Industry Insights

Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

How to Explain AI SEO ROI to University Leadership (Without Overpromising)

March 9, 2026

Discover how to explain AI SEO ROI to university leadership when attribution is imperfect, with insights and strategy from Search Influence. Across higher education, marketing teams are being asked to explain AI search visibility before institutions agree on how to measure it. Leadership discussions are moving quickly, while reporting frameworks remain centered on keyword rankings,…

Student Financial Stress and the Impact on Community College Enrollment

February 6, 2026

Community colleges play a vital role in helping learners access affordable education and career-ready training. Students can earn credentials that lead to meaningful jobs quickly, especially in healthcare. Yet for many, financial stress and unmet basic needs make it difficult to enroll or stay enrolled. These barriers often weigh heaviest on part-time, nontraditional, first-generation, and low-income…

Humanizing Student Data in an AI-Driven Era

January 22, 2026

The student journey has changed — and expectations are rising.  Students today are moving faster, arriving more informed, and expecting experiences that feel responsive and personalized. Research behaviors are shifting, and AI is increasingly shaping how prospective students discover and evaluate programs. The path to enrollment is becoming more complex and more personalized, and students…

Staying Relevant in a Changing Higher Education Market

January 8, 2026

Introduction  Higher education is at a crossroads, marked by declining public trust, diminishing enrollments, substantial budget cuts, and increased scrutiny on post-college outcomes. Recent research from UPCEA underscores growing skepticism about the value of traditional degrees, driving institutions and learners alike to explore innovative educational pathways and revenue models (UPCEA, 2025). To address these challenges…

What You Need to Know Before Entering or Renewing an OPM Partnership

December 8, 2025

Online programs are no longer a nice-to-have. They are essential, with many schools looking to online as their primary growth lever amid market headwinds. A strong portfolio of online programs can allow institutions to grow enrollment, reach new student populations, and future-proof their offerings. But building, launching, and sustaining a successful online program operation requires…

Other Blogs and News:

Trust, but Click: What Prospective Students Are Teaching Us About AI Search in 2026

During arms-control talks in the 1980s Ronald Reagan made “trust, but verify” one of the most quoted phrases of the era. Four decades later, prospective online and continuing education students appear to have quietly borrowed it back and pointed it directly at their search bar. Trust, but click. That is the story of AI Search…

2026 UPCEA MEMS Award Recipients Announced

26 recipients chosen across three award categories WASHINGTON, D.C., September 16, 2026 — UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has announced the recipients of the 2026 Excellence in Enrollment Management Award, the Excellence in Advancing Student Success Award, and the Excellence in Marketing Award. All three awards are sponsored by UPCEA’s Marketing, Enrollment Management,…

New Research: AI Answers Decide Which Schools Prospects Choose as Consideration Sets Continue to Shrink

UPCEA and Search Influence’s 2026 study finds prospective students question AI more, but increasingly use and trust it in their search for programs NEW ORLEANS, La. — September 16, 2026 — Prospective students consider just three or fewer continuing and online education programs before applying, and AI-generated search overviews increasingly shape which ones make that…

Leadership Conversations in the Age of AI | An UPCEA Executive Briefing | From Awareness to Leadership: A Conversation with Ray Schroeder

Artificial intelligence has become part of higher education’s operating environment. New capabilities, applications, and predictions emerge almost daily. Staying informed is important, but awareness alone is not leadership. Leaders must determine what these developments mean for their institutions, their people, and the learners they serve.  Leadership Conversations in the Age of AI begins an ongoing…

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…

Post-Pandemic, Online Ed Has ‘Staying Power’ (Inside Higher Ed)

“The surge in online enrollment forced by the pandemic is leveling out. And the modality is now far more popular than it ever was during the 2010s, according to newly released federal data. The Education Department published fall 2024 online enrollment data last month, covering more 5,615 institutions. The data shows nearly 54 percent of college students…