Leading Cost Containment When “Easy Cuts” Are Gone

Academic leaders face growing pressure to contain costs while preserving academic quality—an increasingly difficult balance amid enrollment softness, rising labor expenses, and structural budget gaps. Yet many familiar responses, including incremental trims, deferred trade-offs, and across-the-board cuts, are proving insufficient to address the scale and persistence of today’s financial challenges.

This session will help deans translate change management theory into practical action as they confront mounting pressure to contain costs without undermining academic quality. We will ground the conversation in the current financial realities facing institutions broadly, including enrollment softness, rising labor costs, and structural budget imbalances.

Participants will examine why familiar responses, including incremental trims, deferred trade-offs, and across-the-board cuts, are no longer sufficient, and why many colleges are being pushed toward a more intentional “less with less” operating model. Attendees will leave with practical frameworks, clearer language, and actionable approaches to lead cost containment efforts that are financially responsible, strategically aligned, and built to last.

Key topics will include:

• What distinguishes technical cost-cutting from true organizational change in academic units
• How to apply change management principles to decisions involving faculty workload, space utilization, and program complexity
• Common sources of resistance to cost containment and how to anticipate them early
• Strategies for sequencing decisions so leaders build momentum rather than fatigue
• Ways to communicate financial realities that increase understanding, credibility, and shared ownership

Session

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Attendance is best suited for Deans.

• Monday, April 27, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time