Institute for Higher Education Policy

What Institute for Higher Education Policy does

The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) is a nonpartisan nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization founded in 1993 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 11–50 employees. Its mission is to promote postsecondary access and success, with particular emphasis on students from low-income backgrounds and others historically marginalized on the basis of race, background, or circumstance. IHEP organizes its work around five policy priorities: Data and Transparency, Equitable College Admissions, Need-Based Aid, Evidence-Based Completion, and Strong Outcomes for All Students.

IHEP's core products are research and policy outputs rather than commercial software. The flagship offering is the Postsecondary Data GPS platform (datagps.ihep.org), which provides a practitioner guidebook paired with free, downloadable Excel workbook templates that let institutions enter aggregate data and generate visualizations for student access, progression, completion, and cost metrics. IHEP also operates the Postsecondary Value Commission (postsecondaryvalue.org) for postsecondary value research, and leads the Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData), a nonpartisan coalition reported at 29 to 51 member organizations that engages in federal regulatory advocacy on data transparency.

IHEP's business model is nonprofit and donation-funded. All publications, tools, the Postsecondary Data GPS guidebook and templates, and the newsletter are distributed free of charge; the organization is sustained by philanthropic grants, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation explicitly named as a primary funder of PostsecData-related work. Distribution is multi-channel: the ihep.org and datagps.ihep.org websites for downloads, a Constant Contact newsletter, LinkedIn and X for organic reach, coalition comment letters for policy advocacy, and events, conferences, and webinars for practitioner engagement. End stakeholders include students from underserved populations, the 6,000+ U.S. colleges and universities covered by IPEDS, federal and state policymakers, and the broader education research community.

Name

Institute for Higher Education Policy

Legal name

Institute for Higher Education Policy

Website

https://ihep.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IHEP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization founded in 1993 that advances postsecondary access and success for low-income and historically marginalized students through research publications, the Postsecondary Data GPS data tools, and the PostsecData coalition.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: IHEP operates as a nonprofit organization funded through donations and philanthropic grants. They receive support from foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their research and initiatives. The organization solicits donations through their website and is celebrating 30 years of operation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

IHEP is a nonpartisan nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization that produces research reports, data tools, policy frameworks, and federal comment letters to promote postsecondary education access and success, especially for students from low-income and historically marginalized backgrounds. Its core deliverables include the Postsecondary Data GPS guidebook with downloadable Excel-based metrics framework templates, the Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData) coalition, and the Postsecondary Value Commission initiative. All products, publications, and tools are offered free of charge, funded through philanthropic grants and donations.

Product overview

The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) is a nonpartisan nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization. Its core products include the Postsecondary Data GPS platform (a metrics framework guidebook with downloadable Excel templates) for helping institutions use data to improve student success, the Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData) initiative for advocating higher education data transparency, and the Postsecondary Value Commission for measuring postsecondary value. IHEP also supports the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) framework as part of its policy advocacy work. The organization focuses on five policy priorities: Data & Transparency, Equitable College Admissions, Need-Based Aid, Evidence-Based Completion, and Strong Outcomes for All Students.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData): A nonpartisan coalition of organizations committed to the use of high-quality postsecondary data to improve student success.
• Postsecondary Data GPS
• Postsecondary Value Commission

Products and services

• Postsecondary Data GPS A free online guidebook and resource platform designed to help higher education institutions use data to inform student success efforts. It provides tools, templates, and visualizations for tracking student access, progression, completion, and cost metrics to support institutional change management.
• Metrics Framework Guidebook Templates Free downloadable Excel workbook templates that allow institutions to enter aggregate data and generate visualizations for tracking student outcomes across access, progression, completion, and cost dimensions. Includes data entry tabs, graphical display tabs, and automatic calculation features.
• Metrics Framework Guidebook A free publication authored by Konrad Mugglestone, Amanda Janice Roberson, and Mamie Voight that frames key questions colleges should ask and provides tools for data-informed institutional change efforts.
• Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) A proposed program information system that would provide students, families, policymakers, and institutions with comprehensive program-level information on college costs, financial aid, debt, earnings, and time to completion. IHEP supports the framework as part of its policy advocacy work and has submitted coalition comments to the U.S. Department of Education.

Quantifiable outcome

• Institutions using data-driven approaches have made greatest gains in student outcomes and narrowed gaps between low-income students, students of color, and their peers
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PostsecData CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2026Coalition of 29 members and partners that submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education on higher education transparency regulations, supporting the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS).
• Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData) Coalition MemberscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 October 2025Coalition of 36 organizations including AACTE, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Association for Institutional Research, Community College Research Center, Data Quality Campaign, EdTrust, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, NASPA, National Association for College Admission Counseling, and others committed to high-quality postsecondary data.
• Achieving the DreamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Elayne Reiss, director of research at Achieving the Dream, for tireless work on downloadable templates and thought partnership on data considerations for the Postsecondary Data GPS guidebook.
• City University of New York (CUNY)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerColin Chellman (dean for institutional and policy research) and Zun Tang (director of institutional research) at CUNY provided example data and interviews for the Metrics Framework Guidebook.
• Lehman CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJonathan Gagliardi, assistant vice president for strategy, policy, and analytics at Lehman College, provided extensive feedback and interviews for the PostsecData guidebook project.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS): Nonprofit research and policy organization focused on college affordability, student debt, and access. Diane Cheng served as Research Director at TICAS before joining IHEP as VP of Policy, indicating direct organizational overlap in mission and approach.
• Data Quality Campaign: Nonprofit advocacy organization focused on improving the quality, usefulness, and availability of education data. Listed as a PostsecData coalition partner and operates in a closely adjacent policy data niche.
• Complete College America: Nonprofit focused on increasing postsecondary completion rates, particularly for historically underserved students. Operates in the same college completion and equity policy space as IHEP's Evidence-Based Completion pillar.
• The Education Trust (EdTrust): Nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization focused on closing opportunity gaps for low-income students and students of color. Co-lists with IHEP inside the PostsecData coalition and operates with comparable federal advocacy and research outputs.

Broad incumbents

• RTI International: Major nonprofit research institute with an education research division. IHEP's VP of Research previously served as Director of Education Research at RTI, indicating comparable applied policy research capabilities.
• Brookings Institution (Brown Center on Education Policy): Think tank producing influential education policy research including higher education access and completion. Operates at significantly larger scale than IHEP and competes for federal policymaker attention.
• American Institutes for Research (AIR): Large nonprofit behavioral and social science research organization that conducts education policy research at scale. Erin Dunlop Velez (IHEP VP of Research) previously worked at AIR, signaling overlapping research methodologies and policy engagement.
• National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC): Large professional association representing college admissions counselors. Listed as a PostsecData coalition member and operates in the same equitable admissions policy space as IHEP, but as a broader membership body rather than a focused research nonprofit.
• Center for American Progress (Education Policy): Public policy think tank with a substantial education policy portfolio covering K-12 and higher education. Operates a research and advocacy model similar to IHEP but at greater scale and across a broader policy agenda.

Others

• National Student Clearinghouse Research Center: Research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse, which already partners with IHEP via the Postsecondary Data Partnership. Provides institutional data infrastructure and analytics that complement IHEP's policy and toolkit layer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/IHEPTweets
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/institute-for-higher-education-policy
• Facebookfacebook.com/instituteforhighereducationpolicy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Institute for Higher Education Policy