What Higher Ed Support, LLC does

Higher Ed Support, LLC (operating as the DBA for American Education Consultants, LLC) is a privately-held, founder-owned admissions staffing and consulting firm headquartered in Middletown, Pennsylvania. The company provides outsourced admissions support services to colleges and universities across the United States, with documented customer engagements spanning private universities, a public university (University of Louisville), and ed-tech firms (Emerge Education, Straighterline). Service offerings fall into two core modules: Text, Social Media, Phone Outreach and Appointment Setting (delivered by trained Contact Agents who perform SMS, outbound call, and social outreach to fill admissions calendars) and Applicant Support and Document Collection (delivered by Admission Assistants who chase transcripts, test scores, resumes, and recommendation letters). The firm also provides enrollment management consulting, CRM implementation and training for Slate, HubSpot, and Salesforce, and broader staff training programs.

The company operates a flexible staffing model leveraging part-time, remote workers distributed across US time zones including weekends and holidays, with staff trained institution-by-institution on each school's website, community, campus history, programs, and admissions policy. There is no proprietary technology platform; service delivery depends on human agents operating within client CRMs. Pricing is quote-based and volume-driven with a typical minimum of one FTE per engagement and multi-year contract structures. Go-to-market is direct B2B sales led by founder Jim Dunn, who brings nearly 30 years of enrollment management experience, supported by Director of Operations Katherine Budde. Outreach runs through the company website contact form, email, and LinkedIn. The business is bootstrapped with no external institutional investment, no parent company, and no public listing.

Quantified outcomes cited by the company include enrollment growth above 30% at St. Francis College within one recruitment cycle and a tripling of online enrollment at Midway College Online. The firm positions itself as an affordable, transparent alternative to traditional consulting firms, with coverage capability across all major student segments including traditional, transfer, degree completion, international, graduate, and online/hybrid modalities. No AI/ML capabilities, patents, regulatory actions, M&A activity, funding rounds, or formal partnerships are disclosed.

Name

Higher Ed Support, LLC

Legal name

American Education Consultants, LLC

Website

https://higheredsupport.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Higher Ed Support, LLC is a privately-held admissions staffing and consulting firm serving US colleges and universities with outsourced prospect outreach, document collection, and enrollment management consulting delivered through a distributed remote staffing model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Admissions Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Enrollment Management & Yield (Matriculation) (EDALAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Prospect Recruitment & Outreach (EDALAAAA)

Keywords

• Admissions staffing services
• Enrollment management consulting
• Higher education marketing
• Student recruitment support
• Applicant document collection

Headquarters

HQ city

Middletown

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Admissions Staffing Services: HES provides staffing for admissions support including Contact Agents for outreach (SMS text and outbound calls) and Admission Assistants for document collection. Billing is volume-based with a minimum of one FTE.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Higher Ed Support provides outsourced admissions staffing services to U.S. colleges and universities through two core offerings: (1) prospect outreach via SMS, outbound calls, and social media performed by trained Contact Agents to fill admissions calendars with qualified appointments, and (2) applicant document collection performed by Admission Assistants handling transcripts, test scores, resumes, and letters of recommendation. The firm supplements these with enrollment management consulting, CRM implementation support across Slate, HubSpot, and Salesforce, and targeted staff training, all delivered through a flexible remote staffing model with a typical one-FTE minimum.

Product overview

Higher Ed Support (HES) offers a unified admissions support service for colleges and universities, providing two interconnected service modules: Text, Social Media, Phone Outreach & Appointment Setting (for initial prospect contact and calendar filling) and Applicant Support and Document Collection (for gathering required admissions documents). These services are delivered through a flexible staffing model using trained Contact Agents and Admission Assistants, with billing based on volume and typically structured around a minimum of one FTE (Full Time Equivalent). The company also provides enrollment management consulting, CRM training (Slate, HubSpot, Salesforce), and staff training services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Text, Social Media, Phone Outreach & Appointment Setting Outsourced prospect outreach delivered by HES-hired, HES-trained Contact Agents who reach prospective students via SMS text, outbound voice calls, and social media to set qualified appointments and fill the calendars of admissions staff at colleges and universities.
• Applicant Support and Document Collection Application processing and document collection service in which HES Admission Assistants gather the materials required for admissions decisions (transcripts, test scores, resumes, letters of recommendation), freeing admissions staff to focus on selection decisions at the client college or university.
• Enrollment Management Consulting Strategic consulting for colleges, universities, and education technology organizations covering enrollment management strategy, recruitment practice, process and policy, SOP development, CRM implementation (Slate, HubSpot, Salesforce), and marketing campaign design across all student segments and modalities.
• CRM Implementation and Admissions Staff Training Training program for online enrollment and student support staff on CRM platforms (Slate, HubSpot, Salesforce) and on client-specific institutional knowledge (website, community, campus history, programs, admissions policy, and mission), aimed at maximizing lead conversion and admissions team performance.

Quantifiable outcome

• Enrollment grew upwards of 30% at St. Francis College within one recruitment cycle
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Element451: Element451 is an AI-driven student engagement and CRM platform used by colleges for personalized outreach and admissions workflows — a tech-enabled competitor targeting the same prospect-recruitment workflow HES staffs.
• Capture Higher Ed: Capture Higher Ed provides AI-enabled enrollment marketing and lead-nurture solutions for colleges, intersecting with HES's contact-agent and outreach offering as a technology-forward alternative for the same use case.

Broad incumbents

• EAB (Education Advisory Board): EAB is a large, broad-based advisory firm serving higher education with research, technology, and consulting across enrollment, student success, and advancement — a scaled incumbent whose enrollment practice overlaps with HES's consulting work but with a much wider portfolio.
• Encoura (by ACT): Encoura is ACT's enrollment services division, combining data, marketing, and advisory services for higher education institutions. It is a broader, data-and-platform-enabled incumbent that overlaps with HES's prospect recruitment and enrollment management support work.

Direct peers

• mStoner: mStoner is a higher-education marketing agency that delivers web strategy, content, and enrollment marketing services to colleges and universities, overlapping with HES's prospect outreach and recruitment support capabilities.
• Quality Contact Solutions: Quality Contact Solutions provides inbound and outbound call-center services with a focus on higher education enrollment calling, directly comparable to HES's Contact Agent outreach and appointment-setting services.
• Carnegie Dartlet: Carnegie Dartlet provides enrollment marketing, branding, and student-search services to colleges and universities, directly competing with HES in the prospect recruitment and outreach layer of the enrollment funnel.
• Ruffalo Noel Levitz: Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL) is the largest dedicated enrollment management consulting and services firm for higher education, offering strategy, search, marketing, and student-success solutions directly comparable to HES's enrollment management consulting and outreach support.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/higher-ed-support-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Ed Support, LLC