The Biggest Opportunity for Growth in Higher Ed

And Why No Nonprofit Has the Stomach for It

Everyone in higher ed is talking about growth.

But almost no one is talking about this.

And that’s a mistake.

Because in a mature, shrinking market like higher ed, the most scalable growth strategy isn’t launching a new program or investing in digital. It’s something far more radical…

👉 Acting like Private Equity - inside a nonprofit structure.

Let me explain…

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The Model: A Nonprofit Holding Company

Imagine a single nonprofit entity built to absorb distressed colleges before they close.

The model would:

• Serve as a backstop to prevent permanent campus closures

• Centralize backend operations (HR, IT, marketing, finance, admissions, etc.)

• Maintain existing college brands (where they still have value in their home markets)

• Trim or consolidate underperforming portfolios (keeping only the best programs)

• Provide a shared infrastructure (reducing cost and increasing resilience)

In short: think academic turnarounds at scale. A systemized, proactive approach to the crisis of closures.

Sound familiar? It’s the PE model - just without the exit strategy.

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Why This Isn’t Happening (Yet)

Traditional private equity can’t easily touch distressed nonprofits.
And most nonprofits don’t have the will to play offense in this way - even if it means preserving mission.

Which means right now, there’s no one in the market doing what needs to be done. And make no mistake: this does need to be done.

The sector is consolidating whether we like it or not. The question isn’t if, it’s how.

And the most responsible version of that consolidation might just be this.

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So Who’s Going to Step Up?

This is the part I can’t shake:

If a nonprofit with the right mix of guts and governance leaned in,
they’d not only protect mission-driven institutions from collapse -
they’d build one of the most resilient, efficient systems in all of higher ed.

I’ve said it before, but where our industry is headed, growth is the only moat; scale is the only shield to weather what’s ahead.

Someone will almost certainly do this eventually.
So then the only question is who, and how soon?

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Conclusion

For the player who steps up, I believe there is a clear path to $100m+ in incremental annual tuition revenue, funded by no-money-down acquisitions with manageable liability from deals that break even by the end of their first year.

This is, I believe, the biggest growth opportunity today in higher ed.

So if you work for a nonprofit institution interested in exploring this idea, please know my inbox is always open. I would love to see someone pursue this.

- Seth

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About The Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.

You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.