Published March 16, 2026 | Categories: Higher Education , Cascade CMS , Beacon News
Colleges and universities had to exercise caution with their budgets in early 2025 due to uncertainty with the new administration. But by year-end, schools realized they had to move forward with digital upgrades to advance their strategy and support their enrollment goals. During that early 2025 lull, Beacon’s Business Development Team reimagined our approach, introducing a more effective, fully managed website services solution that we call LuxEd. This evolution was driven by our observations that a paradigm shift away from traditional project-based website development is necessary for institutions to remain competitive with their online marketing presence.
With tight budgets and limited resources, this comprehensive approach uniting today’s technology and marketing services through a single partner with a budget-friendly fee structure is turning heads. Colleges and universities, especially smaller schools, are benefiting from reduced administrative overhead, faster delivery, flexible CMS options, ongoing maintenance, reliable hosting, and access to an extended team of multidisciplinary digital marketing experts.
We are excited to announce that the College of The Albemarle, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville State University, and the Nebraska State College System recently selected Beacon as their website partner after very competitive RFP processes. Hannon Hill’s Cascade CMS is Beacon’s recommended proprietary CMS, while WordPress is our preferred open-source option. All four of these institutions will use Cascade CMS, with launch dates targeted for late 2026.
“Our team really thrives on these redesign projects because this is what they enjoy doing—working together and showcasing their collective expertise to bring value and pride to our Higher Ed clients,” says Mark Dirks, Beacon’s Chief Business Officer. “We are purposely a small company of around 60 employees, and therefore, we limit the number of new client projects each year so we can devote the time to customized design and development—and more importantly, build long-term relationships.”
It’s only March, and Beacon has four more LuxEd projects on the horizon. 2026 is set to be a busy, productive, and fun year for the Beacon Team!
Want in on the action? Contact us to discover how LuxEd can benefit your institution and view our recent projects: