American higher education did not drift into market behavior by accident. Today’s landscape was constructed by powerful federal policy shifts and competitive pressures that catalyzed innovation while quietly creating structural imbalance. 

In Capitalizing on College, Joshua Travis Brown tells the untold story of the “Missing Middle,” tuition-driven institutions deeply committed to access and opportunity yet increasingly shaped by market competition. Drawing on interviews with more than 150 university leaders, he traces how demographic shifts and policy incentives pushed colleges to pursue four distinct strategies in a competition for tuition dollars. Each strategy was rational and, in many cases, necessary. Yet only one generated sufficient margin to sustain the residential core, and it did so at a cost: undercutting their mission by leading them to view students as dollars. 

This plenary distills what those past crises teach us about leading now. It invites ARC participants to consider how institutions can pursue innovation with discipline and courage, ensuring that financial sustainability strengthens mission rather than displacing it.