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Elsmere

HCRC

VP, Strategy & Operations

Sara Neher

Sara is an experienced higher education leader specializing in enrollment and financial aid strategy, academic portfolio planning, and program development. She partners with institutions to strengthen enrollment performance, optimize revenue, and align academic offerings with market demand.

With expertise spanning rankings strategy, diversity, equity, and inclusion planning, systems integration, and budget modeling, Sara brings a data-informed and mission-driven approach to institutional growth.

Sara served as Admissions Dean at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, where she led enrollment strategy and execution. She also served as Director of Undergraduate Programs at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, supporting high-achieving students and advancing mission-driven academic programming.

Sara holds a B.A. in Economics and History, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, Orange Theory workouts, volunteering, and making homemade candy with family.

May 5, 2026

Winning in a Saturated Master’s Market: How Universities Must Rethink Their Online Strategy

By Heli Frazier. The online graduate market has entered a new phase—defined not just by growth but also by intensifying competition, shifting learner expectations, and increasing scrutiny of return on investment.

April 21, 2026

There Is No “Right Price”: Interpreting Your NTR Position

By Jamie Swartzer. Before reading further, you may want to start with our NTR diagnostic quiz. If you have not taken it yet, it can provide helpful context by showing how your institution’s net tuition revenue compares with broader market patterns.

April 21, 2026

Beyond “College Costs Too Much”: Net Tuition Revenue, Enrollment Pressure, and the New Pricing Reality

By Jamie Swartzer. A family sees a $70,000 tuition and recoils – that’s more than a new luxury car – but is relieved when they receive their financial aid package and see an actual net price of closer to $30,000. It’s still expensive – and for many families, still a significant stretch – but it’s much more manageable. That gap between sticker price and what families actually pay has widened over the past decade, and it’s at the heart of a shift in higher education economics. Even as sticker prices have risen, the relationship between what families pay and what institutions have retained has evolved in more complex ways.

April 20, 2026

Benchmark Your Net Tuition Revenue: A Quiz for Private Institutions

Private colleges and universities operate in a complex pricing environment where net tuition revenue depends on multiple interrelated factors. This quiz is designed to take key details about your institution and generate an estimated net tuition revenue based on those inputs.

April 10, 2026

Better AI Output Starts Before the Question Is Asked

By Mickey Baines. Over the past few weeks, I’ve sat with a handful of senior leaders who told me they were using AI regularly. They weren’t wrong. They were in ChatGPT, Copilot, and other tools, asking questions, generating content, and exploring ideas as part of their day-to-day work.

March 31, 2026

When AI Pilots Show Promise, But Outcomes Stay Flat

By Mickey Baines. As institutions begin exploring new approaches to better interpret and act on student signals, AI is often one of the first places they turn. In many cases, that exploration starts with pilots. Teams begin applying AI to specific parts of their work—drafting and refining email and text campaigns, testing subject lines, responding to inbound student questions more quickly, or summarizing student records to prepare for outreach. Advisors and student support teams use it to triage common questions, identify next steps for students who have stalled, or capture and organize notes from prior interactions. Leadership teams use it to analyze large data sets, surface trends, and move more quickly from information to decision.