News in Brief – September/October 2026

Confidence in higher education has been waning. The Trust Agenda: A Framework for Advancing Public Trust in Higher Education report released in June 2026 by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) provides guidance to higher education institutions about efforts they can undertake to rebuild trust in higher education. This report builds upon research by other associations and foundations, which have found that trust in higher education by the public has seriously declined in the past decade.