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Expert persepectives driving innovation and success in education technology.
Understanding the Higher Education Landscape (Part I of 2)
Beth Davis, DSS VP & General Manager Climb CS US
11-13-2025
This post is part of our comprehensive 6 part series on Education SaaS channel sales:
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​The Education Market Decoded: What Vendors Need to Know to Succeed
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Understanding The Higher Education Landscape Part I (this blog) & Part II
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K12 Industry Insights
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EDU Events Insights
This is the first of two posts focused on the higher education market. In this one, I'll unpack why education doesn’t act like a typical B2B market. Committees, funding models, and academic calendars shape every decision, which means the real opportunity goes to vendors who understand how these forces work.
This post dives into the key segments of the U.S. higher education market, explaining that once you know when to show up, you also need to know where the opportunity really lives. In my next higher education blog, I will share in depth insights on the buying season and the predictable times to get attention or get ignored.
Data + Relationships = Education Success
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My passion for partnering with education started decades ago when I was trying to connect with college students as a strategic market segment for new software. I thought the market was attractive — but outside of having been a student myself (data point of one), I didn’t know the first thing about entering it.
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That’s when I found IPEDS, the federal dataset that tracks enrollment, spending, and staffing across every accredited institution. I couldn’t believe that rich, institution-level data was available — for free — to help me understand where to prioritize education targets. Once I started mapping it, I realized it could reveal almost everything that mattered: where money flowed, how priorities shifted, and what programs signaled real opportunity.
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Cracking the education market requires more than sound targets — it requires relationships and the ability to talk to education customers in their own language.
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The magic that comes from combining data with relationships is one that Douglas Stewart (now Climb EDU) figured out early. Long before “data-driven strategy” was a buzzword, they were quietly building one of the most complete datasets in the channel — tracking purchasing and adoption trends across K–12 and higher ed. Today, that intelligence helps vendors reach the right segments at the right time.
The Postsecondary Ecosystem
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From the outside, higher ed looks monolithic — thousands of campuses with similar websites and slogans. Look closer and you’ll see five very different markets, each with distinct funding, governance, and buying behavior.
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There are 4,000+ accredited institutions in the U.S., representing roughly $70 billion in annual IT spending. The median central IT budget is about $10 million, but that number varies dramatically depending on the institution’s size, funding model, and enrollment.
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​1. Public Flagships & Systems
Think University of Michigan, UT Austin, or the UNC System. Big budgets. Long timelines. Heavy compliance. They run on state appropriations and federal research grants, with purchasing governed by state contracts and multi-year capital plans.
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Many buy directly under state frameworks (like NASPO) but rely on authorized distributors for fulfillment, licensing, and renewals across departments.
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What matters: Compliance, fiscal timing, and coordination. Vendors win when they align with procurement rules, understand which decisions are centralized and which are distributed, and use distributors equipped for complex end-user relationships. 
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2. Regional Public Universities
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Schools like Appalachian State, UW–Oshkosh, and Cal State East Bay are often more teaching-focused and locally funded than their flagship siblings. They operate on leaner budgets but sometimes that leads to increased agility. 
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They often buy through consortia such as E&I Cooperative Services, Internet2, or OMNIA Partners, using the channel to extend reach while staying compliant.
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What matters: ROI, simplicity, and local impact. Show how your product supports retention, credential completion, or regional workforce goals. Let distributors handle eligibility and renewals.
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3. Community Colleges
Community colleges represent the largest and most diverse sector in U.S. higher education — nearly 940 institutions serving about 10 million students, or roughly 40 percent of all undergraduates. They are the front line of access and the engine of workforce mobility.
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Budgets are smaller — the average central IT spend is under $5 million, often stretched across multiple campuses — but their purchasing impact is amplified by system-level collaboration and state-wide frameworks.
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They buy through state systems, regional cooperatives, or group purchasing organizations like E&I and NASPO ValuePoint, where distributors help meet procurement thresholds and compliance requirements.
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What matters: Demonstrable outcomes and local alignment. Solutions that help students persist, earn, and advance quickly resonate. Vendors who can prove ROI in student completion or workforce placement — and scale pilots across campuses build lasting relationships.
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4. Private Nonprofits
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From endowment-backed universities (Stanford and Duke) to tuition-dependent colleges (Elon and Denison), these institutions have autonomy and wide variability in resources.
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Large privates often buy directly. Smaller colleges rely on distribution-based fulfillment for flexibility, financing, and bundled services. They balance innovation with cost control and value partners who understand mission and momentum. ​
What matters: Flexibility, mission alignment, and financing options. Show how your solution advances teaching, learning, or operational efficiency — not just cost savings.
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5. Large Online Institutions
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Online institutions behave the most like a traditional enterprise. They can be fast-moving, ROI-driven, and operationally efficient. Schools like SNHU, Purdue Global, and U behave more like tech companies than bureaucracies.
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They buy directly for speed and control but lean on distributors for licensing, device provisioning, and bundled cloud solutions.
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What matters: Agility, automation, and measurable results. They expect fast procurement, seamless integrations, and clear performance metrics.
The Shifting Landscape
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Higher ed isn’t static. Undergraduate enrollment has fallen nearly 8 percent since 2019 (NCES) as demographics, affordability, and perceptions of value evolve.
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At the same time, new forms of postsecondary education are emerging — skills-based training, short-term credentials, and employer-aligned programs that blur the line between higher ed and workforce development.
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Community colleges, regional publics, and private providers are partnering with employers and states to build faster, skills-first pathways. Programs like Google Career Certificates, Amazon Career Choice, and Colorado’s Care Forward point toward the next phase of growth.
We’ll explore this evolving segment in a future post — it’s challenging what “higher education” even means and reshaping how vendors think about opportunity and partnership.
Why Segmentation Matters
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For vendors, segmentation is key to a winning strategy. When you understand the differences between types of institutions and pair data-driven insights with real relationships, you can reach the right institutions, at the right moment, with the right message through the right channels.
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That’s how Climb EDU (formerly Douglas Stewart) helps vendors translate data into growth: combining institutional intelligence with decades of channel experience to anticipate where the next wave of tech spending will happen.
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Just as timing shapes opportunity, segmentation shapes strategy, and together, they define how vendors succeed in education.
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We’re offering a free EDU Readiness Assessment to help vendors understand how well their current strategies align with education-market dynamics. Reach out to me directly to receive yours.
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