2025 Year-End Message from AdvanceU

This year felt different.

Not just busy or heavy, but different.

Externally, the ground moved under our feet: economic uncertainty, budget cuts that impacted our clients, the impact of shifting legislation sinking in with regard to the international student education spaces, new tools reshaping how we work, and a pace of change that demanded more from us as leaders than usual.

And internally, for many of us, it was a year of mixed threads. For us, there were legitimate wins woven right alongside unexpected losses, stalled momentum, or personal chapters that needed more of us than we planned to give.

If that was your year too, we want to say something clearly:

It’s okay.
It’s okay if your organization didn’t grow at the rate you hoped.
It’s okay if you’re tired.
It’s okay if you’re closing the year with more questions than answers.

What matters is that you showed up. You show up for your mission, your people, your students/alumni, your donors, and your community.

And sometimes, showing up through a difficult year takes more leadership than moving through an easy one.

This year asked many of us to:

  • slow down when we wanted to speed up,
  • listen more deeply (sometimes again, sometimes differently),
  • work within constraints we didn’t choose, and
  • rethink what clarity and strategy look like in a changing environment.

The result is that we end 2025 not just carrying the weight of the year behind us but also holding a new kind of awareness, one that can help us move into 2026 with intention rather than momentum alone.

As we look ahead, we’re spending January listening carefully to the sector.
Not with a long report or a heavy lift, just a simple, two-minute check-in designed to understand what leaders like you most need next year to feel confident and clear.

If you’d like to add your voice, you can do that here:
Link to Survey

We’ll share a short snapshot back with everyone in late January, our way of helping the sector see itself more clearly, and helping you start the year with a sense of alignment.

For now, we want to simply acknowledge the year we’ve had ~ imperfect, stretching, surprising, and (in its own way). . . clarifying.

Thank you for the work you do. 

Thank you for the people you serve. 

And thank you for continuing forward, even when forward wasn’t straightforward. Here’s to a gentler, clearer, more grounded 2026.

We’re walking into it with you. 

Pommashea & Scott

AdvanceU 1st Consultants