Higher education is the linchpin of music education in North America. It is primarily in collegiate institutions that music teachers are educated throughout the life cycles of their careers. This begins with preservice programs, typically at the baccalaureate level, and continues with in-service professional development and graduate degree programs. It is in these programs that music teachers develop musical and pedagogical knowledge, skills, habits, and dispositions that guide them throughout their careers. American and Canadian collegiate music education programs have traditionally focused on preparing preservice music teachers for work in schools, providing professional development for in-service music teachers through graduate programs and other offerings, preparing professors of music education, and producing research and scholarship intended to inform and guide the profession. Music education professors operate within a dynamic web of institutions, society, and industry. Each of them has challenges, values, and priorities that affect music education in higher education and K-12 schools. The key issues that challenge collegiate music education programs reviewed in this paper include changing demographics and tastes in music; transformation of the music industry; new technologies that alter the way people interact, access information, and engage musically; cultural and financial changes in higher education; changing expectations for primary and secondary schools; and nonschool providers of music education services. These changes are the result of a continual democratization of society and a globalizing economy. One can expect these areas to continue evolving, with people having increasingly more access to information, music, and other people. In this paper, the author addresses each of them and discusses implications for collegiate music education programs. He then provides some closing thoughts. (Contains 5 notes.)