Peak Higher Ed

How to Survive the Looming Academic Crisis

Over the past decade, American colleges and universities have seen enrollment decline, campuses close, programs cut, faculty and staff laid off, and public confidence erode. In Peak Higher Ed, futurist Bryan Alexander forecasts what the next decade might hold if we continue down this path.

Alexander outlines a powerful framework for understanding what led to this moment: declining birthrates, surging student debt, rising tuition, shifting political winds, and growing skepticism about the value of a college degree. He maps out how these forces, if left unchecked, could continue to reshape academia by shrinking its footprint, narrowing its mission, and jeopardizing its role in addressing the planet's most pressing challenges. Alexander explores how institutions might adapt or recover, presenting two possible futures: a path of managed descent and a more hopeful course of reinvention.

Peak Higher Ed examines the fraying of the "college for all" consensus, the long shadow of pandemic-era disruptions, and the political polarization that has placed universities in the crosshairs. This book offers a deeply informed, unflinching look at the road ahead and the choices that will determine whether colleges and universities retreat from their peak or rise to a new one.

The book is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2026 Johns Hopkins University Press (P)2026 Redwood Audiobooks

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Deserves a wide and varied audience...succinctly written by an erudite, avuncular guide." (Chronicle of Higher Education)

"A vital and clarifying contribution to the conversation about higher education's future." (Bonnie Stachowiak, host of Teaching in Higher Ed)

"Provides...a vision for how colleges and universities can adapt, innovate, and regain momentum..." (Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities)