This article was originally published at Forbes.com on April 28, 2025. Moral clarity matters. But so does the funding model that determines whether colleges can resist government influence. Although the changes currently shaking American society are being celebrated by some and opposed by others, there is one thing on which we should all be able …
Continue reading “The Fight For Higher Education Will Be Won On Financial Ground”
This article was originally published at Forbes.com on April 14, 2025. The world today feels fractured, chaotic, and tense. In times like these, we yearn for leaders who can mend what’s broken and unite us. But this sort of leadership requires seemingly superhuman ability. Perhaps that’s why, as the leader of a college that’s committed …
Continue reading “Look Up! Why The Superman Tagline Should Be Our Mantra”
This article was originally published at Forbes.com on March 15, 2025. Decision season is upon us once again. Over the next six weeks, millions of high school seniors will make a life-defining choice: deciding which college to attend. What makes this year different is the increasing number of students who are not trying to decide …
Continue reading “The Real College Decision: Close America’s Opportunity Gap Or Widen It”
By Matthew Scogin, originally published at Forbes.com on Feb. 28, 2025 For leaders in higher education, the month of February was spent grappling with questions about the future of diversity programs and student access. The irony is hard to miss; February, after all, is Black History Month. But even before the month had begun, this same …
Continue reading “King Of Hope: Remembering MLK’s Dream As Higher Ed Grapples With DEI”
By Matthew Scogin, originally published at Forbes.com on Feb. 10, 2025 Colleges are in the service industry. The service we provide is an education, for which we charge a fee. This financial arrangement — colleges teach, and students pay — has long been considered the only way to make higher education work. What if colleges …
Continue reading “Why Free College Can Be Capitalism’s Secret Weapon”
By Matthew Scogin, originally published at Forbes.com on Feb. 1, 2025 Why Colleges Should Not View Students As Customers “The customer is always right.” So said Harry Gordon Selfridge, the retail pioneer of the early 1900s, who is usually credited with coining that phrase. For over a century, it’s served as a practical guide for …
By Matthew Scogin, originally published at Forbes.com on Jan. 26, 2025 What If College Campuses Could Be Incubators For Hope? One of the hardest things a college president can face is having to lead a campus community through a tragedy. Two weeks ago, one of the most well-known and well-loved students on our campus was …
This editorial was first published by USA Today on October 27, 2023. My decision to leave the financial world and return to Hope College as its 14th president was motivated, in part, by a question that continues to haunt me: Will the United States persist as a land of opportunity for all, or will it turn into a land of privilege for …
Continue reading “Want to make college more affordable? Stop handing out student loans.”
cat·a·lyst ˈka-tə-ləst : an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action It has been over a month since Hope College’s Catalyst Summit with Malcolm Gladwell to explore a future where higher education is built on an entirely new funding model. With the benefit of some time to reflect on the thought-provoking content presented by …
cat·a·lyst ˈka-tə-ləst :an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action The Catalyst Summit, hosted by Hope College and Malcolm Gladwell, is a day for innovators, thought leaders and change-makers to explore the possibilities of a future where higher education is built on an entirely new funding model making college education affordable and accessible to all. …
