Five Things We Learned from NACUBO 2026
While at NACUBO 2026, our team had in-depth and candid conversations with dozens of finance leaders from higher education campuses across the country. Here are five takeaways that stood out.
1. Disruption is the word of the year
The conference's keynote theme 'leading through disruption and opportunity' wasn't just a session title; it was a summary of where higher education finance is right now. Leaders aren't asking whether disruption is coming. They're asking how to manage forward instead of managing back, and how to find the opportunity inside the chaos rather than just absorbing the hit.
For a lot of institutions, that means taking a hard look at processes that have run the same way for years and asking if they still hold up. Manual approval chains, paper-based workflows, and disconnected systems were built for a slower, steadier environment. They weren't built for operations in 2026. Modernizing source-to-pay operations is one concrete way finance teams are turning disruption into an opportunity to build something more resilient, not just more efficient.
2. Inflation doesn't skip campuses
One line stuck with us "colleges buy eggs, too". Institutions are exposed to the same cost pressures as everyone else, whether it's dining hall groceries, facilities projects, or campus construction. That means the same inflation squeezing household budgets is squeezing university budgets — all while schools are trying to hold the line on what students and families pay.
Balancing rising input costs against affordability is one of the hardest problems finance teams are trying to solve right now. It's also a major reason attendance at events like NACUBO stays strong. Institutions are looking to peers and business partners for ideas on how to manage the squeeze together rather than in isolation.
3. AI adoption has outpaced AI governance
This topic came up throughout the conference and our conversations. Staff and faculty are already using AI day-to-day, often faster than institutions have built the policies and guardrails to manage it. The priority now isn't deciding whether to allow AI — it's bringing governance up to the same speed so institutions can capture the benefit without losing control of it.
In procurement and accounts payable specifically, this tension shows up around invoice processing, approvals, and data handling. Institutions want the efficiency AI can offer, but they also need to know exactly how it's being applied and what guardrails are in place.
4. AI will change roles, not eliminate them
There's a real spectrum of opinions on AI and jobs, from people convinced it will replace everyone, to those who think nothing will change. The more common take is that roles will evolve, not disappear. AI is viewed as a tool to free up team capacity — if it can absorb some of the routine workload, teams can redirect that time toward higher-value work. That's a win for employees and institutions alike.
We hear this from customers and prospects regularly. Automating repetitive tasks like invoice matching, data querying, or AI-enabled policy guidance doesn't replace the people doing that work, it gives them room to focus on vendor relationships, strategic sourcing, and the kind of problem-solving that really benefits from a human perspective.
5. Procurement is becoming a strategic advisor, not just a facilitator
The role of the procurement professional has shifted, according to NACUBO attendees. Procurement used to be seen mainly as a facilitator; someone who processed transactions and kept the buying cycle moving. That's changing as procurement generates valuable data well beyond the purchase and payment cycle itself. Data is transforming procurement teams into partners in broader organizational decision-making. The shift from facilitator to trusted advisor was described as one of the biggest changes in the field over the last several years.
That shift only works if the underlying data is trustworthy and accessible. A procurement team can't advise on strategy if their spend data is scattered across spreadsheets and disconnected systems. Centralizing sourcing, purchasing, contracts, and supplier management on one platform is what turns procurement data into something leaders across the organization can act on, which is the outcome Unimarket's source-to-pay platform is built to support.
The common thread
Across every topic, one fact stood out: finance and procurement teams are solving difficult, shared problems — together. They're also leaning on their business partners to help improve processes and efficiency. That collaborative spirit is why NACUBO keeps earning its spot on attendees' calendars every year, and it's the same spirit behind why Unimarket exists: to give higher education finance and procurement teams the tools and partnership they need to turn today's disruptions into tomorrow's opportunities.