The Key with Inside Higher Ed

In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Alison Lee, chief research and development officer of The Rithm Project, joins IHE’s student success reporter, Joshua Bay.

As colleges struggle to meet growing mental health needs, they explore how more young people are opening up to chatbots and conversational AI tools for comfort, advice and connecti...

Policy makers and higher ed institutions have worked to provide better opportunities and resources for underserved communities, but access to affordable education and supports for rural students remains challenging. Meanwhile, threats to federal funding for TRIO programs could make it even harder for rural students to get into college and when they get on campus, few institutions understand their specif...

In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Carson Domey, a fourth-year student at the University of Texas at Austin, and Adaora Lee, a graduate student at Meharry Medical College, joins IHE’s student success reporter, Joshua Bay.

They discuss student loneliness and what social isolation looks like in a post-pandemic, always-online world. From f...

In this episode of The Key, we’re digging into the minds of college presidents and how they’re dealing with the chaos of the current moment. Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed’s special content editor joins editor in chief Sara Custer to share some key findings from IHE’s 2026 survey of college and university presidents on what leaders see are the immediate and long-term risks to their institutions and ...

In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Dr. Katie Hurley, vice president of community initiatives at The Jed Foundation (JED), joins IHE's student success reporter Joshua Bay.

They discuss the state of student mental health on college campuses, including what's driving increased demand for support, how counseling centers are adapting under s...

Sara Custer, editor in chief at Inside Higher Ed, speaks with Andrew Delbanco, the Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and the president of the Teagle Foundation, about how humanities-based general education courses can provide short and long-term benefits to students – from ethical questions on the job to deeper self-reflection throughout life. He also argues that a core education is one of the...

In this episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, IHE’s student success reporter Joshua Bay joins editor in chief Sara Custer. They discuss the trends in student success that have caught Joshua’s eye including libraries and AI literacy, workforce readiness and tackling loneliness. He shares case studies from programs that are making a difference for students in and outside of the...

Inside Higher Ed’s editor in chief Sara Custer is in the studio with news editor Katherine Knott and federal policy reporter Jessica Blake to hear the latest about movements on The Hill and in the White House affecting higher ed.

On the agenda:  the interagency agreements between the Department of Education and agencies across the federal government are the latest efforts by...

Sonya Christian is chancellor of California Community Colleges, the largest higher ed system in the country with 116 institutions and 2.2 million students. The sheer size of the system makes every initiative an exercise in scale. In this episode of The Key, Sonya speaks with Inside Higher Ed’s editor in chief Sara Custer about the governor’s proposed $15 billion investment in the system as well as her t...

Last month the Congressional Budget Office projected an $11.5 billion shortfall in Pell funding by fiscal year 2027. The program provides need-based federal financial aid for more than 30 percent of American college students. Part of the funding problem is that Congress made getting aid easier without appropriating more money to cover the increase in students gaining access.

Robert Zemsky is a pioneer in market analysis of higher education and served as the founding director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Research on Higher Education, one of the country's leading public policy centers specializing in educational research and analysis. In this episode of The Key, Zemsky speaks with Inside Higher Ed's editor in chief Sara Custer about his biggest project ye...

News editor Katherine Knott joins editor in chief Sara Custer for an IHE newsroom updated on federal policy. Katherine shares what she expects will be on the agenda in the negotiated rule making for accreditation and how the department will run the process. At the time of recording the government was shut down, but Katherine explains how the budget bill awaiting passage in the House is far more generous...

Best-selling author, Inside Higher Ed columnist and educator John Warner joins IHE’s editor in chief Sara Custer to discuss how institutions can continue to help students learn and grow when AI threatens to do everything for them.

Read John’s IHE column “Just Visiting”

Check out John’s latest book More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in th...

Collecting and analyzing student data and then acting on any findings to support student success is a struggle for many institutions. Often data is in the wrong format, inaccessible to the right teams or there are so many analytics colleges don’t know where to start. Many administrators also lack the data literacy needed to make accurate, data-informed decisions.

In this epi...

In her final episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed reporter Ashley Mowreader walks through some of the latest trends in student success in higher education including generative artificial intelligence tools, mental health resources for students, affordability in higher education and internship requirements for students.

Later, hear from Joshua Bay, Inside Higher Ed’s new Student Success reporter, who started Dec. 4...

This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on the use of generative artificial intelligence in higher education and how technology can support student success goals. 

Central New Mexico Community College is deploying a new AI-powered predictive analytics tool, CampusLens, part of CampusWorks, to improve data visibility in student retention, early alerts and career outcomes.  

In the latest episode of Voices of Student Success...

This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on the use of generative artificial intelligence in higher education and how technology can support student success goals. 

Since 2022, there’s been a surge in the number and types of applications using generative AI, but not all tools are the same. So how can faculty, staff and students learn to identify the differences and determine when it’s appropriate to leverage these tools? 

C...

In this episode, Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed’s news editor, is back to help us unpack the latest higher ed news out of Washington. She speaks with editor in chief Sara Custer about the Trump administration’s higher ed compact—who’s said no, who’s said yes please and who’s artfully dodging the question. We’ll give you the latest on the current round of negotiated rule making. Plus: the TRIO funding...