As an educational software company focused on higher ed data tools, you can probably imagine our excitement about the release of the latest EDUCAUSE Horizon Report as it focuses on data and analytics. For those of us who have followed Horizon from its earliest days, the core idea still holds: a creative report, packed with ideas for future planning and campus conversations that is supported by evidence from the field. Are its predictions always right? Of course not. But they do give us permission to consider a different future and spark the kind of debate that leads to better choices for our communities. That’s probably why I made it the focus of this week’s issue followed by another look at the results of the latest Inside Higher Ed Student Voices Survey.  

After reading today’s issue, share your thoughts about the 2025 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report Data and Analytics Edition in the comments! 

EDUCAUSE Horizon Report 

From 2025 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report Data and Analytics Edition 

Higher education is in a period of massive transformation and uncertainty. This report captures the spirit of this transformation and how you can respond with confidence through the lens of emerging trends, key technologies and practices, and scenario-based foresight. 

Our Thoughts  

What I appreciate about this year’s Horizon: Data and Analytics edition is how plainly it centers the moment we are in. Data has always been part of higher education, but it has moved from helpful to foundational. The report’s executive summary is blunt. Institutions are making decisions under tightening finances, shifting enrollment, and new rules, while AI and advanced analytics raise both possibilities and risks. The future of institutional effectiveness will hinge on how well colleges adapt their data strategies to this environment. That matches what many people feel on their campuses right now. 

I have been a long-time reader of the Horizon series, going back to the New Media Consortium days before EDUCAUSE took the reins. What I have always valued is not fortune telling, but a structured way to see around the next corner. Each edition surfaces trends and key practices, then points to concrete examples you can adapt for your campuses. Even when predictions miss, the exercise changes your questions, and that is usually the point. 

Two signals stand out in this edition. First, the drumbeat for data governance and data literacy is getting louder. As analytics diffuses beyond IR and IT into academic departments and student services, gaps in literacy and oversight slow good decisions and raise ethical concerns. Second, rapid AI adoption is real, and it is not just about chatbots. The panel highlights AI powered assistants and AI powered decision intelligence alongside practices like mixed methods research for student learning data, data mesh architecture, and federated data governance. Read that as a map from today’s dashboards to tomorrow’s workflows. 

If you are not sure where to start, use Horizon as permission to begin small and build out. Pick one decision that matters and make it more data informed. Teach the team how to question outputs, not just consume them. Use these guides to spark conversations between academic affairs, IT, IR, and student success. Tighten your governance around a real use case instead of a policy document that no one reads. Keep your expectations calibrated; foresight is not about guarantees. It is about noticing the trends and technologies you might not have considered and deciding, together, what to do next.  

Cost of Attending Higher Education Surprises Some Students 

From The Costs Students Don’t See Coming—and Why They Matter | Inside Higher Ed 

New Student Voice data offers insight into students’ financial vulnerability and their grasp of cost of attendance amid a broader push for cost transparency.   

Our Thoughts  

I wrote about student trust back in Issue 74 because it sits at the center of public perceptions of higher education. While polling earlier this year from Gallup shows a small rebound in public trust, that increase is associated with the perceived value higher education provides. Affordability is rapidly becoming a common conversation between prospective students, their families, and institutions. If we want to move sentiment in a lasting way, we must make the money side clearer and more predictable. 

Cost transparency is often at the heart of these conversations and concerns related to affordability. Only about a quarter of students say they truly understand the full cost of attendance, including the indirect costs that never show up on a tuition bill. More than a third say an unexpected expense of a thousand dollars or less could put their enrollment at risk, and nearly two thirds do not know whether their college even offers emergency aid. That lack of clarity is unsustainable, especially in today’s enrollment environment. We owe it to our students to ensure the true net price of their education by including all key costs in financial aid letters in a way that is transparent to families.  

Momentum is building on the policy side, and higher education has a chance to lead rather than react. The Senate HELP Committee just asked the field for ideas to improve price transparency and lower costs—a clear signal that this issue has reached the national stage. Institutions don’t need to wait for a mandate to act. Standardize your aid letters now with a clear, comparable net price. Publish realistic cost of attendance estimates that reflect housing, transportation, course materials, and local prices. Make emergency aid easy to find and fast to disburse, then tell students about it early and often. In the end, trust grows when students and their families feel informed, supported, and confident that college costs exactly what it says it will.