Posts by Julie Uranis
Academic Rigor Is a Financial Defense: What Every Institutional Leader Should Take From the Ghost Student Problem
A follow-up from the 2026 SOLAR COLO Convening By Julie Uranis & Tim Lehmann FSA awards more than $120 billion a year to roughly 13 million students. Some of those enrollments are fraudulent. Fraud rings use stolen identities, synthetic identities assembled from real and fabricated information, and sometimes complicit individuals to enroll, obtain aid, and…
Read MorePreparing Four-Year Institutions for Workforce Pell
Institutions must begin preparing now for 2026 implementation. On July 4, 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), a sweeping legislative package that reshapes federal student aid and accountability policy. Among many consequential provisions for higher education is the creation of Workforce Pell, which will extend Pell Grant eligibility to some short-term,…
Read MoreWhat Higher Education Leaders Can Learn from NGA’s Intersectional Policy Lab
In late August, I had the opportunity to join the National Governors Association’s Intersectional Policy Lab on Non-Degree Credentials and Skills-Based Practices in Minneapolis. This first in-person gathering of NGA’s Data and Non-Degree Credential Learning Community and Skills in the States Community of Practice brought together state leaders, researchers, foundations, and employers for two days…
Read MoreBecause we don’t want our team members to ‘Move On’
Many moons ago I wrote about the UPCEA Hallmark of Excellence in Online Leadership – Professionalism and how online leaders could begin implementing aspects of that Hallmark in their performance appraisals and professional development plans of staff members (see Professionalism and Staff Evals). The other day I read this piece on the Gallup Talent Blog.…
Read MoreGiving my inbox ‘One More Try’
Friends, it has been a while. Since my last post we’ve hosted several events, I have attended many events, and there has been much news to report. Recently, in my 115th attempt to change how I manage my inbox (as an inbox zero person I am always looking for new tactics to get my inbox…
Read MoreWhat are your plans for National Distance Learning Week (NDLW)?
Back in the day, as the leader of an online unit, I struggled with National Distance Learning Week (NDLW). People who know me know I haven’t met a special occasion I don’t like but NDLW was always a head-scratcher for me. Maybe it’s because I associate events with in-person attendance and that’s pretty much the…
Read MoreWhy PCO Leaders Need to Teach
<Imagine a radio announcer making this dedication> This post goes out to all of the professional, continuing and online education (PCO) leaders that have asked me how I manage to teach in my spare time. </ voice> For the last several Winter terms (or Spring terms for some of you), I have taught the Intro…
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