The Data Divide is Here

And It's Not What You Think

I am here to share because sharing is caring, and I care! I have dedicated the greater part of my life to education, knowing it can solve the world’s ills. As I mentioned in my last blog, I love the individual reader who’s here to read and learn and engage, not just to click from headline to headline. Let’s cut to the chase: the next great divide in higher education isn’t about who has better Wi-Fi, nicer dorms, better food, winning sports programs, or even about who can afford the tuition. It’s about who speaks data. On one side are the data-fluent institutions, where presidents, provosts, and CIOs chew over dashboards like they’re morning coffee. On the other side are the data-naïve campuses, still wrangling spreadsheets and arguing over whose “official” numbers matter more. Those two camps are already drifting apart, and the gap is only widening.

Defining the “Data Fluency Divide”

You may think that this piece is just another spin on the old digital-divide narrative: who’s got the fastest Wi-Fi and the deepest pockets. But that framing is relic territory. In 2022, industry analysts warned that while broadband access remains critical, the more insidious gap is now a cultural one between institutions that treat data as a strategic lingua franca and those still clicking refresh on spreadsheets churned out by seven different departments.

In its simplest form, the “data fluency divide” isn’t about hardware or software licenses; it’s about whether your president, provost, and CIO are fluent enough in analytics to actually lead with data. Data literacy is being able to read a chart and gets you inside the room. Data fluency is the ability to translate those trends into applicable strategies related to, for example, enrollment, budget re-allocations, or targeted student interventions. These key elements make you the architect of tomorrow’s campus. But sadly, and I see it within hundreds of institutions, cultural misalignment is the real chasm: a campus can pour millions into platforms, but without an executive mandate to use data fluently, those dashboards gather dust. Now when I say executive mandate, I do not mean forced from the top down. I mean a balance of bringing front-line staff who actually do the work to the table with executives to help shape data strategies together, with no egos or titles at the table.

Data fluency isn’t just knowing your way around Excel. It’s a cultural superpower: the ability to turn raw numbers into razor-sharp strategy, tell compelling stories with evidence, and make “gut calls” backed by predictive models. Also, and this is important, it means making mistakes and trying again. Until the singularity, we are all still human. In data-fluent universities, leaders ask “What does the trend line tell us?” before they ask “How much will it cost?” The data fluency divide is the chasm between campuses that have woven analytics into their DNA and those that treat data as an afterthought, scraping together reports only when accreditation season rolls around (and I am smirking from experience even as I complete this sentence). 

In short, “The Data Divide” isn’t a hardware shortage or a balance-sheet debate. It’s a test of cultural evolution. Will your leadership speak data as effortlessly as they speak budgets and accreditation? Because in the years to come, the campuses that master this new parlance will define what higher education can achieve while the ones who don’t play catch-up, possibly resulting in existential threats to their organizations. 

Hard Evidence: The Gap Is Real

The gap between data aspiration and data execution in higher education is well-documented and growing. In EDUCAUSE’s 2023 Trend Watch , “data-informed decision-making and reporting” landed in the top three IT priorities, showing that analytics is clearly on the radar for institutional leaders. That may be the case, but you wouldn’t know it given the reality that most campuses are still grappling with legacy systems, patchy data practices, and organizational silos that block progress before it starts. Even when the intent is there, the infrastructure both technical and cultural sadly is not.

In my own experience, there’s a growing disconnect between IT leaders and the rest of the executive team. A recent EAB survey found that while 80% of CIOs and CTOs see data management as a top strategic investment, only about half believe their campus leadership shares that urgency. Without alignment between the president and provost and those in the trenches doing the work, even the best-laid analytics plans stall in committee or die on the vine. And do not get me started on committees and decision effectiveness. 

Meanwhile, campuses that do have their leadership in sync, like Georgia State University , are pulling away. Using night-owl algorithms, GSU is flagging 800 at-risk students for advisors every evening, driving a 2,000-student jump in annual graduations and +$10 million in incremental tuition revenue. Meanwhile, less “data fluent” neighbors scramble to explain yesterday’s numbers in today’s board meeting. That performance gap isn’t hypothetical, it’s concretely measurable, growing, and impossible to ignore.

Fluent vs. Flailing: Spotting the Signs

Now for the hard question: is your institution on the right side of the data divide? The signs are surprisingly clear once you know what to look for. Data-fluent campuses tend to operate with an understanding that data isn’t just IT’s problem but rather a shared leadership asset. And the best of this class again will include those actually doing the work. On the other hand, data-flailing institutions often show the same symptoms: fragmentation, inconsistency, and decision-making that leans more on gut than insight, or worse, some blue-ribbon committee populated by ego over action. Here’s a quick snapshot of what distinguishes fluent from flailing:

• Data-Flailing Campuses
• • Siloed & Skeptical: Multiple, conflicting versions of reports. Legacy systems that nobody dares to touch.
  • Ad Hoc Analytics: A well-meaning dean cobbles together a PowerPoint deck once a semester but there’s no sustained effort or shared accountability.
  • Reactive Decisions: Leaders make calls by gut or anecdote rather than leaning on real-time insights.
• Data-Fluent Campuses
• • Governance at the Top: They have cabinet-level data councils co-chaired by the president or provost and are also very inclusive, making data policies as visible as finance or academic committees.
  • Unified Metrics & Tools: A single data warehouse feeds self-service dashboards to faculty, staff, and students alike; everyone “speaks” the same KPI language.
  • Predictive Everywhere: From enrollment forecasts to retention interventions, these campuses embed AI and machine learning into everyday workflows.

Falling behind on data fluency isn’t just a tech issue, it’s a strategic liability with real consequences. For starters, it directly impacts student success and equity. Data-fluent campuses like Georgia State can identify at-risk students in real time, intervening before problems escalate and closing achievement gaps for low-income and minority students. Data-flailing institutions, by contrast, often rely on outdated reports and reactive policies that result in losing students who should have been supported. Then there’s the issue of resources. Without reliable data, every budgeting decision becomes a shot in the dark. Fluent institutions make the most of their space, staffing, and scholarships, while others overspend, underinvest, or miss high-impact opportunities entirely. And finally, innovation suffers. The campuses making bold moves using analytics to drive personalized learning, streamline scheduling, and secure competitive grants are also building stronger reputations. The rest risk falling into a cycle of stagnation, struggling to compete for students, funding, and top talent.

Bridging the Divide: Your 5-Step, C-Suite Mandate

It’s time for bold action. Here are five recommendations for transforming your institution from data-flailing to data-fluent:

1. Stand Up Executive Data Governance
   Create a Data Leadership Council co-chaired by your president or provost. Just like any other strategic committee, give it real authority over definitions, access, and quality.
2. Appoint Data Champions
   Tap a trusted VP or dean with analytics savvy and empower them to evangelize data literacy campus-wide, and hold them accountable for adoption. When leadership speaks the same data language, inertia gives way to momentum.
3. Invest in Literacy & Tech
   Roll out workshops on your Business Intelligence  platform. Build a modern data warehouse and dashboard suite, but start small, delivering quick-win dashboards tied to strategic goals to prove value fast. Then, scale up training and infrastructure. 
4. Align Budgets & Incentives
   If your strategic plan champions data-driven decision-making, back it with actual dollars and performance metrics for the C-suite. Tie executive evaluations and even parts of compensation to analytics-driven KPIs.
5. Monitor, Iterate, Repeat
   Publish executive dashboards showing adoption rates, ROI, data-quality scores, and user satisfaction. Review these monthly at your Data Leadership Council and refine processes continuously.

In Closing

First, thank you for making it this far! Reading to learn is so essential, and social media and headline scanning are a rampant but poor substitute. So with that said, know that the data fluency divide is real. Institutions that embrace data fluency will vault ahead in student success, fiscal sustainability, and innovation while the rest risk stagnation or decline. As Ian Ashworth of Transact Campus warns, “the next decade will likely see a widening gap between institutions that successfully leverage data analytics and those that don’t.” So, to my higher ed presidents, provosts, and CIO friends: make data governance your highest priority, empower your teams with the tools and training they need, and lead your campus decisively to the right side of the divide.

The future won’t wait, neither should you.