To College Presidents and Admissions Leaders:
The time for incremental change is over. We stand at a precipice where the historic value of a college degree is being questioned, and the very existence of many campuses is under threat. The solution lies not in more grants or subtle policy tweaks, but in a bold, immediate, and public re-engagement with your institution’s most vital, yet under-celebrated, assets: Your Physical Campus and Your Esteemed Faculty.
The Hard Truth: Enrollment Decline and Campus Closures
While some institutions are seeing pockets of growth, the overall national trend is a chilling wake-up call. Undergraduate enrollment fell by nearly 15% between 2010 and 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and the post-2025 “demographic cliff” threatens to accelerate this decline dramatically.
This is not an abstract financial model; it is reality:
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Campus Closures are Increasing: Hundreds of colleges are predicted to close or merge within the next decade. From 2008 to 2023, nearly 300 colleges and universities offering at least an associate degree closed. This trend is accelerating, with experts noting that in some periods, colleges have been closing at a rate of nearly one per week. These closures eliminate community anchors, valuable facilities, and pathways for students.
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The AI Threat to Online Learning: The perceived value of remote instruction is eroding. With the rise of advanced Generative AI, online videos, lectures, and content are now easily created, summarized, and delivered by machines. This renders much of the generic content offered by online schools—and even your own virtual programs—mostly useless for inspiring the deep learning and critical thinking the modern workforce demands.
The true value of a site-based education—the collaborative energy, the personalized mentorship, the hands-on use of world-class facilities—has never been more important, yet it is failing to reach the public.
🚀 Operation Dream Landing: Capitalize on Your Unique Assets
Your unique selling proposition against the commoditized world of online learning is simple: your facilities and your faculty. These are the two things online schools cannot replicate. Operation Dream Landing is designed to put them center stage to achieve a 10x site-based enrollment increase in 2026.
We invite you to participate in Operation Dream Landing to change this trend by bringing the best of your campus to public light:
1. Transform Campus into a Bucket List Destination
We work with the travel industry to launch College Demo Days, turning your underutilized labs, libraries, and advanced simulators into engaging, paid experiences for travelers, families, and locals.
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The Value Proposition: This is not a college visit; it’s the gift of college—a chance to experience the joy of learning and the dream life a degree makes possible. It’s an immersive burst of motivation, inspiration, and curiosity that creates deep, lasting connections with the academic environment.
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The Revenue Model: This project brings desperately needed new money and life back to your campus, moving the focus away from traditional, declining funding sources. Businesses will once again feel compelled to support campuses that demonstrate tangible, public value.
2. Celebrate and Empower Your Faculty
Your faculty are the most valuable experts in your community, yet their brilliance rarely gets celebrated outside of academia.
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Financial Support and Motivation: Operation Dream Landing offers your faculty opportunities to present and educate people in bucket-list destinations globally, getting paid for their expertise and spreading your institution’s reputation. This supports their work and creates a powerful reason for them to fully endorse and engage with the campus’s enrollment mission.
Grants are a waste of time when the problem is one of fundamental engagement and perception. You need something proven to work to bring life and new energy back to your campus before it’s too late.
The next generation of students—and the adult learners seeking new careers—need to experience the tangible power of your campus. It’s possible to find new pathways to learn and grow in these amazing places before they are gone forever.
If you are ready to capitalize on your assets and fight the enrollment decline with a strategy designed for the experience economy, contact:
Dr. Kathleen Houlihan Khoulihan@Dream2Career.org
