Date:
08/11/2025 to 08/14/2025
Location:
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Description:
The 2025 Higher Education Policy Conference was held Aug. 11-14, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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 government.
Participants had the opportunity to learn more about trending topics and perspectives and heard from leading higher education experts from across the nation.
Conference Presentations
Keynote sessions:
- Aligning Higher Ed and Work: Data, Policy, and Pathways to Mobility
- Do Students and Society Still Value Higher Education?
- The Redesign Moment: Rebuilding Higher Ed for Economic Mobility
- Informing Policy through Place: Centering Rural Voices in the Definition, Design, and Delivery of Higher Education
- Knocking at the College Door: State Leaders Respond to Enrollment Trends
- Meeting the Moment: State Leadership in a Shifting Federal Landscape
Concurrent sessions:
- A new framework for helping states support adult learners
- A study of Generation Z’s Interest in the Teaching Profession
- Building Rural Higher Education Research with State Agencies
- Bridging Research, Policy, and Philanthropy: Incorporating Wealth into Postsecondary Policy
- Bridging Workforce Gaps: Digital Credentials, the Indiana Achievement Wallet, and State Innovations
- Civics as a Completion Strategy: Bridging Democracy, Student Success, and Workforce Readiness
- Democratizing Access: How California Leverages Data and Technology to Increase Equity and Efficiency
- Developing a Comprehensive Return on Investment Measure for Arkansas
- Effective Research Partnerships for Policy and Practice
- Efforts to Increase Degree Attainment in Arizona: Innovative Ideas to Share with Other States
- Enhancing Higher Education Access and Workforce Development in Oklahoma
- Examining Funding Models for Unintended Disparities: Insights, Frameworks, and Data-Driven Approaches
- Expanding Access to High-Quality Work-Based Learning
- Expanding Experiential Learning: State Strategies for Workforce Readiness
- Farm-to-Data-Table: What Strong Foundations 2025 Reveals About Postsecondary Data and Rural Success
- From ASAP to Boost: How North Carolina Adapted the CUNY ASAP Model for Student Success & Workforce Alignment
- From Awareness to Action: Redefining How States Engage & Activate Residents Toward Higher Education
- Funding for the Future: Investing in Success to Build a Stronger Workforce
- Holistic Solutions for Counting All Learning
- How to Build More Accessible Higher Education Systems
- Identifying and Mitigating Risks: Financial Assessment & Risk Monitoring of Private IHEs
- Implementation Matters: Supporting Institutions to Advance State Reforms
- Increasing the Returns of Dual Enrollment Research Findings Using National and State Data
- Justice Impacted Students: A Discussion on Access, Experiences and Outcomes
- Lessons Learned from the Noncredit Mobility Academy: How to Improve Your State’s Noncredit Data
- Levers for Expanding Access to SNAP for College Students in Colorado
- Marketing Campaign Promoting the Value of Higher Education to Increase Enrollment
- Maximizing Student Success: State Strategies for Scaling Open Educational Resources
- Maximizing Financial Aid for Student Parent Success
- Measuring Return on Investment of Postsecondary Credentials: State vs. Local Earnings Thresholds
- Noncredit Data Practices: Lessons from the States
- One State, One Strategy: Aligning Workforce and Education for South Carolina’s Future
- Optimizing Academic Program Data for Advocacy and Oversight
- Sharing the Cost: Dual Enrollment Funding and Equitable Access in California and Minnesota
- “Sign o’ the Times:” Aligning Degree Production and In-Demand (Green) Middle Skill Occupations
- State Investments in Higher Education: Insights from SREB’s College Affordability Profiles
- State Policy Opportunities to Secure Student Basic Needs
- Strengthening Partnerships for Impact: State & Institutional Chief Academic Officers
- Supporting Adult Learners: Enrollment Strategies from a Pennsylvania Community of Practice
- Supporting Transfer Student Success Within and Across States
- The Base Strikes Back: Examples of States Aiming to Enhance Their Foundational Funding
- The Great Admissions Redesign: Lessons in Automation, Simplification, and Proactivity
- The Great Value Shift: Transforming Higher Education for Economic Impact
- The Intersection of Fiscal Responsibility and Institutional Mission
- The Minnesota Way: Equity in Higher Education
- The State Opportunity Index in Action: Strategies for Improving Equitable Pathways to Opportunity
- The Value is in the Data: How New Jersey is Utilizing Longitudinal Data to Show Return on Investment
- Using State Data to Support Post-Secondary Access, Completions & Return on Investment
- Why Making the Case for Higher Education’s Value Still Matters (And How to Do It Well)