SPH Consulting Group: In The News

SPH In 
The News

SPH Consulting Group consultants are frequently in the news for their expertise on higher education strategies, mergers, transitions, and more. For more from our experts, visit our Blog.


October 9, 2024

Arizona State U. Goes West

By Dan Bauman, Chronicle of Higher Education


October 3, 2024

A Messy Merger’s Unlikely Comeback

By Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed


October 1, 2024

To understand the future of higher education, look to the past of healthcare

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


September 10, 2024

Should a Merger be in Your Future?

With Ricardo Azziz, Get Down to College Business w/ Sarah Holtan, PhD.


August 19, 2024

Why is the higher education sector so fragile in the US?

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


July 1, 2024

‘We can’t cut anymore’: Can colleges recover from the gut-punch of inflation?

By Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive.


June 28, 2024

The FAFSA debacle: Another nail in the coffin for vulnerable colleges

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


June 23, 2024

This Week in College Viability (TWICV) Special: Will a Federal Bailout Save Private Colleges?

This Week in College Viability featuring Dr. Ricardo Azziz


May 21, 2024

Should bondholders step in when colleges are financially struggling?

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


April 19, 2024

Waiting too long can doom a college merger, experts say

By Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive.


April 16, 2024

Financially-distressed NJCU needs a partner. But which university can afford to take on the school?

By Joshua Rosario, NJ.com.


March 14, 2024

For This Small College, a Merger Was a Lifeline. Now It’s the Focus of Suspicion.

By David Jesse, The Chronicle of Higher Education.


February 29, 2024

How can governors oversee successful higher education mergers?

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


January 30, 2024

How many people actually need a four-year diploma?

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


December 4, 2023

Labor Department’s overtime proposal should spur more colleges to consider a merger

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


October 27, 2023

College officials considering mergers need to have sufficient resources

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


October 25, 2023

Dr. Ricardo Azziz discusses the impact of the new ED Rules on College Mergers (podcast)

By Gary Stocker, This Week College Viability.


September 29, 2023

What qualities do college leaders need to lead major institutional restructuring?

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


September 1, 2023

An Enrollment Spike at Asbury University

By Sarah Weissman, Inside Higher Ed.


September 1, 2023

Praying for a Merger Miracle

By Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed.


August 29, 2023

Why Has It Been So Hard for the U. of Phoenix to Find a Home?

By Taylor Swaak, Chronicle of Higher Education.


August 21, 2023

Critical competencies for leading major institutional restructuring in higher education (aka Big Scary Change)

By Ricardo Azziz, Guilbert C. Hentschke, Lloyd Jacobs, Richard Katzman, Bonita Jacobs, TIAA Institute.


August 14, 2023

Are faith-based colleges in trouble? It depends

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


July 19, 2023

Is government support for distressed colleges a good thing?

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


July 12, 2023

SPH Consulting Group: Facing the Enrollment Challenge in Higher Education

By Ricardo Azziz, Education Technology Insights.


July 12, 2023

SPH Consulting Group Recognized as one of the Top 10 Education Consulting Companies 2023

By Education Technology Insights.


June 25, 2023

Merge or die? Some private Iowa colleges face tough choices as enrollment continues to tumble

By Tyler Jett, Des Moines Register.


June 23, 2023

New federal policy injects delay and uncertainty into merger process

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


May 12, 2023

How internal and external college mergers are similar — and how they’re different

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


Apr. 7, 2023

Cannibalism as a way to increase enrollment

By Ricardo Azziz, Higher Ed Dive.


Mar. 20, 2023

Opinions on corporate restructuring in higher education

By Higher Ed Dive.


Mar. 13, 2023

Mergers in higher education are about the students

By Ricardo Azziz. Higher Ed Dive.


Feb. 13, 2023

Size matters for surviving the enrollment drop.

By Ricardo Azziz. Higher Ed Dive.


Jan. 11, 2023

How do you start conversations about a possible college merger? One person at a time.

By Ricardo Azziz. Higher Ed Dive.


Dec. 5, 2022

Don’t wait too long to find a merger partner. Closure does not benefit anybody.

By Ricardo Azziz. Higher Ed Dive.


Nov. 14, 2022

Mergers in higher education are global. Here are lessons for US colleges.

By Ricardo Azziz. Higher Ed Dive.


Aug. 17, 2022

Have you considered a merger? Because hope is not a plan in higher ed. Why is it that there are so many more closures than mergers?

By Brian Weinblatt and Ricardo Azziz. University Business (UB) Magazine.


Aug. 2, 2022

University of North Georgia’s president to retire in 2023.

The Associated Press.


Aug. 1, 2022

Bonita Jacobs stepping down as UNG president. Here’s why, when.

By Jeff Gill. The Times.


July 19, 2022

Broke Colleges Resort to Mergers for Survival. Takeovers increase as a shakeup in higher education leaves schools in trouble.

By Douglas Belkin. Wall Street Journal.


Oct. 27, 2021

Mergers in Higher Education: The Need to Consider

Inside Higher Ed.


Oct. 26, 2021

Mergers in Higher Education: The Need to Consider

By Ricardo Azziz. Academic Minute.


Sept. 24, 2020

COVID-19: An accelerant for differentiation and institutional consolidation

By Ricardo Azziz. University Business (UB) Magazine.


Sept. 14, 2021

What Should Guide the Decision for Institutional Merger or Acquisition in Higher Education? Student Success and Opportunity

By Ricardo Azziz and James E. Samels. JHU Press Blog.


COVID-19: What the pandemic might mean for mergers in higher education

By Ricardo Azziz. TIAA Institute, Washington, DC.


COVID-19: Will the pandemic worsen U.S. higher education’s excess capacity?

By Ricardo Azziz. TIAA Institute, Washington, DC.


July 30, 2020

More States Are Looking at Consolidating Their Public Colleges. Does It Work?

By Lee Gardner. Chronicle Higher Education.


Feb. 27, 2020

Make Mergers of Colleges Strategic and Mainstream, Not Desperate and A Last Resort.

By Michael B. Horn. Forbes.


Feb. 16, 2020

A Merger Can Save Your College, but Don’t Wait Too Long.

By Ricardo Azziz, Lloyd A. Jacobs, and Haven Ladd. Changing Higher Ed Podcast 031. The Change Leader.


Dec. 15, 2019

The Best Time to Merge: Before ‘No One Wants You’.

By Peter Monaghan. Chronicle of Higher Education.


Oct. 29, 2019

Mergers In The 21st Century Higher Education Landscape: Why A New Book Was Needed.

JHU Press Blog.


Oct. 10, 2019

For Some Colleges, the Best Move Is to Merge.

By John Hanc. New York Times.


Feb. 27, 2019

Mergers and Acquisitions: Strategic Questions Every University Leader Should Ask Now – Not When It’s Too Late. 

An interview with Ricardo Azziz and Nivine Megahed. Academic Impressions.

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