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HCM Strategists

Our Mid-Year Update

As we reach the midpoint of the year and move through the heart of summer, we're energized by the momentum behind our work—welcoming new team members and launching client initiatives that are helping reshape postsecondary education to be more affordable, accessible, and valuable.

It's also a natural time to reflect on the progress we've made and look ahead to what’s next. This mid-year update offers a snapshot of how our work—and the work of our clients and partners—is responding to the evolving higher education landscape. Even amid heightened uncertainty, shifting federal-state partnerships, and changes in federal investment and oversight, we see new opportunities to support our clients in advancing student-centered solutions that drive systems-level change.

Our focus remains clear: to ensure higher education provides a reliable path to economic prosperity for all learners. We’re proud to work alongside partners at the center of transformative policy change—those working to strengthen systems and improve outcomes for today’s learners. With foresight, deep expertise, and agility, we remain committed to developing forward-thinking policy solutions that are grounded in student needs and aligned with workforce demands to the benefit of our nation’s economic future.

In community,

Kristin Hultquist & Martha Snyder, HCM Partners

 

TEAM UPDATE

Meet Our New Colleagues

Celebrating the Promotion of Dr. Kelley Ditzel to Senior Advisor

We are thrilled to announce the promotion of Dr. Kelley Ditzel to Senior Adviser at HCM Strategists. Since joining us as a consultant and Senior Affiliate, she has strengthened our firm’s ability to serve clients through her deep commitment to increasing degree completion among underserved populations, including students of color, those from rural communities, and others facing systemic barriers to higher education.

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A New Voice for 2025: Madeline Price Joins the HCM Team

HCM welcomes Madeline Price as our new Director of State Policy & Strategy. Madeline brings to HCM deep expertise in K-12 and postsecondary finance, nondegree credentials, and education pathways that lead to economic opportunity and prosperity. Driven by a strong belief in the power of state leadership to create lasting change, she is committed to identifying and advancing state policy solutions that transform students’ lives through education.

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Introducing Two New Senior Affiliates to Our Policy Team

HCM welcomes two new Senior Affiliates to our team: Dr. Autumn Blanchard and John Fischer. Senior Affiliates are practitioner-experts that collaborate closely with HCM to support client work, develop new partnerships, and expand the firm’s reach and impact.

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Say Hello to Our Summer Fellows, Gus & Rachel!

Please join us in giving a warm HCM welcome to Rachel Rivas and Louis (Gus) Gluek. We're excited to have these two rising policy professionals join our team as they help advance our efforts to reimagine a postsecondary ecosystem that is more accountable, equitable, and focused on student success strategies and outcomes.

🌟 Get to know more about Rachel
🌟 Get to know more about Gus

 MEET OUR FULL TEAM  
 

CLIENT SPOTLIGHTS

Celebrating New Partnerships

We’re excited to share that several outstanding organizations have recently joined our client roster. These new partnerships reflect our continued commitment to helping forward-thinking institutions and organizations working at the intersection of higher education and public policy create lasting impact. We’re proud to support their important work and look forward to what we’ll achieve together.

PORTFOLIO SPOTLIGHT

Meeting the Moment for Modern Learners

Today’s students don’t fit the old mold—and neither should the systems that serve them. We’re reimagining postsecondary education to meet the needs of modern learners with a shift to flexible, applied, and non-linear pathways that reflect the realities of their lives. These so-called “nontraditional” students are now the majority—and they deserve a system built for them.

→ Explore our vision for the future of higher education

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OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS

New Resources from HCM

Incentivizing High-Priority Degrees: The Role of State Funding

How can state funding formulas drive better outcomes for students and the workforce? In the second brief of our state finance policy series, we dive into how states are adjusting their higher ed funding strategies—like incentivizing specific degree programs—to reflect real costs, advance policy goals, and meet labor market demands. See how value, adequacy, and equity are shaping the future of postsecondary investment.

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Emergency Aid, Enduring Impact: Strengthening Families, Communities and the Economy through Support for Student Parents

Student parents face unique challenges—but they’re also key to a stronger workforce and more resilient communities. In partnership with national experts and on behalf of Scholarship America, we developed a three-part policy brief series to guide institutions and policymakers in supporting these learners through emergency aid and strategic policy change. Discover what it takes to help student parents stay on track and succeed.

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HCM Celebrates 25 Years of Impact & Leadership at Lumina Foundation

We’re reflecting on 25 years of Lumina Foundation’s transformative leadership and meaningful impact in state policy and higher education reform. HCM Strategists has been proud to partner with Lumina for state impact since the inception of Strategy Labs in 2010, and to continue managing it as an incubator for state leadership and a catalyst for higher education policy innovation.

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How Microcredentials Are Revolutionizing the Higher-Education Business Model

Authored by HCM Strategists for the Manhattan Institute, this higher ed issue brief offers recommendations for higher education board members to rethink their approach to today’s students and evolving educational trends.

Focusing on the integration of high-quality microcredentials in universities to better serve students who are increasingly looking beyond the traditional four-year degree model, we examine the shifts in learning methods and information access—disrupting the conventional higher education business model— and how trustees must take the lead to help their universities adapt.

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Let’s partner together.

Learn more about working with our education policy team.

 LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR IMPACT 
HCM Strategists
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