How many of you have Tupperware in your home? I mean the real deal. Not Rubbermaid or a knockoff you buy at the dollar store. I’ve never purchased a piece of Tupperware in all of my 56 years, but I own Tupperware thanks to my mom’s hand-me-downs.

I was sad to learn the news of Tupperware filing for bankruptcy. I have fond memories of Mom’s friends gathering to eat finger sandwiches and deviled eggs while enjoying a demonstration of all the latest storage containers. Popsicle molds that kids could use to freeze Hi-C drink mix. Cups with lids that sealed so well you didn’t have to worry about your drink leaking on the go. And the tiny, light blue bowl keychain that was just large enough to hold the crunchy chewable vitamin I was saving to eat on my bus ride to school.

So much has changed since then. Gummy vitamins left the popularity of the chalky crunchy vitamins in the dust. Hi-C has moved to the list of “popular kids’ drinks to avoid” because of its high sugar content. Travel mugs with insulated lids and double-walled bodies replaced Tupperware cups with lids as storage containers for dry goods. And do you know anyone who has hosted a Tupperware party recently?

Tupperware relied on direct sales via parties for so long that by the time they tried to place their product in stores and compete in the online market, the shelves, both physical and virtual, were already filled with cheaper options. Bottom line, they didn’t innovate with the rapid rise in women’s labor force participation during the second half of the 20th century. Their pool of direct sales representatives, housewives, shrunk considerably.

I can’t help but think that my industry, higher education, contributed to Tupperware’s demise. While Tupperware’s pool of direct sales representatives was shrinking, the number of women in higher education was growing. 1982 marked the first time in U.S. history that women earned a greater share of bachelor’s degrees than their male classmates. And women continue to do so, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, which reports women earned 59% of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the country in 2024. In fact, women make up most college graduates in the 21st century.

And women put those degrees to work outside of the home. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 1970 to 2021, the proportion of women in the labor force ages 25 to 64 who held a college degree more than quadrupled. Comparatively, the proportion of men in the labor force with a college degree more than doubled in that same time. Additionally, women have become more likely to work full time and year-round.

These demographic shifts coupled with changes in consumer behavior, technological and digital advances require innovation if any industry wants to remain relevant. Tupperware isn’t the first nor will it be the last company to suffer the consequences of lack of innovation to meet the change most significantly challenging their business model.

Blockbuster, for example, didn’t foresee the change to the entertainment industry with the rise of the internet and digital technology. They remained steadfast in their commitment to their physical stores and late fees, rather than investing in new technologies or adapting to changing consumer behaviors. Kodak, once a giant in the camera industry, was slow to adopt digital photography, even though it was one of the first companies to develop a digital camera. The company, afraid that digital cameras would cannibalize its profitable film business, remained steadfast to what had served them well in the past, until it didn’t anymore.

The demographic shift currently facing higher education is the youth decline. Young couples in the U.S. postponed having children after the 2008 global recession, resulting in a significant decline in birthrates. What this means for higher education nationally is a significant decline in the number of high school graduates, and therefore traditional college-going individuals, after the year 2025. Utah’s college-age population, however, will likely start dropping later, in 2032.

Unlike Tupperware, higher education in Utah has the benefit of learning from colleges and universities in other states that are experiencing this shift before we do. Early signs indicate institutions in some states are in retreat, downsizing, closing doors, even consolidating smaller institutions into one operation — actions meant to serve smaller populations of students.

Utah is poised to proactively innovate to increase access to higher education and serve a broader demographic. Early signs show we’re already off to a good start. Last week, Weber State University announced its partnership with Davis Technical College and Ogden-Weber Technical College to automatically admit more than 10,000 high school seniors across three counties, without those students ever having to apply. In some cases, the schools are notifying students of scholarships that will cover their full tuition, before they’ve even graduated high school. Removing even a couple of barriers to college is innovation and great news for Utah students.

Now, what are we going to do to better serve the rest — the non-shrinking demographic? That’s the fundamental question higher education must answer to remain relevant. I hope we learn from Tupperware’s final burp. We can’t continue to do things as we always have in higher education because those ways were designed for a shrinking demographic. Innovate or get left behind.

Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski is a sociologist and vice provost for High Impact Educational Experiences, Faculty Excellence, International and Graduate Programs at Weber State University.