Higher Education Publications

What Higher Education Publications does

Higher Education Publications, Inc., operating as HEPinc, is a privately held data services company founded in 1982 by Frederick "Fritz" Hafner and domiciled in Falls Church, Virginia. The company maintains and licenses a curated database of 95,000+ verified administrator contacts across 4,400+ U.S. colleges and universities, organized around 122 distinct administrator titles, with monthly human-verified update cycles. HEPinc does not rely on web scraping or bots; an in-house editorial team continuously reviews and refreshes records.

The company delivers its data through two product lines. HigherEd Direct is a real-time web application enabling instant search, filtering by region, institution size, and role, and on-demand export of selected lists. Licensed Data Extracts provide bulk, CRM-ready CSV files compatible with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive for direct integration into enterprise sales workflows. The platform carries SOC 2 Type II certification to support enterprise procurement reviews in higher education.

HEPinc operates a usage-based credit pricing model — from a free 20-credit trial through $49 (50 credits), $149 (200 credits), and $599 (1,000 credits), with custom volume pricing for 5,000+ credits and dedicated account management. Contacts, once unlocked with a credit, remain unlocked permanently. The company primarily sells to ed-tech companies (Ellucian, Instructure, D2L, Anthology, Coursedog, EAB are listed partners), with secondary segments in education service providers and market research firms. Distribution is domestic (U.S. only) via direct self-serve and inside-sales channels, and the company has remained founder-controlled and independent with no disclosed external funding.

Name

Higher Education Publications

Legal name

Higher Education Publications, Inc.

Website

https://hepinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Higher Education Publications (HEPinc), founded in 1982, operates a human-verified contact database of 95,000+ administrators across 4,400+ U.S. colleges and universities, sold primarily to ed-tech vendors via the HigherEd Direct web app and CRM-ready data extracts on a credit-based pricing model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Data and Analytics

NAICS

Directory and Mailing List Publishers (51314), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Direct Mail Advertising Services (7331)

akta.pro primary industry

Direct Response & Database Marketing (Mailing Lists, Data Hygiene) (MPAAAIAK)

Keywords

• Higher education data
• Ed-tech contact database
• Administrator contact intelligence
• CRM-ready data extracts
• Higher ed marketing data

Headquarters

HQ city

Reston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Credit-Based Data Access: Credits never expire once purchased. Users spend one credit per verified administrator contact (name, title, institution, email). Free tier provides 20 credits for trial. Paid tiers range from $49 (50 credits) to $599 (1,000 credits). Volume pricing available for 5,000+ credits.
2. Licensed Data Extracts: Bulk data extracts licensed for CRM integration and sales workflow use. Export of administrator contact data for use in sales and marketing campaigns.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Higher Education Publications (HEPinc) sells a human-verified contact database of 95,000+ higher education administrators across 4,400+ US institutions, delivered through the HigherEd Direct real-time web application and as CRM-ready licensed data extracts. Customers use a credit-based model to unlock direct contact details (name, title, institution, email) for sales and marketing outreach to university and college decision-makers. Data is refreshed monthly by an in-house editorial team, with no use of bots or web scraping.

Product overview

Higher Education Publications operates a two-pronged product architecture: the HigherEd Direct web application for real-time interactive search and browsing of the higher education database, paired with Licensed Data Extracts for bulk data export and CRM integration. The platform offers a credit-based pricing model with tiered packages (Free, Starter, Professional, Enterprise) plus custom volume options for large organizations. The database covers 95,000+ verified administrator contacts across 4,400+ U.S. colleges and universities, with data refreshed through monthly human-verified update cycles. Contact access requires credit expenditure only when users unlock direct contact details for specific decision-makers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HigherEd Direct: Real-time web application for searching and filtering 95,000+ higher education administrator contacts with credit-based access to direct contact details.
• HigherEd Direct App
• Higher Education Directory
• Licensed Data Extracts

Products and services

• HigherEd Direct App Real-time web application that lets marketing and sales teams instantly search, filter, and reference the entire higher education database of 95,000+ contacts across 4,400+ institutions, with advanced filtering by region, size, and role, and on-demand export of selected lists. Built for ed-tech sales, marketing, and research teams targeting US higher education decision-makers.
• Licensed Data Extracts CRM-ready bulk data extracts of verified higher education administrator contacts, formatted for direct integration into sales and marketing systems. Provides detailed administrator information (name, title, institution, email) compatible with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.
• 2026 Data Edition Major annual data release of the Higher Education Directory and underlying administrator database, representing the most current verified snapshot of US higher education contacts and institutional information.

Quantifiable outcome

• Email deliverability consistently above 95% using human-verified contacts
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ElluciancoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEd-tech company serving higher education institutions with student information systems and ERP solutions. Listed as customer/partnership under 'Powering outreach for industry leaders', indicating mutual business relationship in the higher education ecosystem.
• InstructurecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCreator of Canvas LMS (learning management system). Listed under 'Powering outreach for industry leaders' as a partner/customer in the ed-tech ecosystem.
• D2LcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEd-tech company offering Brightspace LMS platform. Listed as partner/customer under 'Powering outreach for industry leaders'.
• AnthologycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEd-tech company providing student information systems and campus management solutions. Listed as partner under 'Powering outreach for industry leaders'.
• CoursedogcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEd-tech platform for curriculum and academic scheduling. Listed under 'Powering outreach for industry leaders' as a partner/customer.
• EABcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerEducation consulting and research firm. Listed under 'Powering outreach for industry leaders' indicating mutual business relationship.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Sales intelligence and prospecting tool from LinkedIn providing access to professional contacts and account insights. A widely used alternative or complement to dedicated contact databases like HEPinc.
• Cognism: Global B2B sales intelligence platform offering contact data, intent, and enrichment. Comparable as a broader alternative to HEPinc for enterprise sales teams operating across verticals.
• Demandbase: Account-based marketing and B2B data platform with account intelligence and contact data. Comparable as a broader sales-and-marketing intelligence suite overlapping with HEPinc's use cases.

Direct peers

• UpLead: B2B contact and lead data provider with credit-based pricing for email reveals and exports. Mirrors HEPinc's credit-per-contact commercial model and CRM-ready export functionality.
• Apollo.io: B2B sales intelligence and engagement platform with a large contact database and freemium credit-based pricing. Directly comparable to HEPinc's HigherEd Direct model with usage-based credit access to verified contacts.
• ZoomInfo: Largest U.S. B2B contact and company intelligence platform, offering verified contacts and sales intelligence at scale. HEPinc competes against ZoomInfo in higher-ed by offering a vertical-specific, human-verified alternative.
• SalesIntel: B2B contact data provider emphasizing human-verified contacts and intent data. Closely aligned with HEPinc's accuracy-first, human-verification positioning in the contact data space.
• LeadIQ: B2B prospecting data platform focused on capturing and enriching contact data inside sales workflows. Comparable to HEPinc as a contact data source for outbound sales teams.

Emerging players

• ContactOut: Chrome-extension-based contact finder for LinkedIn and other profiles, providing emails and phone numbers. An emerging alternative for individual contributors seeking quick contact lookups versus HEPinc's institutional database approach.
• Bombora: B2B intent data provider tracking company-level research signals. Adjacent to HEPinc because both serve sales teams looking to identify and prioritize in-market accounts, though Bombora focuses on intent signals rather than contact records.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hepinc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Higher Education Publications