In today’s high-stakes higher ed landscape, every new program must earn its place.
With growing pressure to increase enrollment and long-term value, all without overextending budgets or faculty, higher ed leaders are taking a closer look at what to build, when, and why.
Whether evaluating a new graduate program or reconsidering existing offerings in the academic catalog, these five questions can help reframe any institution’s program growth strategy.
1. What do students actually want?
Demand for graduate education hasn't disappeared. It has shifted.
Today's students, especially adult learners, want flexible, accelerated options that align with their goals and lives. They're prioritizing:
- Hybrid formats that reduce relocation and lost income.
- Programs with strong employment outcomes.
- Fields with clear return on investment, especially in health care and technology.
Before you design a curriculum, identify the audience. What's their motivation? What's holding them back? Programs succeed when they solve for both.
Key insight: Institutions that succeed aren't just teaching. They're removing barriers related to time, access and career alignment.
2. Where do you have competitive advantage?
You don’t need to launch every type of program. You need to launch the right program, the one your institution is uniquely positioned to deliver well.
Consider:
- What disciplines or faculty expertise set you apart?
- Where do you already have strong brand equity or alumni networks?
- Are there markets underserved by traditional competitors?
Too often, schools default to chasing the same degrees. But success often comes from niche opportunities or high-need professions where your institution has credibility and capacity.
Example: If your university has deep roots in rehabilitation sciences, launching an occupational therapy doctorate may make more sense than jumping into crowded MBA territory.
3. What’s the realistic enrollment upside?
It's tempting to chase big enrollment numbers. But a more useful question is whether you can attract enough qualified students to make the program sustainable and scalable.
Conduct a market analysis. Look at national and regional trends, licensure pathways, and professional forecasts. Map potential student pipelines, including:
- Feeder programs or partner institutions
- Employer demand in your region
- Online and hybrid reach beyond your campus
And then, stress test the model. What happens if you reach only 60 percent of your enrollment projections? What if it takes two cycles to get there?
Tip: Sustainable programs don't just launch. They grow steadily, year over year.
4. Can you support this operationally?
Launching a high-demand program involves much more than curriculum design.
Do you have the people, processes, and partnerships to:
- Maintain your LMS and support 24/7 helpdesk coverage?
- Provide digital access to your library and learning resources?
- Recruit and retain qualified faculty, including for hybrid delivery?
- Secure clinical placements, fieldwork sites, or onsite lab space for immersions?
- Deliver robust admissions, advising, and tech support—at scale?
Many institutions underestimate the internal workload. Others delay launching because they assume everything must be built in-house.
Alternative: Partnering with a program support provider that offers flexibility and transparency can help you move faster without giving up control or taking on long-term risk.
5. How quickly can you launch without sacrificing academic quality?
The market won’t wait. Every year delayed is a year of lost enrollment, missed impact, and declining differentiation. Being first is key.
But that doesn’t mean rushing a program to market. It means streamlining what slows most institutions down:
- Accreditation navigation
- Curriculum and assessment design
- Clinical site contracting
- Faculty training and onboarding
- Marketing, admissions, and compliance infrastructure
Some programs, like online MBAs, can launch in under a year. Others, like accelerated hybrid health care programs, may take multiple years due to accreditation timelines and operational complexity.
What matters most is momentum. Institutions with the right support don’t just move faster, but they move deliberately, without cutting corners.
Bottom line: Quality and speed are no longer tradeoffs. They’re both requirements.
Bonus: Are we aligned with policy and funding priorities?
Federal policy under the current administration is changing how programs are evaluated, funded and supported.
While some past regulations—like gainful employment—have been delayed, scrutiny around outcomes and return on investment remains strong. At the same time, funding continues to flow toward programs that solve real workforce needs, especially in health care, behavioral health, and public service.
Universities that monitor these signals can prioritize programs with better chances of external support and long-term stability.
Takeaway: Federal oversight may look different today, but the pressure to prove value hasn’t gone away. Building programs that match workforce needs and funding momentum remains essential.
Rethinking Strategy Is a Competitive Advantage
Higher education is entering a new era. Fewer traditional students. More competition. Rising expectations from learners and employers.
But institutions that ask the right questions can shift from reactive to strategic. From slow to agile. From risk-averse to opportunity-ready.
These five questions won’t just shape what you launch next. They’ll shape how you grow, serve your mission, and lead in a changing landscape.