Same Storm, Different Boats

Universities are cutting programs, laying off staff and running deficits. Meanwhile, the large education companies built around employers say a growing share of their students now comes through employers. Connect the dots, and three things separate the schools that will thrive from the ones that keep cutting.

The short answer: universities across the country, from Syracuse and USC to Harvard and the University of Utah, are cutting programs, staff and budgets, and their own leaders say the old model is no longer enough. Meanwhile, three of the largest education operators say roughly a third of their students now come through employers, and that share is rising. The difference comes down to three habits: working with employers as a channel, building the program mix from employer demand, and funding practical outcomes over pet projects.

"The way we have always done things is no longer adequate or enough."

That isn't a critic of higher education talking. That is Mike Haynie, chancellor of Syracuse University, writing to his own campus in August. He went on: "Higher education has a long history of moving slowly. We do not have the luxury of that pace right now."

Syracuse is a national brand with a multibillion-dollar endowment. It missed its fall 2026 enrollment target, expects its first budget deficit in years, and watched international students fall from 12% of its entering class to 5% in two years, according to Higher Ed Dive. It is also closing or pausing 93 academic programs. Haynie calls the 1.5% operating deficit "far from a crisis," and he may be right. But his own diagnosis is telling: "Competition for students is now more intense than at any time in modern U.S. history."

Jeff Selingo wrote recently that every story about Syracuse's enrollment and budget troubles blows up his feed. Syracuse gets the attention. It is far from the only one.

Which universities are cutting programs and staff?

Some of the best-known names in higher education. A few of the clearest examples:

USC made at least 974 layoffs between July and November 2025 against a fiscal 2025 operating deficit of more than $200 million
Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at the nation's wealthiest university by endowment, is working through a $365 million structural deficit and eliminated roughly 165 roles this summer
The University of Utah could cut between 285 and 855 operational staff positions by June 2027
Across the sector, Inside Higher Ed counted more than 9,000 job cuts and buyouts in 2025, and calls that an undercount. The cuts kept coming through September of this year

The reasons vary. Fewer 18-year-olds. Fewer international students. Federal changes. Costs that rose faster than revenue for years. But the reason matters less than the result. Every one of these institutions is cutting, because the revenue mix it built its model on is under pressure from several directions at once.

Where is enrollment growing instead?

In the employer channel. At the same time, the large publicly traded education companies have been telling their investors a very different story.

Strategic Education, the parent of Strayer and Capella, reported that employer-affiliated students reached a record 34.7% of its US Higher Education enrollment in the second quarter of 2026, up from 31.8% a year earlier. Earlier this year, CEO Karl McDonnell told investors that 40% of new US students came through employers. And of the roughly 4,000 students who come through Workforce Edge, its employer platform, he said on the second-quarter call: "There's almost no acquisition cost for those."

Phoenix Education Partners, the parent of University of Phoenix, reported that enrollment through employer relationships reached about 35% of its degreed enrollment in the quarter ended February 2026, up four points from a year earlier, while total enrollment grew 1.8%.

Brian Mueller, CEO of Grand Canyon Education, which provides services to Grand Canyon University, said on the company's second-quarter call that over 32% of GCU students now come through its work with more than 6,000 organizations, from employers to hospitals and school districts. The way they get those starts, he said, "has nothing to do with generating leads."

Others point the same way. Perdoceo, the parent of Colorado Technical University, calls its corporate programs "a meaningful avenue" for enrollment growth.

Put simply: three of the largest operators in the country say roughly a third of their students now come through employers and other organizations, and the share is rising. One CEO said the students from his company's employer platform cost almost nothing to recruit.

Same storm. Same demographics, same competition, same federal uncertainty. Very different exposure.

What do the growing schools do differently?

For more than twenty years I sat on both sides of this, at University of Phoenix, Apollo, WGU and DeVry. The schools that hold up in a storm like this one have three things in common.

1. They work with employers as a channel, not a relationship

Most universities have employer relationships. A signed agreement, a logo on a slide, a dean who knows an HR director. That is not a channel. A channel has an owner, a pipeline, a process for every handoff after the signature, and a number somebody is accountable for every month.

Those companies didn't stumble into a third of their enrollment. They built the machinery to take an employer from "yes" to enrolled students, and then to do it again next year. We wrote about why most schools never get there in Why Schools Struggle to Recruit Employer-Funded Students.

2. Their program mix starts with what employers need

Syracuse had about 460 degree and certificate programs, against a peer average of about 200. Fifty-five of the 93 it is now closing or pausing had no students enrolled at all. That doesn't happen to a school that starts with demand. It happens when programs are added for internal reasons and almost never taken away.

The contrast doesn't have to come from a company. WGU president Scott Pulsipher pointed to Jeff Selingo's comparison of Syracuse and Northeastern. As Pulsipher summarized it, Syracuse had the stronger market position two decades ago, but Northeastern made deliberate choices and stuck with them, including "doubling down on co-op, making career preparation a defining part of the student experience." Different choices, different results.

Start with the roles employers in your region cannot fill, and build backward. That is where the employer's money already wants to go.

3. They fund practical outcomes, not undisciplined pet projects

Every budget is a statement of what an institution thinks matters. The schools in the strongest position spend on the things that produce a working graduate: the program, the advising, the employer connection, the credential the hiring manager actually asks for.

The schools in the weakest position spread their spending across initiatives nobody would fund from scratch today. In a good year, that is waste. In a storm, it is the thing that sinks the boat.

What should universities do now?

None of this requires becoming a different kind of institution. It requires a different set of habits.

Build the employer channel deliberately. Decide where you have a right to win before you call anyone. Start with Market View vs. Market Access
Audit your program mix against regional employer demand, before a deficit or a state law does it for you
Fund outcomes. Programs that produce a hire get the next dollar
Use the tailwinds. The tax-free cap on employer tuition benefits starts rising with inflation in 2027, and Workforce Pell now funds approved short programs. We covered both in Employer-Funded Enrollment: Three Tailwinds for 2027

Haynie is right that the old way of doing things is no longer enough. The question for every president and every cabinet is what replaces it. For any school asking where the next dollar comes from, my answer hasn't changed: employers, employers and employers.

Frequently asked questions

Why are universities cutting programs and staff in 2026?

The reasons vary by institution: fewer 18-year-olds after the 2025 peak in high school graduates, fewer international students, federal funding changes and costs that grew faster than revenue. Inside Higher Ed counted more than 9,000 job cuts and buyouts across the sector in 2025.

What share of students come through employers at large education companies?

Roughly a third at the three largest operators that report it: about 35% at University of Phoenix's parent company, 34.7% at Strategic Education (Strayer and Capella), and over 32% at Grand Canyon University, according to company filings and earnings calls.

What is an employer-funded enrollment channel?

A repeatable way to enroll students whose employers pay all or part of their tuition, with an owner, a process for every handoff after an agreement is signed, and a number someone is accountable for.

EFFA helps schools build employer-funded enrollment as a channel they can run. To see the platform, request a demo. For help with the strategy, start with EFFA Advisory.