaborative solutions for state-level student mental health

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In a new report published today, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) outlines ways state higher education agencies are responding to the student mental health crisis.

The SHEEO-JED Mental Health and Wellness Learning Community, launched by SHEEO and The Jed Foundation (JED) in the fall of 2023, brought together state higher education leaders, institutional leaders, practitioners, and other stakeholders to address the growing student mental health needs.

SHEEO’s new report, Building Momentum: Collaborative Solutions for State-Level Student Mental Health, provides an overview of the initiatives and insights from states participating in the inaugural learning community – including Arizona, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The report highlights how these collaborative efforts are shaping the future of mental health policy in higher education. From leveraging federal resources like the 988 Lifeline to implementing state-specific frameworks that align mental health with student success, these strategies represent a significant step forward in addressing the ongoing mental health crisis in meaningful and sustainable ways.

“The report examines national mental health trends and the broader legislative context while diving into specific examples that demonstrate how states expanded initiatives, cross-sector collaboration, and strategic frameworks to place student mental health at the forefront of student success,” said Sakshee Chawla, Senior Policy Analyst, and lead author of the report. 

Other topics highlighted in the report include bridging gaps in access to mental health services, a look at the return on investment, the holistic value of data-driven advocacy, the behavioral health workforce crisis, and state-level innovations and temporary solutions.

Read the report to learn more: https://bit.ly/SHEEOmentalhealthsolutions

NOW OPEN: Session Proposals for 2025 Policy Conference

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) is pleased to host the 2025 Higher Education Policy Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 11-14. Solicitation of proposals for conference sessions is now open. Registration for the conference is forthcoming. 

The annual Policy Conference is the preeminent gathering of leaders from state higher education policy agencies, national higher education policy organizations, institutions, and state and federal governments. SHEEO seeks timely, thought-provoking proposals for sessions aligned with our organizational vision to promote an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring educational opportunities for all. 

SHEEO invites proposals that consider the following:

  • Promoting the value of higher education
  • Workforce alignment and economic development 
  • Communications, advocacy, and government relations
  • Effective use of postsecondary data systems
  • Educational opportunity and student success 
  • Enrollment and demographic trends
  • Higher education finance and financial aid
  • Student affordability and student loan debt
  • Postsecondary education alignment with K-12 
  • Mitigating disparities in access, persistence, or completion
  • Strategic planning and accountability
  • Other topics of interest to state higher education leaders

SHEEO encourages the submission of proposals for sessions that will bring together perspectives from multiple SHEEO agencies, states, and organizations. Most available sessions will be 45 minutes in length, so SHEEO encourages you to limit your session to, at most, four speakers. We encourage a diverse selection of speakers and welcome a wide range of ideological perspectives.

The proposal submission deadline has now passed.

State operating support for public colleges and universities tops policy priorities for state higher education leaders in 2025

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State higher education leaders across the country are going into 2025 with several top policy priorities and concerns. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) asked its members to identify their top policy issues for the new year in a survey distributed to chief executive officers after the November 2024 election. States face a multitude of higher education policy issues, with some topics consistently among the top priorities for policymakers, while others represent emerging public policy concerns driven by the current higher education landscape. SHEEO’s report details the top 11 state policy priorities for 2025 (due to a tie for 10th), with two additional emerging issues noted as honorary mentions.

State operating support for public colleges and universities rose to the top priority for higher education in 2025, emerging from number two last year, and number four in 2023. Historically, state operating support has been the primary source of revenue public colleges and universities have used to educate students. This has shifted over time, with more institutions now relying on tuition dollars. As states focus on college affordability, state operating support to institutions is critical to help avoid tuition increases and counterbalance inflationary pressures in operating costs. Although state support for operating budgets increased in most states since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, state budgets and spending are expected to shrink in fiscal year 2025. Budget shortfalls tend to result in cuts to state support for higher education and, in turn, increases in tuition and fees for students, which some states are already experiencing.

While just missing out as the top policy priority for the third year in a row, 94 percent of SHEEOs still indicated that economic and workforce development is an important or very important issue, making it the second top policy priority for SHEEOs. SHEEO agencies are implementing a wide range of initiatives to meet future labor market demands. Many of these efforts focus on identifying high-demand occupations and providing incentives for students and institutions.

Rounding out the top five priorities for higher education leaders are (3) state funding for financial aid programs, (4) higher education’s value proposition, and (5) college completion and student success. All top five issues ranked within the top 10 in 2024. Other issues in the top 10 include (6) college affordability, (7) enrollment declines, (8) public perception of higher education, (9) FAFSA completion, and with a tie (10) adult/non-traditional student success, and (10) student transfer pathways. Honorable mentions include K-12 teacher workforce, and the use of state data to inform decision-making. 

“While this report isn’t an exhaustive list of issues our states are facing, it foreshadows policy priorities in the 2025 state legislative sessions,” said Tom Harnisch, SHEEO’s Vice President for Government Relations. “With some states already having to make tough budget decisions, I think we’ll continue to see headlines around operating support, state funding for financial aid programs, and the conversation around college affordability and the value proposition.”

This year, SHEEO added three policy issues—student transfer pathways, cost containment, and artificial intelligence—and dropped two issues—academic tenure and DEI curriculum and programming. The survey also combined student health, safety, and basic needs (food, housing, childcare, etc.) due to similar concepts that have ranked comparably in prior years. Student transfer pathways was the only new issue to poll in the top 10, while cost containment and artificial intelligence ranked 18th and 19th.

The full State Priorities for Higher Education in 2025 report can be found at https://bit.ly/state-priorities-2025.