State higher education leaders across the country are balancing a wide array of policy priorities and concerns going into 2026. 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 in November 2025. States face a multitude of higher education policy issues, with some topics consistently among the top priorities each year, while others represent emerging public policy concerns driven by the current higher education landscape. SHEEO’s report details the top 10 state policy priorities for 2026, with two additional issues noted as honorary mentions.
Economic and workforce development rose to the top priority, moving from number two in 2025. Ninety-seven percent of respondents identified economic and workforce development as important or very important. As the number one state higher education policy issue on average for four years, its status reinforces the longstanding value of workforce alignment between higher education and career readiness. Among the opportunities for states to address economic and workforce development this year is the expansion of Pell Grant eligibility to short-term job training programs through Workforce Pell. In addition, states have been taking action to implement a range of initiatives to address future labor market demands, including introducing key legislation to help higher education agencies work more closely with state workforce agencies, prioritizing financial aid to support high-need programs, exploring standardizing microcredentials, and aligning academic planning with state workforce needs.
College affordability jumped up to the second-most important policy issue, from sixth-most important last year. States have long served as a primary role in ensuring affordable postsecondary opportunities through the provision of operating support that enables public institutions to charge lower tuition rates, and through targeted financial aid programs. Both sources of support have remained steady or increased in recent years, resulting in lower net costs of attendance for students.
Rounding out the top five priorities for higher education leaders are (3) higher education’s value proposition (return on investment), (4) state operating support for public colleges and universities, and (5) college completion and student success. All top five issues ranked within the top 10 in 2025. Other issues in the top 10 include (6) state impacts from federal policy changes, (7) state funding for financial aid programs, (8) retaining college graduates (“brain drain”), (9) student transfer pathways, and (10) dual enrollment, early college, and/or other K-12 connections. Honorable mentions include public perception of higher education, and the effective use of state data/data systems.
“2026 holds a lot of unknowns as we look to see what state legislators will prioritize and how changes at the federal level will impact states,” said Tom Harnisch, SHEEO’s Vice President for Government Relations. “Economic and workforce development continues to be top of mind – and with the implementation of Workforce Pell rolling out later this year, we’re optimistic that states will continue to make advances in addressing workforce needs.”
This year, SHEEO added four new policy issues – state impacts from federal policy changes; and dual enrollment, early college, and/or other K-12 connections – both of which ranked in the top 10 – and proactive, guaranteed, and/or direct admissions; and academic program planning and/or review – which ranked 19th and 20th, respectively. Four issues were dropped for the 2026 survey – artificial intelligence; effects of inflation on costs of goods and services; faculty supply, salaries, and/or quality; and academic freedom. The full State Priorities for Higher Education in 2026 report can be found at https://bit.ly/Policy-Issue-Survey26.