Ep. 85 - Jay Gonzalez: Guaranteeing ROI — How Curry College Is Reinventing the College Business Model

About this episode

Jay Gonzalez discusses how Curry College is reinventing the college business model with innovative programs and strategies to ensure student success.

What happens when a former gubernatorial candidate, healthcare CEO, and state budget director steps into the college president's office? You get a leader who doesn't accept "that's how higher ed has always done it" as an answer. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Jay Gonzalez, the 15th president of Curry College—a leader whose resume looks nothing like a traditional academic career. From running a $32 billion state budget during the Great Recession to leading healthcare organizations and running for governor of Massachusetts, Gonzalez brings an outsider's perspective to one of higher ed's most pressing challenges: proving the ROI of a college degree. Gonzalez shares the story behind Curry's audacious job guarantee program, which promises students a job within six months of graduation—or the college pays their federal student loans for up to a year. He explains how Curry is investing in predictive analytics to identify at-risk students before they struggle, launching a new app to modernize the clunky student portal experience, and building a Neurodiversity Center for Excellence that's partnering with major employers. But perhaps most intriguingly, Gonzalez reveals…

People in this episode

Host: Jeff Dillon

Guest: Jay Gonzalez

Topics covered

• higher education
• college business model
• job guarantee program
• predictive analytics
• student success
• innovation in education

Keywords

• ROI
• college degree
• enrollment pressures
• student loans
• ed tech
• entrepreneurial arm
• predictive analytics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Curry College, Neurodiversity Center for Excellence, Massachusetts

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