Budget Trends Report for U.S. Higher Ed

Discover the U.S. universities most ready to invest in 2026.

Michael Shieh

Revenue Marketing

Every month, Starbridge processes millions of public documents—board meeting minutes, strategic plans, RFPs, and contracts—to help businesses identify their best-fit public sector customers.

Executive summary

We ranked which colleges and universities have the budget for new products and services this year. We analyzed thousands of public documents including:

Year-over-year budget trends
Funding cuts and new funding sources
Grants and major donations
Leadership changes
Hiring expansions, freezes, and restructures
Board meeting materials and transcripts
Endowment and bond activity, and more

The Starbridge propensity score adds context to every institution — helping you understand who is likely to spend and why.

Top trends

60 school districts are aggressively spending this year.
24.8% of school districts are open to spend this year.
Texas has the highest concentration of school districts willing to spend.

What you'll learn

Which universities show the strongest budget increases, and why
Where university budgets are shrinking, and how that affects purchasing behavior
Where vendors should prioritize, or deprioritize outreach based on university budget momentum