1、Higher education weathered the pandemic storm,but leaders must act now to prepare for upcoming shocks.By Mark Krafft,Jeff Denneen,Tom Dretler,Pam Yee,and Jeff SelingoThe Financially Resilient UniversityCopyright 2023 Bain&Company,Inc.All rights reserved.1The Financially Resilient UniversityAt a Glan

2、ce Following a decade of deteriorating financial positions,US colleges and universities unexpectedly rebounded during the pandemic.But this uptick is a temporary anomaly buoyed by federal relief funding,endowment growth,and short-term cutbacks.Institutions wont be as fortunate as they approach the n

3、ext set of challenges,so they must make changes now to strengthen student demand and their financial foundations.Our interactive tool(see higher ed leaders to model the impact of macroeconomic,enrollment,and cost scenarios on an institutions financial position and explore actions they can take to bo

4、ost resilience.In our 2012 brief“The Financially Sustainable University,”we raised an alarm about the higher education bubble that was putting many colleges and universities on an unsustainable financial path as spending continued to outpace revenue.Although an extended period of strong macroeconomi

5、c growth followed,too many colleges and universities missed the opportunity to strengthen their strategic and financial positions,and nearly 100 institutions were forced to close or merge.In fact,during a time when these institutions should have been getting costs in line,we saw them escalating expe

6、nses as they raced to build and renovate facilities and expand student services and administrative functions.Tuitions increased significantly during this period,but expenses grew faster.The number of institutions in precarious financial positions rose by 70%.Then,in 2020,the Covid-19 pandemic hit,sh