HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLOSION UPDATE: Up to 25 percent of U.S. colleges may close soon, Brandeis president warns.

Wealthier institutions may have the resources to withstand the transition, but many others do not. Levine said that elite schools, such as Harvard, can afford to wait out disruptions, while smaller institutions face immediate pressure to adapt.

“Higher education is undergoing a transformation. Our whole society is undergoing a transformation,” Levine said, pointing to the shift from a national, industrial economy to a global, digital, knowledge-based one.

That shift, he said, is driving demographic, economic, technological, and political change that universities have been slow to address.

The challenges facing higher education, Levine said, are not new. He pointed to three longstanding criticisms that date back to the early 19th century, including that colleges change slowly, resist change, and cost too much.

“Outcomes better be worth the price paid,” he said, adding that when society changes, higher education often lags behind and scrambles to catch up.

Glenn tried to warn them. For more than 20 years.