10 stories from 2025 we wish we had written

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We’re rounding up some of the phenomenal education​​​​​​​ reporting we saw last year — from sources other than Higher Ed Dive.

Published Jan. 6, 2026

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There are only so many ways to say that 2025 was a hectic and an unprecedented year for the higher education sector.

Amid that turmoil, Higher Ed Dive worked hard to bring you nuanced and compelling journalism. That ranged from in-depth analyses on what pushed an ‘immortal’ college to close to a tracker on President Donald Trump’s attempts to control higher education through institutional dealmaking to continuing coverage of his administration’s work to shutter the U.S. Education Department.

But our team couldn’t get to everything during last year’s tumultuous higher ed news cycle.

What can we say? Green is a great color on us.

Appropriately inspired by Bloomberg Businessweek’s annual Jealousy List, here are 10 stories we wish we had written — but loved reading anyway.

“Feds Fine Baker College $2.5 Million for Deceptive Marketing That Left Students With Debts and Regrets”

ProPublica and The Chronicle of Higher Education | 1/7/25

“Analysis: Lawmakers seem determined to (really) kill DEI on campus” 

Idaho Education News | 1/16/25

“UT-Dallas students launch alternative newspaper after clash with administration”

The Texas Tribune | 2/7/25

“A university, a rural town and their fight to survive Trump’s war on higher education”

Capital News Illinois | 3/27/25

“Columbia University Pays Trump Millions Of Dollars A Year”

Forbes | 4/17/25

“Fearing Trump’s Visa Crackdown, College Students Race to Scrub Op-Eds”

The Wall Street Journal | 4/23/25

“The fallout from Trump’s war on Harvard will long outlast his presidency”

BBC | 5/31/25

“Texas’ swift surrender to DOJ on undocumented student tuition raises questions about state-federal collusion”

The Texas Tribune | 6/9/25

“Josh Shapiro’s Quiet Campaign of Influence at Penn”

The Chronicle of Higher Education | 8/21/25

“He was mocked by fellow Republicans, then helped take down Texas A&M’s president”

San Antonio Express-News | 9/26/25

Bonus: “Public records revealed”

The Retrograde, the student-run alternative newspaper at the University of Texas at Dallas | 1/21/25

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