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Shortly after joining St. Norbert in July 2023, Joyner identified “a significant miscalculation” with the fiscal 2024 budget, resulting in a much bigger deficit than previously anticipated.
The shortfall had ripple effects on the college’s finances, and it has since made multiple rounds of reductions to its workforce and suite of academic offerings. Eliminated programs covered fields such as studio art, theology and applied mathematics. At least one cut program, engineering physics, had been introduced less than a year earlier.
Thanks to the cut, St. Norbert closed fiscal 2025 “with positive operating results” and a stronger financial position, Joyner said in a July community message.
“With significant cost-saving efforts, program streamlining, and an institution-wide focus on efficiencies, we anticipate breaking even this fiscal year (FY26) as well — despite predicted enrollment declines,” she wrote.
St. Norbert’s has struggled with enrollment in recent years. In fall 2022, it had 1,882 students, down 17.7% from a decade prior, according to federal data. Like many other small liberal arts institutions, much of the college’s funds comes from tuition. In fiscal 2023, it received 50% of its core revenue from tuition and fees.
But the college saw a reversal of the trend in fall 2023 — the most recent semester for which federal data is available — when it enrolled 2,165 students.
In August, Anindo Choudhury, the college’s interim vice president and chief academic officer, signaled the institution’s interest in reinvesting in its remaining programs.
“We have had to make some difficult decisions involving both programs and personnel,” he said in an August email. “While some majors no longer exist, we are redirecting existing and new resources to current and recently developed programs.”
On Thursday, St. Norbert’s leaders touted the newly announced programs as a demonstration of the college’s ability to adapt to changing workforce demands and student needs.
The forthcoming undergraduate programs include bachelor’s degrees in cybersecurity management, exercise science, digital marketing and sacred music.
Pending accreditor approval, the college will also launch a 4+1 business administration program that will allow students to earn both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years.
Students in its media studies and communications programs will be able to enroll in new concentrations in sports media, business and professional communication, journalism or public image and promotion.
The additional academic offerings aren’t the only recent tactics the college has undertaken in the pursuit of financial longevity.
St. Norbert struck a partnership with nearby Northeast Wisconsin Technical College to allow the public community college’s students to transfer into its data analytics bachelor’s degree program more easily.
And earlier this month, the college announced a $15 million donation from the religious organization with which it is affiliated, the Norbertine Order.
Thursday’s “March on Wall Street” drew thousands to Manhattan’s Financial District, but among the clergy, labor and community leaders were hundreds of higher education advocates who had traveled from every corner of the nation, transforming the demonstration into an unlikely convergence of campus and community activism.
The 45-minute march through downtown Manhattan carried special significance, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. But this time, the target wasn’t the nation’s capital—it was corporate America’s headquarters.
“We come to Wall Street rather than Washington this year to let them know, you can try to turn back the clock, but you can’t turn back time,” Sharpton said as the demonstration began at New York’s popular Foley Square.
For the academics who joined the march, Sharpton’s words resonated with particular urgency. Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald J. Trump has successfully moved to end DEI programs within the federal government and warned schools to do the same or risk losing federal money.
Dr. Harold Williams, an adjunct sociology professor from Philadelphia who had driven three hours with a van full of colleagues, clutched a handmade sign reading “Education is Democracy.”
“We’re watching the systematic destruction of everything we’ve worked to build,” said the 63-year-old educator, who was just one when his mother brought him to Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963 to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. “They’re not just cutting programs, they’re cutting the pathways that opened higher education to an entire generation of students.”
Among the crowd that gathered near the African Burial Ground—the largest known resting place of enslaved and freed Africans in the country—Dr. Michael Eric Dyson’s voice carried the weight of history and the urgency of the present moment.
The prominent Vanderbilt University professor and public intellectual delivered a rousing address along with a litany of other activists including Marc H. Morial of the National Urban League, Maya Wiley of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers.
“Well, you know, people often ask, what was it like? They look at the grainy black and white photos of Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy and Rosa Parks and Ella Baker and Diane Nash and John Lewis. What was it like to be with them?” Dyson said in an interview with Diverse.
“Well, you know right now, these are the times that define us. These times to future generations will be remarkable. What did you do with the fascist presidency, with an authoritarian man, with an autocrat who was attempting to absorb for himself all the power that was not due him? Well, this is what it looks like.”
Dyson’s words particularly resonated among the young activists in the crowd—students who had grown up during an era of increasing attacks on institutional knowledge and educational access.
The logistics of moving academics from campuses nationwide told its own story of commitment. Many had used personal funds or organized fundraisers to join what some called an “academic pilgrimage” to stand with Sharpton and the broader civil rights community. Howard University organized a busload from the nation’s capital.
Jonah Cohen, 18, a freshman at City College of New York, said that he was energized by the public demonstration of activism.
“This is our moment,” he said of the student turnout. “We are no longer accepting these attacks without a fight. We are fighting back against those who want to take us back to an uglier America. We see a better country.”
State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate in the upcoming New York City mayoral race, marched alongside some of the professors and students, embodying the coalition between academic and political leadership that advocates say is necessary to resist the rollbacks.
The National Action Network’s strategy of encouraging consumer boycotts of retailers that have scaled back DEI policies resonated with many academics who said that they understood the connection between corporate and educational equity initiatives.
“Corporate America wants to walk away from Black communities, so we are marching to them to bring this fight to their doorstep,” Sharpton said.
The gospel choir’s voices echoed through Cramton Auditorium, their blue and white robes swaying as they filled Howard University’s historic venue with spiritual melodies. Just a week after classes resumed at the prestigious HBCU, Rev. Al Sharpton took the stage to deliver a sermon that was equal parts spiritual guidance and a political rallying cry.
Rather than gathering in the nation’s capital this year, Sharpton announced that thousands of demonstrators—including college students from across the country—will converge on New York’s financial district this Thursday for a March on Wall Street, starting at 10 a.m. at the African Burial Ground and marching directly to Wall Street.
“The real people that are deferring the dream are on Wall Street,” Sharpton told the audience. “They’re the ones that are financing the moves for redistricting and robbing us of our right to vote and representation. So rather than come to Washington, we said, ‘We going to Wall Street this year, where they do business.’”
Using the biblical story of David facing Goliath as his central theme, Sharpton challenged the congregation to confront contemporary challenges with biblical courage.
The prominent civil rights leader was particularly pointed in his political criticism of President Donald J. Trump and his attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion and U.S. cities led by Black mayors.
Sharpton delivered some of his harshest criticism when addressing attempts to sanitize American history, particularly regarding slavery. He expressed outrage at what he described as efforts to downplay historical injustices.
“The fact that they are threatening institutions,” Sharpton said, his voice rising. “Can you imagine? It’s almost unthinkable to me that they’re saying that we are going through the Smithsonian Museum to make sure that they are in line with the feelings of one man at history.”
Sharpton said that he was incensed by suggestions that historical narratives should be altered and he chided the president who claimed that the museums focus too much on “how bad slavery was.”
In one of the sermon’s most powerful moments, Sharpton shared his family’s connection to slavery, describing how genealogical research in 2007 revealed that his great-grandfather had been enslaved on a South Carolina plantation owned by the late Senator Strom Thurmond’s ancestors.
“My great grandfather was a slave,” he told the audience. “And it occurred to me for the first time that my name Sharpton is really the owner’s name of my great grandfather. I don’t know my name, and you don’t know your name.”
Now, Sharpton added, is the time for Americans—particularly students—to fight back against the assault on history.
“If we are afraid to stand up, then we are not deserving of those that stood up and gave their lives so we could have a life worth living,” he said.
Howard University students, led by senior Tabia J. Lee, president of the school’s National Action Network chapter, will bring a delegation to participate in Thursday’s march. The student involvement, she said, represents Sharpton’s challenge that young people take a broader leadership role in today’s social justice movements.
Howard students noted that Sharpton’s visit to campus came as Howard University faces its own transition, with Dr. Ben Vinson announcing his resignation last week as president and former president Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick returning to lead the storied institution on an interim basis.
Throughout the nearly hour-long address, Sharpton wove together themes of personal faith, historical memory, and political action. He reminded the audience of their ancestors’ resilience.
“Do you know when they walked off that plantation in 1863? After being in slavery 246 years, they had no money because they worked for no wages. They had no education; it was against the law for them to read or write… All you had is God.”
The March on Wall Street, he said, represents more than just a protest location change—it’s a strategic pivot toward confronting economic inequality at its source. And he challenged the college students to take their stand.
“Do you know in ’63 when they marched here in Washington? They were still segregated. They didn’t have the Civil Rights Act until ’64. People rode the bus all night, had chicken sandwiches in a paper bag, because there wasn’t a restaurant that would serve them on the way. Had to go in the woods to use the bathroom because they couldn’t use a rest stop, but they came anyhow,” he said. “And here you are, 60 years later, eating at any restaurant you want, checking into any hotel you want, living in any community you want, and somebody got to beg you to stand up? How broke down have we got?”
The United States is witnessing an alarming shift in the balance of power. Recent actions by the Supreme Court and Congress have effectively cleared the way for President Donald Trump to exercise authority in ways critics say resemble authoritarian rule.
Central to this shift is the Supreme Court’s decision on July 8, 2025, to allow Trump’s mass federal layoffs to proceed. This ruling overturned a lower court’s injunction that had temporarily blocked the president’s executive order to slash tens of thousands of federal jobs. The layoffs target agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services, critical players in addressing climate change, public health, and education.
The court’s decision was unsigned and passed 8–1, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting. Her dissent warned that the ruling emboldens the president to exceed constitutional limits without proper checks.
Just weeks earlier, Congress passed what supporters called the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a sweeping budget package that enshrined Trump-era tax cuts, eliminated taxes on tips and Social Security income, and drastically reduced funding for social safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP. The bill also increased Pentagon spending by $125 billion. The legislation passed strictly along party lines, with no Democratic votes.
The atmosphere of intensifying executive authority was underscored on June 14, 2025, when Trump staged a large-scale military parade in Washington, D.C., reminiscent of displays typically seen in authoritarian regimes. The parade featured tanks, fighter jets, and thousands of troops marching through the capital, a spectacle widely criticized as an exercise in pageantry and a troubling signal of militarism. In response, spontaneous “No Kings” protests erupted nationwide, with demonstrators rejecting what they saw as the cultivation of a personality cult and warning against the erosion of democratic norms.
These domestic developments unfold against a backdrop of escalating global crises and geopolitical realignments. The Trump administration has maintained a confrontational stance toward China, imposing new tariffs that have intensified a growing economic cold war. This friction comes as the BRICS coalition — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — gains strength, seeking alternatives to the U.S.-dominated financial and diplomatic order.
Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to supply arms and financial support to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, while simultaneously imposing inconsistent policies that weaken its international credibility, especially regarding the unresolved Palestinian conflict.
At home, the Trump administration’s deregulation of the cryptocurrency market has raised alarms. With minimal oversight, the growing crypto economy faces increased risks of fraud and instability, a symptom of the broader laissez-faire approach that favors corporate interests over public protections.
Adding to domestic turmoil, Trump has controversially pardoned dozens of individuals convicted for their roles in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, framing them as “political prisoners.” Many have ties to extremist groups, and Trump has proposed hiring preferences for them within the federal government’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which is leading the controversial federal workforce layoffs.
Legal experts and civil rights organizations argue these actions collectively undermine the constitutional principle of separation of powers. They say the administration’s use of executive orders and politically motivated pardons bypasses Congress and the courts, weakening democratic oversight.
Congress’s role has also been questioned. By passing the partisan budget bill without bipartisan support, critics argue lawmakers have effectively rubber-stamped an agenda that dismantles government functions, cuts vital social programs, and expands military spending.
The Supreme Court’s emergency ruling to lift the injunction against the layoffs further signals the judiciary’s retreat from its role as a check on executive power. By acting swiftly and without a full hearing, the court has allowed a significant reshaping of the federal workforce without thorough judicial review.
Together, these developments mark a troubling trend toward the concentration of power in the executive branch. Observers warn that if left unchecked, these actions could erode the foundations of American democracy and weaken its position in an increasingly multipolar world.
Sources
San Francisco Chronicle, “Supreme Court clears way for Trump to resume mass federal layoffs” (July 8, 2025)
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/trump-mass-firings-20761715.php
Associated Press, “Trump signs sweeping tax, spending bill on July 4” (July 4, 2025)
https://apnews.com/article/3804df732e461a626fd8c2b43413c3f0
Politico, “House Republicans pass ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ after weeks of division” (May 22, 2025)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/22/house-republicans-pass-big-beautiful-bill-00364691
Business Insider, “Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump’s federal layoffs” (July 8, 2025)
https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-ruling-trump-firings-federal-agencies-2025-7
Washington Post, “Trump begins mass commutations for Jan. 6 rioters, defends actions as ‘justice reform’” (March 1, 2025)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/01/trump-jan-6-pardons
Medicare Rights Center, “Final House vote looms on devastating health and food assistance cuts” (July 3, 2025)
https://www.medicarerights.org/medicare-watch/2025/07/03/final-house-vote-looms-on-devastating-health-and-food-assistance-cuts
SAN DIEGO, CA — Community members will gather at the San Diego Civic Center Plaza for
a “Hands Off!” march on April 5 to protest DOGE and the Trump
administration’s attack on programs and services used by San Diego
residents. The local march will coincide with a nationwide day of
demonstrations expected to be attended by hundreds of thousands…
Organizers
describe the event as a collective response to policies impacting our
community. “San Diegans who are veterans, who are postal workers and
teachers, who rely on Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare, and who are
horrified at the Trump-Musk billionaire takeover of our government are
coming together to protest the Trump Administration’s attacks on the
rights and services they depend upon, many of them for survival” said
Angela Benson, a member of the organizing coalition.
Event Details:
What:
Over 10,000 San Diegans expected to peacefully demand “HANDS OFF!”
their rights and services in one of over 1,000 HANDS OFF! events
scheduled nationwide on April 5
Who: Coalition of San Diego Pro-Democracy Groups
When: Saturday, April 5, noon, 1 mile march to leave approximately 12:15 PM
Where: March starts at Civic Center Plaza Fountain by 1200 Third St., ends at Hall of Justice at 330 W Broadway
Transportation: Participants are encouraged to take public transit to the event
Planning group:
Change Begins With ME
CBFD Indivisible
Indivisible49
Indivisible North San Diego County
Democratic Club of Carlsbad and Oceanside
Encinitas and North Coast Democratic Club
SanDiego350
Swing Left/Take Action San Diego
Activist San Diego
50501 San Diego
Media Opportunities:
The following representatives will be available day-of the march for interviews.
If interested, please coordinate with Richard (770-653-6138) prior to
the event, and plan to arrive at the location marked below by 11:30 AM
Pacific
Representatives
Sara Jacobs – House of Representatives, CA-51 district
Scott Peters – House of Representatives, CA-50 district
Chris Ward – California State Assemblymember, 78 district
Stephen Whitburn – San Diego Councilmember
Reverend Madison Shockley II – Pilgrim United Church of Christ
Yusef Miller – Executive Director of North County Equity & Justice Coalition
Brigette Browning – Executive Secretary San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and President, Unite Here!
Crystal Irving – President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Andy Kopp – Veteran
Patrick Saunders – Veteran
Phil Petrie – SanDiego350, Climate Activist
Recommended Schedule
11:30 AM – 11:40 AM: Representative introductions – Group/cause they’re representing, why they’re marching
11:40 AM – 12:05 PM: Representatives break off, available for interview by Press
12:05 PM – 12:15 PM: Representatives move to beginning of march
12:15 PM: March begins
12:15 PM – 2:00 PM: March to Hall of Justice
2:00 PM: March ends at Hall of Justice, participants may disperse or continue to federal plaza
March brought layoffs, buyouts and the elimination of multiple academic programs as universities sought to plug budget holes wrought by sector challenges and state budget issues.
While many universities have announced hiring freezes and other moves due to the uncertainty of federal funding under Trump, the cuts below are not directly tied to the administration’s efforts to slash budgets and shrink the government. Instead, they are linked largely to dwindling enrollment or the loss of state funding.
Officials at the private, Catholic research institution in Ohio announced cuts last month that affect 65 employees; 45 faculty members will not have their contracts renewed and 20 staff positions have been eliminated, The Dayton Daily News reported.
Affected employees will reportedly be offered severance packages.
Total cuts are projected to save the university $25 million over three years, the newspaper reported. Officials at the university said the moves were “focused on financial sustainability,” noting that while Dayton does not currently have a budget deficit, the change better positions it for the future.
The private liberal arts college in New York is looking to phase out as many as 21 programs in an effort to reverse recent enrollment declines, The Staten Island Advance reported.
The changes reportedly could affect up to 40 full-time faculty members.
Less popular academic programs—including anthropology, chemistry, English, history, math, modern languages, sociology, philosophy and physics—are among those that may be wound down. Officials told the newspaper that the process will be completed over the next 12 to 18 months.
Up to 30 administrative positions and nine majors are being eliminated at the public university in Ohio as part of a phased academic realignment that was approved by the board last month, WKYC reported. Kent State will also shrink the number of academic colleges from 10 to nine.
The changes are part of a phased plan to be completed in 2028.
The plans cites two goals: “First to strengthen academic affairs by reorganizing and realigning our academic units so that we are more cost efficient and therefore sustainable, and second, to ensure that we are providing the most in-demand, up-to-date and relevant academic programs and services for our learners,” executive vice president and provost Melody Tankersley said in an announcement last month following approval of the restructuring plan by Kent State’s board.
Facing a $2 million budget deficit, the public two-year college in Ohio is laying off 10 faculty members and not replacing 14 professors set to retire, Ideastream Public Media reported.
Another eight faculty members who will retire next year will also not be replaced.
Between the cuts and retirements, Lakeland expects to save $2.3 million this year and another $800,000 next year. It will reinvest $225,000 in three faculty positions in manufacturing, welding and electrical engineering as it prioritizes workforce development.
Lakeland also plans to close an unspecified number of low-enrollment programs.
The private, Catholic college in Wisconsin announced plans last month to lay off 27 professors and cut more than a dozen programs to address its budget deficit, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
Cuts will shave an estimated $5 million off the $12 million budget deficit. Of the 27 affected faculty members, 21 are set to lose their jobs in May, and the remaining six will be let go in 2026.
Grappling with financial pressures, the small, private institution in Virginia announced plans last month to eliminate 15 jobs as part of cost-cutting measures, The Chatham Star-Tribune reported.
Additionally, Cardinal News reported this week that Averett listed its equestrian center for sale.
The university has navigated steep financial issues since last summer, when officials discovered a financial shortfall brought about by unauthorized withdrawals from the endowment by a former employee. While they said there was no evidence of embezzlement or misuse of the funds, the fiscal mismanagement prompted Averett to take a series of ongoing measures to fix its finances.
Fallout continues at Oklahoma State, where the university laid off 12 Innovation Foundation employees after a recent audit uncovered financial missteps there, Oklahoma Voice reported.
Affected staffers will not receive severance but will remain employed through June 1.
In February, Oklahoma State president Kayse Shrum stepped down abruptly amid a review of improper transfers of legislatively appropriated funds. An audit later found that $41 million in state appropriations “were not properly restricted and in some instances were co-mingled with other funds” in violation of state laws and policies. In one instance, $11.5 million intended for other programs had been directed without board approval to OSU’s Innovation Foundation instead.
Officials offered buyouts to some faculty and staff last month as the private Jesuit university seeks to close a budget deficit following recent mergers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
St. Joseph’s absorbed the University of the Sciences in 2022 and added Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences in 2023, which officials told the newspaper left them with a “small deficit.” President Cheryl McConnell did not specify a dollar figure in an interview with the Inquirer.
She added that there was no specific target number for buyouts, but when asked about potential layoffs, McConnell said it “depends on the nature of voluntary separation plan results.”
Voluntary buyouts are on the table and layoffs could be on the horizon at the public university following $17.3 million in budget cuts from the State Legislature, The Cache Valley Daily reported.
Those cuts were spread across two years, with the university taking a $12.5 million hit this year. However, USU could restore that money through the state’s strategic reinvestment initiative, which allows universities to regain funding if leaders can identify areas for cuts and shift resources toward strategic initiatives favored by the state.
Elsewhere in Utah, Weber State is also grappling with budget issues imposed by the state.
With anticipated budget cuts of $6.7 million due to the same strategic realignment initiative, Weber State is also offering voluntary separation incentives to employees, Deseret News reported. The university also plans to restructure some academic programs, including the College of Education.
Budget changes in Utah will also affect the other six state institutions, but not all have made their plans public yet.
Welcome back for another edition of The Fifteen. For the past two weeks, it seems like there have only been two stories in higher education: the Trump attacks on higher education and the QS world subject rankings. We cover the first, of course, but also stories of growing pains, corruption, ambition and blatant rent-seeking from places as far afield as Korea, Italy, Brazil, Vietnam and China. Enjoy.
The Trump administration is, understandably, a magnet for media attention that can make keeping up with stories about anything else difficult. While the news can often look bleak, there are always new and exciting things happening around the world of higher education. We’re cutting through the noise by bringing you stories you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Have a good weekend.
The women’s tournament officially kicks off Friday.
Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos/Getty Images
Women’s basketball has experienced a surge in popularity of late, and this year is no different. The Athletic reported that regular season viewing of women’s college basketball was up 3 percent on ESPN—even if this year’s Big Ten championship didn’t quite hit the record-breaking viewership of 2024’s, fueled by fans of then–University of Iowa point guard Caitlin Clark.
Here at Inside Higher Ed, though, we celebrate the start of March Madness a little differently from the 1.44 million people who tuned in earlier this month to this year’s Big Ten championship face-off between the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. For every tournament since 2006, we’ve created a bracket of who would take home the trophy if the winners were selected based on academic, rather than athletic, achievement.
If you’re new here (or you didn’t see the men’s bracket from yesterday), here’s how it works: Matchups are decided by which team had the higher academic progress rate—the NCAA’s own metric for measuring academic performance—based on the most recent data available, from 2022–23. The academic progress rate measures student athlete retention and academic eligibility, though some outside experts have criticized the metric for painting an incomplete picture of a team’s academic achievement.
There are, inevitably, at least a handful of ties every year. In those cases, we used several different graduation metrics to select winners. First, we used the team’s 2023–24 graduation success rate, which shows whether athletes graduated within six years of entering an institution. If teams tied again, we then turned to the teams’ federal graduation rates, which are more inclusive than the NCAA’s metric. Finally, when teams were matched up on all three of those measures, we turned to the institution’s overall GSR across their athletics programs.
It’s worth noting that federal graduation rate data is not available for Ivy League teams, so for GSR ties involving Ivies, we skipped right to the overall GSR metric. That caused some chaos in a bracket that ended up seeing a total of seven ties featuring Ivy League institutions.
Another note on methodology: Although two of the First Four games were decided before publication, we used academic metrics to select the winners of those matchups as well.
This tournament was intense. There were not two, not three, but four matchups in the second round in which both teams had perfect APRs of 1,000. Kudos to those teams!
The championship matchup was between two Ivies, Harvard University and Columbia University, both of which had perfect APRs and GSRs and whose overall GSRs were perfectly matched at 99. We’ve never seen this before in Inside Higher Ed’s 19 years of academic March Madness, so, although not ideal, we had to resort to a (virtual) coin flip. Naturally, Harvard was heads, because both start with “H.”
But, in the end, we got tails. Congratulations to the Columbia Lions—who have now won Inside Higher Ed’s academic tournament two years in a row!
March Madness officially begins Thursday with a match-up between the University of Louisville and Creighton University.
Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
No shame if you forgot National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I basketball championships were coming up—after all, this March has been filled with more than enough madness in higher ed, even without paying attention to basketball.
Nonetheless, the biggest event in college sports kicks off this week. If you’ve been a little too concerned with the news cycle to fill out your bracket, we’re here to help. Every year since 2006, Inside Higher Ed has determined which teams would win in the men’s and women’s tournaments if the results were based on academic, rather than athletic, performance.
To determine the winners, we used the NCAA’s key academic performance metric, known as the academic progress rate, for the 2022–23 academic year, the most recent data available. The academic progress rate measures student athlete retention and academic eligibility, though some outside experts have said the metric paints an imperfect picture of a program’s academic performance.
(Full disclosure, we did use this metric to determine the winners of the First Four matchups, even though two of the four games will be determined before publication Wednesday morning.)
If two colleges had the same APR, we used 2023–24 graduation success rate, the proportion of athletes who graduated within six years of entering an institution, as tiebreakers. If teams tied again, we turned to the team’s six-year federal graduation rates, which is a more inclusive metric.
Luckily, none of the teams tied in all three categories. Still, there were a handful of nail-biting victories. For instance, the Clemson University Tigers tied the Liberty University Flames on both the academic progress and graduate success rates. But when looking at the overall graduation rate, Clemson won by one point. After besting the Flames in the Final Four, the Tigers beat out the University of Louisville to win the whole thing.
Now, the Inside Higher Ed bracket likely won’t win you any money. But there’s no bad time to celebrate the academic achievements of student athletes alongside their athletic prowess.
Congrats, Clemson Tigers!