PODCAST · news
The Key with Inside Higher Ed
by insidehighered
Hear candid conversations with higher-ed newsmakers on how colleges and universities, with a special focus on equity and lower-income students.
Episodes
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Ep 217: Voices of Student Success: Is College Preparing Students for Work?
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed's podcast series exploring what really shapes students' experiences, Félix Matos Rodríguez, chancellor of the City University of New York, joins IHE student success reporter Joshua Bay. As students and families increasingly question…
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Ep. 216: Voices of Student Success: What Are We Missing About Student Mental Health?
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed's podcast series exploring what really shapes students' experiences, Alexis Redding, a developmental psychologist and professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, joins IHE student success reporter Joshua Bay. Colleges have...
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Ep. 215: How Faculty Can Be Agents of Change With Cathy Davidson and Jody Greene
In their new book, Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times (Duke University Press) Cathy Davidson, founder of the Futures Initiative at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Jody Greene, founding director of the Teaching and Learning Center at UC Santa Cruz, call on...
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Ep. 214: Voices of Student Success: When Nontraditional Students Become the Norm
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed's podcast series exploring what really shapes students' experiences, Bryan Ashton, chief strategy and growth officer at Trellis and head of Trellis Strategies, joins IHE student success reporter Joshua Bay. Adult learners, working...
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Ep. 213: WASC's Maria Toyoda on Accreditation's Uncertain Future
The Department of Education in August released its accreditation reform for public comment. If finalized, the new rules could expand accreditors’ responsibilities to include policing First Amendment compliance and research misconduct. They could also force many agencies to set more specific...
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Ep: 212: Voices of Student Success: The Hidden Curriculum First-Gen Students Face
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed's podcast series exploring what really shapes students' experiences, Hope Pacheco, associate dean of students and executive director of the Gator Resource Center at the University of Houston–Downtown, joins IHE student success…
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Ep. 211: Paul LeBlanc’s Optimistic Vision for Higher Ed in an AI World
Paul LeBlanc is an innovative change maker in higher ed who led Southern New Hampshire University’s transformation from a small regional institution with a couple thousand students to one of the largest nonprofit providers of online higher education in the country. In his latest book Reclaiming...
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Ep. 210: Voices of Student Success: Transfer Isn't Supposed to Be This Hard
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed's podcast series exploring what really shapes students' experiences, Josh Wyner, executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute, and John Fink, senior research associate and program lead at the Community...
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Ep. 209: McMahon’s Call to Action, Student Visa Limits, Harvard’s Big Win
Inside Higher Ed’s news editor Katherine Knott is back on The Key with editor in chief Sara Custer to analyze the latest developments from the White House. On deck: The education secretary’s call to higher ed leaders to commit to series of priorities she says will "revitalize" higher education…
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Ep 208: Voices of Student Success: College Wasn’t Built for Student Parents
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder and chief executive officer of Generation Hope, joins IHE’s student success reporter, Joshua Bay. From finding affordable childcare and...
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Ep. 207: AI for the Public Good with Venu Govindaraju
Venu Govindaraju is the senior vice president for research, innovation and economic development and a distinguished professor at the University at Buffalo. He's spent more than 30 years working in AI, building systems with real social impact — and he's also a poet, with a simple way of describing...
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Ep 206: Voices of Student Success: It’s Never Too Late to Go Back to College
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Terah Crews, chief executive officer of ReUp Education, joins IHE’s student success reporter, Joshua Bay. While many students stop out before earning a credential,...
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Ep. 205: The American Apprenticeship
This episode features an Inside Higher Ed newsroom discussion about a five-part series on registered apprenticeships. Underwritten by Ascendium, the six-month project saw the team battling hailstorms in Missouri, visiting factories in upstate New York and embedding themselves with learners on the...
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Ep. 204: Voices of Student Success: The Rise of the Nontraditional College Student
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Sara Weissman, senior reporter at IHE, joins student success reporter, Joshua Bay. For generations, colleges were largely designed around the idea of an 18-year-old...
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Ep. 203: UNC Student Body President Devin Duncan on What Students Want
IHE editor in chief Sara Custer speaks with Devin Duncan, the student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an incoming junior. Duncan is passionate about making higher ed a better place for the next generation of students and wants to see colleges do more to…
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Ep. 202: How to Think About our Shared History When the Facts are Contested with the AHA’s Sarah Weicksel
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, an old historical narrative of American exceptionalism is taking hold. Meanwhile, evidence-based historical research is disappearing. The federal government has shuttered museum exhibits, politicized federal...
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Ep. 201: New Rules for Accreditors, a Plan to Fund Pell and Grant Funding Shuffle
An update on the higher ed headlines from Inside Higher Ed's newsroom. Inside Higher Ed’s editor in chief Sara Custer and news editor Katherine Knott discuss the latest higher ed headlines: the proposals to change accreditation, the latest from the Office for Civil Rights, the GOP’s plan to plug...
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Ep 200: Voices of Student Success: Can Colleges Actually Build Student Wellbeing?
In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Inside Higher Ed’s podcast series exploring what really shapes students’ experiences, Zoe Ragouzeos, vice president for student mental health and wellbeing at New York University, joins IHE’s student success reporter, Joshua Bay. As institutions face...
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Ep 199: Voices of Student Success: Why Are Students Opening Up to AI Instead of People?
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…
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Ep. 198: The Hidden Challenges Rural Students Face with Mara Tieken
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...
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Ep. 197: Voices of Student Success: Is College Supposed to Feel This Lonely?
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...
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Ep. 196: College Presidents on Finances, M&A and AI
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…
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Ep. 195: Voices of Student Success: What’s Driving the Student Mental Health Crisis?
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...
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Ep. 194: In Defense of a Core Education With Andrew Delbanco
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...
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Ep. 193: Three Big Trends in Student Success
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...
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Ep. 192: ED’s Plan to Send Student Aid to Treasury, Graduate Loan Caps and Accreditation
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...
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Ep. 191: Sonya Christian on the Big Budget and Big Dreams of California Community Colleges
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...
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Ep. 190: What to do About the Pell Grant Running out of Money with Kristin Hultquist
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...
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Ep. 189: How the Three-Year Degree Could Save Higher Ed With Robert Zemsky
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…
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Ep. 188: Accreditation, the Budget Bill and Rumors of a Second Compact
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...
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Ep. 187: AI, Writing and Student Agency with John Warner
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…
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Ep. 186: What Does a Student-Centered Data Strategy Look Like?
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...
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Ep.: 185: Three Stories that Defined Higher Ed Policy in 2025
In the final Key episode of 2025, IHE’s news editor Katherine Knott and federal policy reporter Jessica Blake join editor in chief Sara Custer to discuss the three stories that encapsulate the year in state and federal policy.
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Ep. 184: Voices of Student Success: 2025 Trends and 2026 Predictions
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...
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Ep. 183: Voices of Student Success: AI Tool Provides Predictive Analytics Data
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…
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Ep. 182: Voices of Student Success: A Liberal Arts College Embraces AI
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....
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Ep. 181: TRIO Cuts, Compact Responses and Looking for Signs of Life at ED
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…
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Ep. 180: Voices of Student Success: Integrating AI in the Classroom
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. A 2025 Inside Higher Ed survey of college provosts found that nearly 30 percent of respondents have reviewed curriculum to...
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Ep. 179: How to Be a Public Scholar and Why it Matters
Public scholarship is about more than just getting published. It’s about joining the public conversation at a time when expertise matters more than ever. In this episode of The Key, Philip Gray, Op-Ed Editor at The Los Angeles Times, and Susan D'Agostino, mathematician-turned-writer and columnist...
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Ep. 178: Voices of Student Success: Providing AI Training for All Students
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. While AI tools have proliferated in education and workplace settings, not all tools are free or accessible to students and...
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Ep. 177: Student Loan Negotiations, H1-B Visas, a Compact for Academic Excellence
In this episode of The Key, we're diving deep into what’s happening on Capitol Hill and inside the White House—and how it’s all affecting higher ed. Joining Sara Custer, IHE's editor in chief, is news editor Katherine Knott to unpack everything: the funding cuts hitting Minority Serving...
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Ep. 176: Voices of Student Success: How AI Can Smooth Transfer Processes
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. Upward transfer is viewed as a mechanism to provide college students with an accessible and affordable onramp to higher...
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Ep. 175: Leadership in Turbulent Times
Beverly Daniel Tatum—two-time college president, New York Times bestselling author, and one of the country’s most influential voices on race and education – joins Inside Higher Ed’s editor in chief Sara Custer to discuss her latest book, College Leadership in Turbulent Times: Peril and Promise....
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Ep: 174: Voices of Student Success: AI Chatbot Provides Resources, Early Alerts
This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on uses of generative artificial intelligence in higher education and how technology can support student success goals. As generative AI tools become more common, a growing number of young people turn first to chatbots when they have questions. A...
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Ep. 173: Can StoryCorps Heal the Divide on Campus?
For more than 20 years, StoryCorps has been documenting conversations between Americans and broadcasting them on public radio. In 2017, StoryCorps launched One Small Step, a new project that pairs strangers on opposing sides of the political divide for one-on-one conversations. The organization…
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Ep. 172: Voices of Student Success: Expanding CPL for Military Experience
This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face as well as the successful support mechanisms employed to aid their retention and completion. Approximately 65 percent of the 1.2 million active duty service members of the U.S....
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Ep. 171: When Students' Use of AI Goes from Hush-Hush to All In
In this episode of The Key, Jenny Billings, the program chair of Associate in Arts and division chair of English and study skills at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in North Carolina tells IHE editor in chief Sara Custer about going through the stages of AI grief –from freaking out, to…
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Ep. 170: Voices of Student Success: Support for Adults of All Life Stages
This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face as well as the successful support mechanisms employed to aid their retention and completion. Continuing education programs are one way for colleges and universities to provide...
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Ep. 169: College Financial Planners Embrace Flexibility
The ongoing uncertainty in the economy, the government demanding enormous sums from Ivy League institutions, research funding freezes and changes to the endowment tax mean that everyone has their mind on higher ed’s money and higher ed’s money on their mind. Kara Freeman, president and CEO of the...
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Ep. 168: Voices of Student Success: Encouraging Innovation in Credit for Prior Learning
This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face and successful support mechanisms to aid their retention and completion. Credit for prior learning (CPL) is one strategy colleges and states can employ to expedite adult...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Key with Inside Higher Ed have?
The Key with Inside Higher Ed currently has 200 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Key with Inside Higher Ed about?
Hear candid conversations with higher-ed newsmakers on how colleges and universities, with a special focus on equity and lower-income students.
How often does The Key with Inside Higher Ed release new episodes?
The Key with Inside Higher Ed publishes regularly with 200 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to The Key with Inside Higher Ed on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Key with Inside Higher Ed?
The Key with Inside Higher Ed is created and hosted by insidehighered.
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