The Campus AI Crisis — by Jeffrey Selingo; via Ryan Craig Young graduates can’t find jobs. Colleges know they have to do something. But what?
Only now are colleges realizing that the implications of AI are much greater and are already outrunning their institutional ability to respond. As schools struggle to update their curricula and classroom policies, they also confront a deeper problem: the suddenly enormous gap between what they say a degree is for and what the labor market now demands.In that mismatch, students are left to absorb the risk. Alina McMahon and millions of other Gen-Zers like her are caught in a muddled in-between moment: colleges only just beginning to think about how to adapt and redefine their mission in the post-AI world, and a job market that’s changing much, much faster.
“Colleges and universities face an existential issue before them,” said Ryan Craig, author of Apprentice Nation and managing director of a firm that invests in new educational models. “They need to figure out how to integrate relevant, in-field, and hopefully paid work experience for every student, and hopefully multiple experiences before they graduate.”
Ten years ago, we made a bet on relationships over replication. Instead of franchising a model, we chose to build an ecosystem—the CAPS Network—grounded in the belief that an entrepreneurial approach would create ripples of innovation with exponential scaling power. We believed that by harnessing the power of relationships for good, we could help more students discover who they are and where they belong in the world.
Today, with over 1,200 alumni voices captured in our 2025 Alumni Impact Study, we’re seeing those ripples turn into waves. And we believe these waves can and will be surfed by educators all across the globe. We are committed to the idea that our purpose (providing more students in more places the time and space for self-discovery) is more important than our brand. As such, we want our learnings to be leveraged by anyone and everyone to make a positive impact.
Confidence, Engagement, and Loveexplores the data we rarely track but desperately need. This piece argues that alumni confidence, sustained engagement, and a sense of being loved by their school communities are leading indicators of long-term success. It challenges K–12 systems to look beyond test scores and graduation rates and instead ask what happens after students leave, who stays connected, and how belonging shapes opportunity. The result is a call to rethink accountability around relationships, not just results.
The explosion of artificial intelligence, combined with slowing growth in the labor force, has many companies reconsidering how they hire and develop workers. Where they once relied on colleges and universities for training, a growing number of companies are now looking in-house.
Investment in developing employees and would-be hires is becoming a key differentiator for companies, according to a new report from the Learning Society, a collaborative effort led out of the Stanford Center on Longevity. And that’s true even as AI adoption grows.
The Big Idea: The report authors interviewed 15 human resources executives from major firms, which ranged in size from Hubbell, an electric and utility product manufacturer with about 17K employees, to Walmart with more than 2M employees. The authors asked about four topics: the impact of AI and technology on work, skill building and talent development, supporting workers over longer working lives, and new partnerships between businesses and higher education.
Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk — from axios.com by CEO Jim VandeHei Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote this note to his wife, Autumn, and their three kids. She suggested sharing it more broadly since so many families are wrestling with how to think and talk about AI. So here it is …
Dear Family: I want to put to words what I’m hearing, seeing, thinking and writing about AI.
Simply put, I’m now certain it will upend your work and life in ways more profound than the internet or possibly electricity. This will hit in months, not years.
The changes will be fast, wide, radical, disorienting and scary. No one will avoid its reach.
I’m not trying to frighten you. And I know your opinions range from wonderment to worry. That’s natural and OK. Our species isn’t wired for change of this speed or scale.
My conversations with the CEOs and builders of these LLMs, as well as my own deep experimentation with AI, have shaken and stirred me in ways I never imagined.
All of you must figure out how to master AI for any specific job or internship you hold or take. You’d be jeopardizing your future careers by not figuring out how to use AI to amplify and improve your work. You’d be wise to replace social media scrolling with LLM testing.
What if the biggest change in education isn’t a new app… but the end of the university monopoly on credibility?
Jensen Huang has framed AI as a platform shift—an industrial revolution that turns intelligence into infrastructure. And when intelligence becomes cheap, personal, and always available, education stops being a place you go… and becomes a system that follows you. The question isn’t whether universities will disappear. The question is whether the old model—high cost, slow updates, one-size-fits-all—can survive a world where every student can have a private tutor, a lab partner, and a curriculum designer on demand.
This video explores what AI has in store for education—and why traditional universities may need to reinvent themselves fast.
In this video you’ll discover:
How AI tutors could deliver personalized learning at scale
Why credentials may shift from “degrees” to proof-of-skill portfolios
What happens when the “middle” of studying becomes automated
How universities could evolve: research hubs, networks, and high-trust credentialing
The risks: cheating, dependency, bias, and widening inequality
The 3 skills that become priceless when information is everywhere: judgment, curiosity, and responsibility
From DSC:
There appears to be another, similar video, but with a different date and length of the video. So I’m including this other recording as well here:
What if universities don’t “disappear”… but lose their monopoly on learning, credentials, and opportunity?
AI is turning education into something radically different: personal, instant, adaptive, and always available. When every student can have a 24/7 tutor, a writing coach, a coding partner, and a study plan designed specifically for them, the old model—one professor, one curriculum, one pace for everyone—starts to look outdated. And the biggest disruption isn’t the classroom. It’s the credential. Because in an AI world, proof of skill can become more valuable than a piece of paper.
This video explores the end of universities as we know them: what AI is bringing, what will break, what will survive, and what replaces the traditional path.
In this video you’ll discover:
Why AI tutoring could outperform one-size-fits-all lectures
How “degrees” may shift into skill proof: portfolios, projects, and verified competency
What happens when the “middle” of studying becomes automated
How universities may evolve: research hubs, networks, high-trust credentialing
The dark side: cheating, dependency, inequality, and biased evaluation
The new advantage: judgment, creativity, and responsibility in a world of instant answers
There were 15% fewer entry-level and internship job postings in 2025 than the year before, according to Handshake, a job-search platform popular with college students; meanwhile, applications per posting rose 26%.
How much AI is to blame for the fragile entry-level job market is unclear. Several research studies show AI is hitting young college-educated workers disproportionately, but broader economic forces are part of the story, too.
As Christine Y. Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, told me, AI isn’t “taking” jobs so much as employers are “choosing” to replace parts of jobs with automation rather than redesign roles around workers. “They’re replacing people instead of enabling their workforce,” she said.
Today’s graduates are stuck in an in-between moment. Many started college before AI mattered and graduated into a labor market reshaped almost overnight, where entry-level roles are disappearing faster than students can adapt.
Law schools across the United States are entering one of the most transformative periods in recent memory. In 2026, legal education is being reshaped by leadership turnover, shifting accreditation standards, changes to student loan policies, and the introduction of a redesigned bar exam. Together, these developments are forcing law schools to rethink how they educate students and prepare future lawyers for a rapidly evolving legal profession.
Also from jdjournal.com, see:
Healthcare Industry Legal Careers: High-Growth Roles and Paths — from jdjournal.com by Ma Fatima
The healthcare industry is rapidly emerging as one of the most promising and resilient sectors for legal professionals, driven by expanding regulations, technological innovation, and an increasingly complex healthcare delivery system. As hospitals, life sciences companies, insurers, and digital health platforms navigate constant regulatory change, demand for experienced legal talent continues to rise.
What 3 credit ratings agencies forecast for higher ed in 2026 — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee Fitch Ratings, S&P Global and Moody’s Ratings all predicted a tough year ahead, pointing to deteriorating financial conditions and heightened uncertainty.
Fitch Ratings labeled its higher ed financial outlook for 2026 as “deteriorating” while Moody’s Ratings described an “increasingly difficult and shifting operating environment for colleges and universities.” Similarly, S&P Global Ratings said it expects“mounting operating pressures and uncertainty” ahead for the sector’s nonprofit institutions.
Analysts cited additional disruption and belt-tightening ahead in the new year, from predicted demographic declines to pressures on international enrollment to uncertainties about how Republicans’ big spending bill passed this summer will impact demand for college.
Below are the various takes on higher ed in 2026 by Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global Ratings:
