Out Now: IHE’s 2025 Survey of College and University Presidents

Inside Higher Ed’s full 2025 Survey of College and University Presidents, conducted with Hanover Research, is out now. The survey picked the brains of 298 presidents of two- and four-year institutions, public and private, on the following timely issues: 

• General financial and economic confidence, plus mergers and acquisitions
• Politics, policy and the 2024 election’s impact on higher education
• Public perceptions of higher ed and the value of a degree
• Campus speech, including recent student protests
• Race on campus and the continuing impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision on affirmative action
• How well institutions are handling the rise of artificial intelligence
• Campus action toward environmental sustainability
• Campus health and wellness, including student mental health
• Management, governance and the hardest part of being a president

On Wednesday, March 26, at 2 p.m. Eastern, Inside Higher Ed will present a webcast with campus leaders who will share their takes on the findings. Please register for that discussion here.

Check out our initial reporting on the survey here and here, plus some key findings below. Download the full survey here.

1. Fewer than one in 10 presidents (8 percent) support the elimination of the U.S. Education Department, as President Donald Trump has proposed. 
2. Presidents mostly attribute declining public confidence in higher education to concerns about the value of a college education and/or whether college is worth it. Only a fraction of presidents (15 percent) consider this concern to be highly valid. At the same time, a mere 1 percent think higher education has been highly effective at responding to declining public confidence. 
3. Three in 10 presidents (29 percent) indicate their institution has an institutional neutrality policy. Most of the remainder are not considering adopting one. 
4. Nearly all presidents (88 percent) say their institution has been able to maintain or increase previous levels of student diversity since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision restricting race-conscious admissions. Looking only at presidents whose institutions previously practiced affirmative action, closer to half say they’ve been able to maintain or increase previous levels of diversity.
5. Most presidents say their institution is doing a good or excellent job promoting student health and wellness in multiple areas, including mental health (81 percent). About seven in 10 (69 percent) somewhat or strongly agree that their institution has been effective in addressing what’s been called the student mental health crisis. But fewer than half of presidents at least somewhat agree that undergraduate mental health at their institution seems to be improving (44 percent).
6. Just over a third of presidents (37 percent) at least somewhat agree that the pros of faculty tenure outweigh the cons. Public doctoral institution presidents are much more likely than the group overall to support tenure, however. About half of all presidents (49 percent) also somewhat or strongly agree that their institution has too many academic programs and some need to close.