Podcast: College Uncovered

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  Toeing the Edge of the Demographic Cliff

  GBH recently took College Uncovered on the road to the University of Massachusetts Boston, in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, about eight miles from some of the nation’s well-known Ivy League institutions. We chose UMass Boston not just because it’s in our backyard, but because campuses like it represent where most students in the U.S. actually go to college. Roughly 80 percent of students attend public universities and colleges, and most of them don’t graduate on time. When it comes to navigating shifting demographics, serving students, and meeting workforce demands, UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco says institutions need to start by connecting with their own backyards. “What we have is a rapidly aging population below replacement fertility rates,” Suárez Orozco says. “And we have a new dynamic in that the sectors of the population that are growing are the sectors of the population that we, UMass Boston, serve. These are of immigrant origin mostly, and second generation."In this special episode, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza moderates a panel discussion between Suárez Orozco, Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA: The Association of International Educators, and Marjorie Hass, president of the Council of Independent Colleges. The higher ed leaders discuss challenges and opportunities created by the so-called demographic cliff, and how colleges are responding to sustained political pressure on American higher education. In the episode’s second half, education reporter Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Reporter explains how colleges are trying to recruit and retain adult learners and why a growing number of schools are trimming the traditional bachelor’s degree to three years."The new kind of three-year degree only requires 90 credits, and that's increasingly being approved by accreditors who are under political pressure and by states who recognize the consumer demand for work-oriented bachelor's degrees," Marcus says. Related links: The Demographic CliffThe Student Trade WarsColleges are reconnecting with students who left before earning their degreesFaster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.----------Credits:Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza Editors: Azita Ghahramani and Lisa WardleExecutive Producer: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary MottTheme Song and original music: Left-RomanArtwork: Matt Welch Project Manager: Isabel HibbardConsulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News

  Listen • 37:47 Toeing the Edge of the Demographic Cliff
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  Reengaging “Stop-Out” Learners

  Millions of Americans have left college before earning their degrees. Some schools are trying to re-engage those so-called “stop-out” learners to bolster their classes amid growing uncertainty about enrollment.In this episode of College Uncovered, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza explores how local institutions are partnering with national organizations like ReUp Education to reconnect with former students. Advocates are hopeful about these partnerships because most schools don’t have sufficient resources to reconnect with adult learners, who may need dozens of calls and individualized support before re-enrolling. Kirk also speaks with Elliot Felix, author of The Connected College, who believes re-engaging adult students is critical to fulfilling higher education’s promise. “College is still our best instrument for economic opportunity and mobility and helping students find their people, their place, their purpose, and their path forward,” Felix says. And if you’re an adult student who stepped away from college before finishing, we’ll outline the key questions to ask before deciding to return. Links:Colleges are reconnecting with students who left before earning their degreesGraduation FrustrationThe Real Cost of “Free”“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.----------Credits:Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza Editors: Azita Ghahramani and Lisa WardleExecutive Producer: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary MottTheme Song and original music: Left-RomanArtwork: Matt Welch Project Manager: Isabel HibbardConsulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News

  Listen • 19:38 Reengaging “Stop-Out” Learners
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  [BONUS] Rethinking The Liberal Arts

  Recent graduates are facing a tough job market. Young people – and even colleges – are asking fundamental, existential questions: What does it mean to be educated? And will an expensive college education help set in motion a future career? As enrollment declines, costs rise, and political pressure intensifies, some colleges and universities are rethinking the liberal arts. They’re restructuring and rebranding programs to emphasize applied humanities, weaving career preparation directly into the curriculum. In this episode of College Uncovered, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza visits Brandeis University and Clark University to learn how two liberal arts schools are responding to some of the biggest challenges the higher education industry has faced in decades. Can this model survive? Kirk also speaks with Scott Carlson, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of the new book Hacking College: Why the Major Doesn’t Matter and What Really Does. Carlson argues that colleges need to “systemize serendipity.”“I think colleges and universities need to take a more deliberate role in helping students figure out this is how the college game is played and these are the various directions you can take these degrees,” Carlson says. Links:Brandeis bets big on rebuilding the liberal arts around real-world skillsClark University braces for a harsh new reality as higher ed recession loomsFrom Robin Hood to resumes: The humanities get a job market makeoverThe Revenge of the Humanities“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.----------Credits:Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza Editors: Azita Ghahramani and Lisa WardleExecutive Producer: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary MottTheme Song and original music: Left-RomanArtwork: Matt Welch Project Manager: Isabel HibbardConsulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News

  Listen • 20:31 [BONUS] Rethinking The Liberal Arts
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  [BONUS] 'The Worst College Football Team In The Country'

  College football bowl season is underway, with wall-to-wall games on TV, packed stadiums and multi-million-dollar broadcasts dominated by a few dozen powerhouse programs.In Amherst, Massachusetts, it’s quiet. That’s because the University of Massachusetts Amherst Minutemen just finished the 2025 season without a single win, the only team in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision to do so. Over the past 13 seasons, since joining the FBS, UMass has stumbled to a stunning 26-130 record.Their collapse has turned McGuirk Alumni Stadium into a concrete, empty symbol of a bigger problem: public universities pouring tens of millions into athletics just as American higher education is facing both a financial reckoning and a demographic enrollment cliff.“It’s a disastrous enterprise,” saidBoston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy, who has repeatedly used his weekly column to criticize UMass’s investment in football. When teams like the Minutemen can’t compete, he argues, pouring institutional dollars into football looks especially bad for a public university.“We’re sending these kids out there to take these beatings and to possibly get hurt and it’s just not right,” Shaughnessy said. “Don’t blame the athletes when you see those scores because they shouldn’t be put up against these teams.”In this episode of College Uncovered, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza talks with Amy Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which finds nationwide severance pay for fired football coaches has hit a record high. Public universities now owe more than $228 million in buyouts for just 15 fired head coaches.Then economist James Koch, former president of Old Dominion University and the University of Montana, explains his new statistical analysis that argues big-time college sports don’t benefit students and graduates at all and may actually leave them worse off.Links:After an abysmal season, UMass Amherst’s football program faces scrutiny“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.----------Credits:Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza Editors: Azita Ghahramani and Jenifer McKimExecutive Producer: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary MottTheme Song and original music: Left-RomanArtwork: Matt Welch Project Manager: Isabel HibbardConsulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News

  Listen • 21:36 [BONUS] 'The Worst College Football Team In The Country'
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  [BONUS] OK Computer. OK College?

  Artificial intelligence is still new on college campuses, but it’s already transforming how professors teach and how students learn. Surveys show most students now rely on generative AI for everything from applying to college to getting through it. Some educators are leaning in, treating AI as a teaching partner. Others are leaning out, doubling down on in-person, discussion-based learning. Either way, one thing is clear: AI isn’t going anywhere.This new technology is also reshaping the job market. Young workers are seeing fewer openings in fields most exposed to automation — software development, social media, coding. That’s why colleges are racing to future-proof their programs.In this bonus episode of College Uncovered, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza visits campuses to hear directly from professors and students who are adapting in real time. Harvard physicist Greg Kestin has built a custom chatbot — an “always-on” tutor that mimics himself. Boston College English professor Carlo Rotella, author of What Can I Get Out of This?, sees his unplugged, device-free classes as cutting-edge, urging students to slow down and do the work of building something together themselves. At Wentworth Institute of Technology, faculty are designing a new applied AI degree to give graduates a kind of surfboard to ride the coming digital and labor tsunamis. And Kerry McKittrick, co-director of Harvard’s Project on Workforce, explains what students and families need to know right now about AI and college and how colleges are using AI to boost completion rates and align what they teach with what employers actually need.Additional links: With AI common on campus, some educators are leaning in (GBH)Rather than AI, this professor chooses a chalkboard and old-fashioned books (GBH)Colleges hope to ‘AI-proof’ their offerings as new tech changes job expectations (GBH)Crossing the Great AI Divide (Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce)“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.----------Credits:Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza Editors: Azita Ghahramani and Jenifer McKimExecutive Producer: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary MottTheme Song and original music: Left-RomanArtwork: Matt Welch Project Manager: Isabel HibbardConsulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News

  Listen • 21:14 [BONUS] OK Computer. OK College?