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How colleges and universities can use mergers and strategic partnerships to strengthen financial resilience, expand academic distinction and position for long-term growth.
Unlocking value in higher education mergers
Disruption across higher education is accelerating, from enrollment decline to funding volatility and operational strain. For some institutions, mergers and strategic partnerships can provide the scale, resources and strategic reach needed to secure long-term sustainability and growth. PwC offers a structured, evidence-based approach to help leadership assess readiness, evaluate options and move forward with confidence.
Is your institution ready to consider a merger or partnership?
A higher education market beset by unprecedented challenges requires institutions to take bold steps that honor their past while unlocking future possibilities. Mergers can provide institutions with the scale, resources, and stability needed to withstand disruption, while also offering financially strong institutions opportunities for expansion, market growth, and enhanced academic distinction. Leaders need to make informed decisions and position the institution for long-term success.
Several trends are accelerating the need for colleges and universities to take decisive action:
- Rising closures
- Research funding volatility
- Enrollment instability
- Policy uncertainty
- Operational strain
Rising closures
More than 20 colleges and universities closed in 2024 with more set to shut down after the current academic year, closures which may have been avoided with viable contingency plans.
Research funding volatility
Shifting federal priorities and increased competition are straining institutions’ ability to sustain programs and faculty.
Enrollment instability
A 15% decline in enrollment for colleges and universities between 2010 and 2021 is intensifying revenue pressures for tuition-dependent institutions.
Policy uncertainty
Reduced federal investments in the Department of Education and research grants, Title IX, and student aid programs are creating volatility.
Operational strain
Duplicated services, fragmented governance, and workforce turnover are undermining stability.
The issue is no longer predicting if disruption will occur, but how institutions can respond to disruption in a way that upholds their historic values while safeguarding their future.
Assessing your institution’s readiness for a strategic merger
The path to unlocking value is unique for each institution. When structural cracks run too deep to be repaired piecemeal, rebuilding with stronger foundations—or joining with a sturdier structure—becomes the only path to long-term stability. For organizations that are financially strong, the driver is not financial distress but strategic ambition. These institutions may also pursue mergers as a pathway to growth, expanded academic distinction, or greater market reach.
If your Board and Leadership team are actively weighing whether a merger or partnership is the right next step, you are not alone. Many institutions, whether seeking stability or expansion, have reached this inflection point where traditional, smaller-scale resilience strategies have been exhausted, and decisive action is required.
To evaluate readiness, Leadership should ask five core questions that reflect both risk and opportunity:
If you answer “yes” to one or more of these questions, whether your institution is seeking stability in the face of challenges or looking to leverage strength for strategic growth, it is time to explore alternative pathways. PwC is here to guide you with tailored solutions that unlock new opportunities for resilience, expansion, and long-term sustainability.
Navigating change: PwC's support for institutional transformation
We can provide you with a Merger Readiness Assessment, a structured, 12-week engagement designed specifically for institutions at or beyond the merger decision point. The process provides leadership with the clarity, data, and actionable roadmap required to make well-informed decisions around mergers or strategic partnerships.
Our framework includes seven integrated workstreams to facilitate a disciplined, evidence-based assessment of your potential merger pathways:
Strategic fit: Align leadership around a shared vision, test the strategic rationale, and identify synergies.
Academic portfolio assessment: Evaluate program alignment, consolidation opportunities, and faculty impacts.
Accreditation considerations: Map out compliance and accreditation milestones.
Financial diligence & modeling: Build a data-driven financial model with synergies, capital needs, and integration costs.
Stakeholder impacts: Assess implications for students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and develop communication strategies.
Partner fit: Leverage PwC’s internal data and tools to identify partners with strategic, financial, and mission alignment.
Roadmap & scenario development: Deliver actionable scenarios and tailored roadmaps for Day One and beyond.
Taking the next step: embracing strategic transformation
A merger isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but for many institutions it can be the catalyst for long-term sustainability and relevance. Here’s how to approach it:
Building a data-driven foundation for board-level discussions
Early conversations allow leadership to explore merger or partnership options before pressures intensify. Grounding these discussions in data, trends, and scenario analysis ensures the Board is informed, aligned, and prepared to evaluate strategic pathways with clarity rather than urgency.
Looking beyond financials to understand mission and market implications
Mergers require a comprehensive view of the institution’s future. Leadership should assess mission alignment, legacy considerations, academic opportunities, market positioning, and avenues for innovation. A broad strategic lens helps institutions evaluate not only whether they can merge, but whether doing so advances long-term institutional goals.
Navigating approval timelines with foresight and confidence
Regulatory processes in higher education can influence both deal structure and timing. Institutions must be prepared for accreditation reviews, program-level approvals, and state and federal oversight. Clear understanding of these requirements ensures leaders can set realistic timelines and anticipate key decision points.
Building trust through transparency and early engagement
Institutional transformation affects every stakeholder group, and trust is strengthened through proactive communication.
Students look for continuity of programs, tuition stability, and clarity on degree pathways. Faculty and staff seek transparency around governance, tenure, and future roles.
Communities and alumni pay close attention to local impact, reputation, and institutional presence.
Engaging these groups early helps maintain stability and supports a smoother transition.
Using structured analysis to guide complex decisions
Mergers require rigorous assessment across financial, operational, academic, and regulatory dimensions. PwC brings tools such as scenario modeling, deal strategy, and regulatory guidance to help institutions evaluate options clearly and move forward with confidence.
Let us help you
A merger isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but for many institutions it can be the catalyst for long-term sustainability and relevance. Here’s how to approach it:
PwC has served more than 240 universities including ivy league, research institutes and the top 50 national universities across the U.S. Our advisory services are tailored to align academic and administrative operations with institutional goals with a robust deals team of 25,000 experts, supporting deals and strategic partnerships across higher education.
Recently, PwC advised a leading private university on its ambition to expand scale, strengthen financial resilience, and enhance competitiveness. The transaction delivered transformative results across financial performance, student outcomes, and institutional reputation. Financially, total assets nearly doubled, net assets rose steadily, and operating revenue surged to nearly $10 billion. From a student perspective, undergraduate enrollment more than quadrupled, and total enrollment more than doubled—underscoring the merger’s success in attracting and retaining talent. Reputationally, the combined institution advanced into the ranks of nationally recognized doctoral universities and earned global recognition across multiple research disciplines.
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