The Resilience Imperative: Serving the New Majority of Non-Traditional Students

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Geordie Hyland, Chief Executive Officer at American College of Education; Ajita Menon, President and CEO at Calbright College; Chris Lynne, President at University of Phoenix; Jacob Fraire, President at ECMC Foundation; and Charles Westrin, Managing Director and Chief Product Officer at BCG U.The speakers explored how non-traditional students had become the majority of learners in higher education—students who were working, parenting, returning after a break, or attending part-time—and how this shift was fundamentally reshaping enrollment, persistence, and the financial model of higher education.This session convened higher education leaders for a critical conversation about what it took for institutions to adapt and remain at the forefront of meeting the needs of non-traditional learners. Panelists highlighted evidence-based strategies driving results, including leveraging enterprise-grade AI to provide proactive advising and persistence supports; building stackable, workforce-aligned credential pathways that improved speed to value; redesigning enrollment and academic calendars for greater flexibility; and strengthening financial resilience through models that expanded access without shifting costs to students.At its core, this conversation focused on institutional readiness and how designing for the new majority of students was no longer simply about access, but a defining strategy for higher education’s future.