Inside Higher Ed’s 15th annual Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers, conducted by Hanover Research, is available for download now.
On Wednesday, August 20, at 2 p.m. E.T., Inside Higher Ed will present a free webcast to discuss the results—and how institutions are grappling with the federal policy uncertainty that is exacerbating longer-standing issues within higher education finance. A panel of experts will answer your own questions. Register for that here.
The 2025 Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers was made possible by support from Strata Decision Technology and CollegeVine.
This year’s survey covers:
- Financial health, including CBOs’ confidence—or lack thereof—in their institution’s current business model
- Rethinking the physical campus footprint and deferred maintenance
- Value and affordability
- Politics, federal policy and the impact of the second Trump administration on institutional finances and budgeting thus far
- Leadership and governance, including CBOs’ thoughts on their president’s grasp of and willingness to address the institution’s financial realities
- Mergers, consolidations and opportunities for resource-pooling
- Data and technology
- Academic portfolio review
- Endowment performance and emerging spending pressures
The survey included 169 chief business officers (CBOs), mostly from public and private nonprofit institutions, for a margin of error of 7 percent. The response rate was 7 percent.
