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Addressing the challenges and opportunities facing colleges and universities.

Higher education

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Higher education institutions face a confluence of external and internal challenges

PwC’s higher education practice is built to help address the opportunities and challenges faced by higher education institutions today. With dedicated professionals working with colleges and universities across the nation, PwC assists our higher education clients in identifying opportunities to increase accountability, transparency, and help to transform to align resources to support their missions.

higher education

The state of higher education

Challenges and opportunities in 2024

Opportunity and challenge focus areas for higher education

PwC believes there are four business imperatives facing higher education institutions today:

Affordability
Rising tuition levels have already exacerbated student debt levels, making it difficult to continue to increase tuition. This in addition to existing administrative inefficiencies and the need to update technology, is leading institutions to look for ways to streamline.

Innovation
As the pace of change increases, higher education finds itself needing to move faster to remain on the cutting edge, including business transformation enabled through technology (ERPs) and are considering strategies around research, growth and new education models.

Demonstrate value
Increasing access to data analytics is creating opportunity to measure return on investment and demonstrate value in academic compliance and resource optimization.

Risk mitigation
The public is focused on safety and security more than ever, particularly on campuses. Institutions find themselves needing to demonstrate that they are getting ahead of these risks.

PwC is your trusted advisor

  • Over 1700 professionals across the nation servicing colleges and universities, with 100+ dedicated to higher education
  • Work with 10 of the top 15 private medical schools1
  • Serve 9 of the top 10 highly endowed universities1
  • Serve top public university systems

1 PwC client list and US News & World Reports (2023)

Our higher education practice includes consulting, tax, and audit services

Consulting

Business transformation is the foundation of our consulting services

  • Higher education structure & governance
  • Performance improvement
  • Human capital management
  • Institutional student lending compliance and improvement
  • Supply chain management
  • Capital and facilities management
  • Compensation and benefits review

Revenue diversification growth is critical

  • Strategic transformation
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • IP commercialization
  • New education model implementation
  • Business transformation
  • Private/public partnerships

External stakeholders are demanding accountability

  • Academic accreditation
  • Data analytics
  • Business process reengineering
  • Technology enablement
  • Research strategy, growth and diversification

Business environment is increasingly complex with greater risks

  • Cyber security
  • Research compliance safety
  • IT controls
  • Third-party risk management
  • Enterprise risk management
  • Compliance effectiveness

Audit

Business environment is increasingly complex with greater risk

  • External audit
  • Internal audit outsourcing and co-sourcing

Tax

Addressing increasingly complex tax requirements as organizations shift to expand their business model

  • Maintaining and obtaining tax exempt status
  • Federal and State tax compliance & international tax planning and consulting
  • Unrelated business income review
  • Endowment tax reporting compliance
  • Human resources and payroll tax consulting, and executive compensation
  • Tax-exempt bonds post‑issuance compliance
  • Credits & incentives

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Contact us

Thom Bales

Thom Bales

Principal, Health Services Advisory Leader, PwC US

Email
Shea Fowler

Shea Fowler

Principal, Risk and Regulatory, Health Industries, PwC US

Email
Chris Cox

Chris Cox

Partner, National Higher Education Practice Leader, PwC US

Email
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