--- title: Ellucian Student Reviews meta_title: 'Ellucian Student Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 263 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Ellucian Student works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 3.4 review_count: 263 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-09' parent_category: name: Education ERP url: https://www.g2.com/categories/education-erp --- # Ellucian Student Reviews **Vendor:** Ellucian **Category:** [Education ERP Suites](https://www.g2.com/categories/education-erp-suites) **Average Rating:** 3.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 263 ## About Ellucian Student Ellucian Student is higher ed’s complete solution that powers the end-to-end student lifecycle. Together, Student, HCM, and Finance operate as one AI-native platform, aligning people, resources, and decisions around a single vision: to unlock learning for all. Purpose-Built for Higher Education, Ellucian Student brings together key capabilities in one connected experience: \*Recruiting & Admissions — Engage prospective students earlier and simplify enrollment \*Student Aid — Reduce financial friction with personalized aid experiences \*Student Success — Keep learners on track with AI-guided planning and advising \*Lifelong Learning — Connect learning to workforce outcomes with flexible credential pathways \*Advancement — Strengthen alumni and donor engagement Built SaaS-native and powered by AI trained on the richest dataset in higher education, Ellucian Student helps institutions improve outcomes and adapt to evolving learner needs. ## Ellucian Student Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **centralized information** provided by Ellucian Student, enhancing their access to necessary data and resources. (1 reviews) - Users value the **comprehensive features** of Ellucian Student, enhancing their overall experience and operational efficiency. (1 reviews) - Users highlight the **excellent customer support** from Ellucian, enhancing their experience with effective resources and documentation. (1 reviews) - Users value the **ease of access** to resources and support for navigating the Ellucian Student system effectively. (1 reviews) - Users find Ellucian Student to be **easy to use** , allowing effortless completion of tasks as higher education professionals. (1 reviews) - Easy Integrations (1 reviews) - Versatile (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users frequently experience **technical issues** with error codes and unresponsive support, complicating overall usage and training. (2 reviews) - Users experience **access limitations** due to challenging SIS transitions and inadequate support across different departments. (1 reviews) - Users report a **challenging learning curve** with Ellucian Student, especially when transitioning from other systems and requiring training. (1 reviews) - Users express frustration with **poor support** , as issues are often unresolved due to departmental silos and ticket handoffs. (1 reviews) ## Ellucian Student Reviews ### 1. Holds a good amount of information **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jessica M. | Admissions counselor, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 17, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I can find all of my student and staff information on it - my transcript, final grades, financial aid and bills; my paid/sick leave, hours, etc. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It is not easy to navigate in the beginning. It's a maze to find where to make a payment on a bill or which tab has the information that you are looking for. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has enabled multiple offices to do more things paperless - requesting transcripts, making payments, receipts, registration, etc. ### 2. Banner, a One Stop Shop **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amy H. | Support Technician, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 30, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** It's ability to access so many databases. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The things I dislike are: 1.) the lack of true relationship tables in the databases 2.) The fact that it limits you to only web browser in most versions 3.) the fact those newer versions of java do not work well or not at all with Banner and user it having to revert back to an older version of java in order to make Banner function. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I would recommend Banner although it has features that could be better, it's still a good piece of software for keeping information secured and accessible to those who have the right to access the information across campus departments. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It solve the problem of uniformity across campus in all departments. ### 3. Banner Student Information System **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 05, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner is our main student information system. Once you get use to the various forms you are able to create quick workflows to help make your process a lot more efficient. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Banner has a lot of forms. You must be trained properly in order to use the software. Otherwise you are able to mess something up. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I would recommend reading the user guide to learn the different forms. Once you learn the naming convention it makes it easier to learn the application. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Banner is our main student information systems. It houses all the information from the student. IE: classes,application, address, telephone and etc. ### 4. Easy to use across multiple departments **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The program is relatively easy to use with drop down boxes that are simple to understand. It also helpful that accounts can be flagged and/or locked out for various situations like non-payment (etc). **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** You cannot open two accounts at the same time. Also, a single account cannot be checked by two users at the same time. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Give it a try, you'll probably find uses for it. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It makes student management easier across numerous departments. It manages thousands of student and employee accounts. The program is also compatible with statistic pulling software and search programs. ### 5. Colleague - Datatel **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 20, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** It's fairly easy to use. you are able to search for information in a variety of ways. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Accounts are easily locked out with no simple way for the use to unlock the account without having to always escalate the issue to another department. There's no better way to migrate archive information over from a different database. Some mnemonics are too closely linked where issues in one can affect the other **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Extensive training. Learning how that platform is affected by any other CRM software used. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** the software was primarily used as an updated database for student and faculty information ### 6. Banner: the program we need but not the program we want to navigate **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Debra Y. | Admissions and Student Affairs Advisor, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 28, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner does everything: finances, student records, class scheduling, among many many other things. The program basically integrates all the school's information and is the heartbeat of how we run the school! **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Yes. The interface is difficult and clunky. Oftentimes, to request information, I don't know if I'm supposed to click enter or execute. There are so many codes, some of them redundant, and the jargon is often difficult to learn. Resetting passwords is a task, esp. in a world where we have so many passwords! **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** So many problems are being handled by Banner. Tracking student records, finances, graduation, etc. Handling payment information for all employees, adjunct, sub-contractor and consultant payments. So many things Banner does! ### 7. Not the most user friendly **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Fairly simple to navigate but doesn't hold a vast amount of data. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I use Banner web most often, so I can't say much for the back-end data entry. However, the layout and use of the product isn't the most user friendly. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our overall organization has decided to switch from Banner to a new CRM, so it failed to meet our needs recently. ### 8. Glitchy and cumbersome for recording grades **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The program updates to the University website allowing students to see their grades immediately **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** When recording grades the program can be slow and glitchy, I was halfway through entering grades for my students and although I kept clicking ‘save’ about half of the grades got erased somehow. This problem made an already time-consuming task take even longer **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Be aware of the slow and glitchy issues with this program **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can’t really speak to the business benefits as I am only required to use the program to record students’ grades. ### 9. Banner Review **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 28, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I am able to see student records and data, including finding alternate contact information and student admission status, whether important documents have been received, etc. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The system seems clunky and is not very intuitive. There is also no note-taking function that allows for customization, making it difficult for those in student services to know where/what kind of assistance the student has been receiving. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** To my knowledge, there is not the ability to pull reports directly from Banner. This may be a service to request in the future that would make the system more user friendly and eliminate the need to use multiple systems. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problem being solved is access to student information. The benefits are being able to easily access this information to better serve students. ### 10. Gets the job done... but not the most user friendly **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 07, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Information is cut and dry and easy to understand from the end user stand point. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The process to access information is outdated. The software looks like it's from the 90s. It only works in Internet Explorer, which is an unsupported browser at this point. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Easy enought to use if you pay attention. There are a lot of intricacies that I do not use so I cannot speak to those - but for offices that do not use Banner in the day to day, it will function as needed. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it to check student account balances and for the staff functions it offers. I am not an intended user of this product - I use it for minimal information gathering, so it works for what I need but could be more user friendly to in general. ### 11. Does the job **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Live time updates and we can quickly see transactions added, comments, and other notes on the account. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It can be hard to find a screen for specific data if it isn't one you commonly use, as there is no explanation of the screens, it is really trial and error. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Master system of data for students and staff. This includes academic and financial information. ### 12. Better But Not The Best **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brandi L. | Office Manager, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 08, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** This system is a huge change from our current system. The integration of our primary services such as financial aid and the application process is what I like best. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The system can be somewhat cumbersome to accomplish simple tasks. The information could be better organized. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are solving our integration issue. We currently have a business office, financial aid office, and student services office that have moving components to get a student from the application process to the enrollment process. Our current methods lead to quite a bit of miscommunication and it is not user friendly. Banner does help curb some of those issues. ### 13. Prospect Research Banner Usage **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicole K. | Associate Director, Prospect Research and Development Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 30, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner is great for a records-keeping standpoint in higher-education organizations. I understand how seamlessly our Advancement Services team can turn "students" in to "alumni" with this product. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It isn't the most efficient for a Prospect Research standpoint. We end up using our other product, Reeher, to run reports, find new prospects, etc. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I think Banner by Ellucian is great for higher-education non-profits. Definitely fits the needs of what we use it for in higher-education. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It does help us to manage prospects via portfolios. We have been able to easily make new assignments as needed through Banner. It's a pretty straight-forward process for us in that regard. ### 14. Great Information System **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Easy to use. While there is a learning curve as with many complex systems, it becomes fairly intuitive very quickly, Search functions are easy to access and use. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Wish there was options to change/personalize the layouts of your screens more. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Really easy for users with various levels of experience to get used to. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easy to integrate with many other systems. ### 15. Good communications software for different departments **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Denis G. | Information Technology Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 06, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The ease of use the system provides and the ability of accessing the information from Microsoft SQL **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It's web components are a little out of date **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** If you are an ellucian client then it would be a good fit for you **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are solving our daily communications issues with the enrollment of students on campus ### 16. Banner is Great **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 30, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I really like that Banner is a space for multiple sources of information to converge. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Banner can be intimidating for new users and is not intuitive to use. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Give the program a shot, but also be fair in the time you take to evaluate the program. There is a learning curve. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Banner in a University environment so that multiple facets of the University can access a wide range of information for all of its students. Students move around campus, change programs and transfer, but Banner allows their information to be easily accessed by those with the authority to do so. ### 17. Been using it for 8 years **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aimee H. | Director of Teaching & Learning Graduate Program, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 21, 2016 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** As the main system for university record keeping, you can find a lot of information and store it in a variety of ways on students. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I HATE that it is command code driven. It seems so antiquated and while I know a lot of codes and could repeat them in my sleep, it is not user friendly....and that is after EIGHT years of using it. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I know that this is one of the premier companies that universities use, but again, it is very antiquated with the old style command driven style of getting to appropriate screens. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Effective way of registering students for coursework. I am able to quickly find out the status of students (academic probation, tuition owed, etc) ### 18. Backbone of your University **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pearce M. | Associate Director - User Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 30, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** It's functional, relatively straight-forward in terms of user interface. Great eCommunity access for support and forums too. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It's almost OVER-simplistic - does not offer a very palatable GUI. Lack of training materials. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Connect with other Universities using this product and consult the eCommunities forums for answers - the built-in user guides are very technical and don't offer much context unless you have a history with DBA development. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Scheduling, Biographic info of our students and graduates, HR related programs ### 19. Banner Review **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 12, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I do like that it integrates with many different systems. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I feel like the version we use is an older version and it is not as user friendly. We also can only use it on one internet browser which is difficult. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I would look into how well it integrates with the other systems you use. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a system that works for many different areas across campus. The integration for the various departments make it very helpful. ### 20. Not Very Intuitive **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Maxi A. | Admin Manager, Client Service Center, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The software is reliable and capable or large data storage. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The required coding to navigate the system. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Get more in tune with the end user to optimize the experience. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Student enrollment management and registrations. ### 21. Less Intimdating Than it Looks **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I like having access to so much information within one system. Once you know how to navigate Colleague it can become a goldmine of information. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The look of Colleague is horrendous. It looks like a dated software package, if it was customizable and brought into the modern tech age it would be on fire. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having one software package is convenient when assisting students as they do not have to travel to different departments for assistance. ### 22. Banner for Higher Ed **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Abner has been a great tool that allows me to get the information I need on a student I may not be able to find elsewhere. It is also very helpful in getting more detailed information when I need to know what is really going on with a student. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Banner has several codes you have to memorize or keep track of if you want to navigate the system properly. Forgetting the sequence for the screen you need can be daunting. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Make sure to keep list of codes handy. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am able to get detailed student information and update information effectively. It is a benefit because it often has abilities other programs do not. ### 23. Does it's job, but is not user friendly **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Very complete and thorough in completing the job it sets out to do **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Lacks a user-friendly interface that allows lower-level employees to fully benefit from using it **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating and editing account profiles. When used by properly trained employees, Banner does its job well and allows users to create and edit accounts. It also allows for funds management, though is rather difficult to use by most employees. ### 24. Colleague - Cumbersome but Improving **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vonnie D. | Advancement Database Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 27, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I appreciate the ease of logging into the system and searching for pertinent data related to students in our university. Also the relative ease of completing cash receipting sessions for financial reconciliation. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I dislike the seeming proprietary limits to Internet Explorer to log into the system when I rarely use the browser for anything else. It has been problematic in my department. It has improved over the years, but my impressions of Colleague were shaped by frustration with its "clunky" environment. I'm not sure how else to say it. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Be sure to shop around and make decisions based on what other systems your organization uses and whether Colleague will "speak the same language" as the other databases/software. Will it dovetail with other systems you wish to keep? Get lots of recommendations and don't make a quick decision with such a product that will impact your organization for years/decades to come. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Keeping reconciled to the university's GL accounts from all departments has been useful, as everyone is accountable to this one database for Financial reconciliation and audits. ### 25. Serviceable **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 27, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** One source for many of our internal intranet and employee services needs. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Clunky and and cumbersome to find what you're looking for. Menus are non-intuitive and shift based on content making it difficult to find what you want. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is the central source for our internal intranet and employee services. It lets us manage financial and benefits information easily enough. Modifications to meet our needs (I serve on an internal IT committee) have become problematic as we upgrade to the latest version. ### 26. Anequated **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 31, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The best item would be the quickflow screens that are pre-built into the system The quickflow screens allow you to enter data to all necessary screens at one convenient time without having to pull up each screen separately. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** In fairness, our company has purchased the bare minimum, so there are no special items with this program. It is archaic and has issues with being compatible with current software. Our alumni department no longer uses the information and has a completely separate system for all alumni details. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** If you are able to purchase add ins, it is highly recommended! **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** This system allows users across campus to be able to access details on each student from lead through matriculation. We are able to gather information quickly; however, the system is very clunky and there are multiple screens to gather information. ### 27. Banner is getting better **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 12, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The system is comprehensive and simple to navigate once you understand the mnemonic system it uses. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The mnemonics are quite long and don't make sense to people who aren't used to the system's lingo. Although this is being changed in newer updates of the system, the student information is spread out in so many screens that it makes it difficult for those people who are not power users to really get into using the system. You must be willing to work hard to get the buy-in **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's a great student data system. My previous institution also used it for HR and Finance as well, which had their own modules. ### 28. Makes record keeping easier, but lag time is a problem **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 22, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** It doesn't take long to become familiar with Colleague's shortcuts and acronyms for the different pages. It's nice that it's customizable. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The lag time interrupts efficiency and occasionally it shuts down without warning. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I would wait to switch until they know what the updated system will look like. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use colleague for accurate student record keeping and it does do that well. Colleague works well with other programs used for similar purposes helping us find errand fix errors in data. ### 29. Great system wish we used more functions **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Great system. It is powerful and depending on your permissions you can accidentally cause problems using banner. Best thing about the system is the wide breadth of information available. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** As mentioned earlier depending on your permissions you may accidentally change information and cause problems. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Registration ### 30. Temp worker has limited access **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The process for printing transcripts is pretty easy **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** *it won't let me search a current or past student by date of birth **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Student records. It's a great organizational tool. ### 31. Very comprehensive SIS **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bridget L. | Student Success Specialist, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 29, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** What I like best about Banner is its ability to integrate with other educational technologies, as well as the depth of the data recorded about the student and the student's interactions and history with the institution. I also like that, once the user has had time to learn Banner's capabilities, it serves as a one stop shop source of information about a student when they're at the enrollment center counter needing help with a problem they're experiencing. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Banner can be clunky, with the sheer number of screens you can find information on; there is definitely a learning curve. Sometimes information is not visible on a screen where you might expect it to be stored (an academic hold is different than a financial hold, for instance). New users will definitely face a learning curve when starting out with Banner. The codes used to display information can be overwhelming to learn as well. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** If you need a comprehensive SIS for your institution, Banner is definitely going to set the bar for what to look for in whatever SIS choice you make. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Banner is close to a one stop shop for anything student process and service related, it's extremely thorough! Students approach enrollment centers to find answers to their questions. Banner allows its users to navigate through a breadth of screens, investigating a wide range of information to offer the best student centered service, without the student having to explain their problem over and over again. ### 32. Colleague by Ellucian-Use at a community college. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 10, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I like the ease of input of scholarship awards. There are also screens that are customized solely for my institution that help us generate specific reports needed. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** There are some screens that could be improved so that manual entry could be simplified. Also some reports take a long time to generate. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Ellucian can be customized to create reports specifically for your institution if needed. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Colleague by Ellucian is a database that houses information for any student or employee of my community college, even former students or employees. I specifically use the database when awarding students scholarships. Without a database like this there wouldn't be a way to keep up with the thousands of people we serve. ### 33. Powerful Database But Lacks Intuitive Navigation **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The ability to house lots of data, to pull up records quickly, etc. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It was very difficult to pull up screens in terms of intuitive navigation. The interface isn't particularly nice looking. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Train a lot and have specific "superusers" who can be point of contact for all other users. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Student information system for a study abroad program. Went from homegrown system to this one, but it posed additional challenges and was expensive to customize to specific needs. ### 34. Still an industry leader **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 27, 2016 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner allows us to do so many things-- track involvement, manage schedules, utilize payroll, manage grading. It is really a one-stop shop for so many different shareholders on our campus. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The visuals are very outdated, but I'm willing to sacrifice flash for function. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** I would definitely use this software. It really covers all of your bases. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** This solves so many problems. This manages so much of our data in a safe, user-friendly way. It is nice to be able to have various constituents utilizing the same software. ### 35. Behind the times **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Simply having student information in a cross-campus database is better than not having anything. Does remove some paper processes. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Colleague is woefully outdated, and the basic product that I understand most colleges are still on isn't being supported, in an effort by Ellucian to get customers for more modern SIS/CRM platforms. It doesn't integrate with many other platforms, particularly the out-of-box integrations needed by understaffed colleges. This leaves many of the updates to be made manually. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** If you're going to get the most out of Colleague, using an Ellucian CRM platform is a must. Of course, there are far better CRM options, which makes it a tough call. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Management of student records across campus, beginning with admissions and following through to the alumni/advancement office. ### 36. Banner **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** All the forms of communication and engines to assist user **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I enjoy the software it has been of great use with our data recording and use **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Data control ### 37. Excited for updates **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 11, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I like that I am able to find most useful student data all in one place. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The different screens can be difficult to maneuver, and some screens are redundant. The report pulling process can be convoluted. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Try to get the most recent version of Banner. Older versions can be buggy and hard to navigate. I have heard with newer versions that is easier from all sides (student and administrators). Although you can get a lot of data from Banner, it can be cumbersome to pull reports. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Managing student data ### 38. It’s great for getting the work done, but the design is outdated and unattractive. **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 08, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The efficiency of the software once codes and shortcuts have been learned. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Layout and design is hard to get used to and feels old. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Speedy access to large amounts of information for quick work. Realizing the benefits of its shortcuts once proficiency is reached. ### 39. Financial Aid office and campus use this software **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I feel it is user friendly and the handbooks and user guides are always helpful. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I miss using Banner 8. Banner 9 is not at all user friendly and has a lot of issues. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Stream lines student financial aid information and stores in one place. Used campus wide. ### 40. Mediocre **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 15, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Colleague allows for multiple drill downs on customer info on a variety of categories. It allows for multiple inputs of select fields. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** There is an inability to enter a record and view a constituents relationship record wirhout closing out of the record. Due to some other issues it crashes or freezes often enough to be noticable. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** The challenge is the previous system used. Raiser's Edge users are generally disappointed. However Colleague usually integrates with other college departments pretty good. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** We can better communicate and interact with constituencies. ### 41. Banner by Ellucian makes my job easier! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner by Ellucian serves several functions in my position **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Banner by Ellucian is somewhat antiquated and could use some improvement **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Banner by Ellucian keeps student and faculty personal information safe, secure and easy to access, which saves time. ### 42. BANNER in higher ed **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ashleigh A. | Head Academic Advisor, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 09, 2018 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The ease of use, how functional it is, processing time, and integration with other products **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** I have to VPN access to use it outside of my office **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Enrolling students in courses in a timely manner ### 43. Student Database **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 24, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner by Ellucian is a great catch-all for databasing student information and allowing multiple entities access to such information. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The layout of Banner is difficult to navigate and there is a severe learning curve. To access a lot of information, there are specific codes you must know and this prevents quick and easy navigation. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Definitely allow for ample time to integrate the software and more time for users to learn to navigate the system. It is useful for accessing basic student information and sharing this information and restricting access. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Databasing student information - Banner serves its purpose as a database and allows for multiple people to have access to information ### 44. Banner **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 04, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The features such as personal information section, student section, financial aid, faculty, employee, and banner finance. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** For now, nothing in particular. Maybe later. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** To enroll students in courses, add or drop students from courses, submit students grade and many more. ### 45. Difficult to use **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Laurie K. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 29, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner is an incredible way to keep track of students notes and progress towards their degree. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Banner is difficult to use and would most likely be better if they simplified the interface. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Banner is used in my previous office for advising purposes. ### 46. Banner Student Information System by Ellucian meets our needs nicely. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The best thing I like about Banner by Ellucian is the fact that they make most of the source code available. As an IT developer it helps use understand how the product works on the back end and allows for customizations **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Support tends to be slow, however that have a great online community and knowledge base. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Would recommend if looking for a student information management system. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Student info system, Accounts receivable, Financial Aid ### 47. Good not great **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 10, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** The wide ability and different categorizations that are possible. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Lack of integration with other platforms - not very user friendly **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Make sure you have someone who is adept at training. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Banner allows us to organize a vast amount of information for a great many people at a large university. ### 48. Well-Invested But Not Always Well-Tested **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 29, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** Banner is essentially the gold standard for student information systems. It's comprehensive and configurable to almost any institution's business processes, in any country. Ellucian provides Banner modules for Student, General, Financial Aid, FM Needs Analysis, Accounts Receivable, Human Resources, and a plethora of other academic institution needs. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** Some of their products are often rushed to market. They sell products before they have the technical teams to adequately support them. We've had support tickets in queue for months before someone became available or knowledgeable enough to be able to resolve them **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Don't be an early adopter of their new products and versions unless you have the infrastructure and funds to partner with them. Use only what's tried and true. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's the foundation of the institution's business process. By using Banner, we eliminate paper files, we automate much of our processes, and provide online, self-service tools to our students, staff and faculty. ### 49. New update not great **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 20, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** I like the new overall look of the system **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** The update has a lot of issues with transfer work **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Upgrade is a little rough **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** Student information ### 50. Underused **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 20, 2017 **What do you like best about Ellucian Student?** You can run lots of useful reports, and it works with PayPal to take credit cards. **What do you dislike about Ellucian Student?** It's cumbersome and simple tasks like printing take several steps. It acts like a DOS based system. **Recommendations to others considering Ellucian Student:** Make sure you get support, our company has none. **What problems is Ellucian Student solving and how is that benefiting you?** It tracks students very well and organizes information. It’s a solid database for us. ## Ellucian Student Discussions - [What's the difference between Ellucian Student and Banner or Colleague on-premises?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-s-the-difference-between-ellucian-student-and-banner-or-colleague-on-premises) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Does my organization have to modernize to Ellucian SaaS all at once?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/does-my-organization-have-to-modernize-to-ellucian-saas-all-at-once) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How will moving to Ellucian SaaS help my Institution innovate?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-will-moving-to-ellucian-saas-help-my-institution-innovate) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Why does my institution need a higher ed-specific SIS or ERP like Ellucian Student?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/why-does-my-institution-need-a-higher-ed-specific-sis-or-erp-like-ellucian-student) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How is Ellucian Student different from other SIS providers?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-is-ellucian-student-different-from-other-sis-providers) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Ellucian Student pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/ellucian-student/reviews?page=4§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-09+07%3A07%3A46+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=598f8050-ad7a-4b89-a141-e36fdaa6f5ac&secure%5Btoken%5D=312c3fa099d2951d9873b126922cb7522668dc2ab5be1419f977187fa4c8dae8&format=llm_user) ## Ellucian Student Integrations - [Ellucian Recruiting & Admissions](https://www.g2.com/products/ellucian-recruiting-admissions/reviews) ## Ellucian Student Features **Platform Performance** - Reporting **Integrations** - Integrations - Communication - Data Sharing **Agentic AI - Student Information Systems (SIS)** - Cross-system Integration **Agentic AI - Education ERP** - Cross-system Integration **Enrollment & Academic Management** - Online Admissions & Application Management - Course Registration & Timetable Scheduling - Academic Records & Transcript Management - Degree Audit & Progress Tracking - Financial Aid Management - Class Scheduling - Document Management - Learning Management - Library Management - Communication Management - Calendar Management - Attendance Management - Discipline Management - Faculty/Staff Management - Transportation Management - Assessment Management - Classroom Management - Forms Management - Registration Management - Curriculum Management - Housing Management - Fundraising Management - Alumni Management - Student Information/Records - Scheduling **Platform Data** - Platform Search - Dashboard **Planning** - Creating plans - Scenarios **Core Modules** - Finance and Accounting - Human Resources - Billing and Fees **Financial & Billing Operations** - Tuition Billing & Student Account Management - Integrated Budget & Financial Reporting - Refund & Payment Plan Automation - Financial Aid & Scholarship Administration - Online Payments - Student Management **Platform Content** - Automation - File Sharing **Progress monitoring** - Degree progress - Reporting and analytics - Identifying at-risk students - Recording notes **Reporting** - Report Generation - Report Automation **Student Engagement & Support Tools** - Communication & Alerts System - Student Self‑Service Portal - Alumni Support - Academic Advising & Success Tools - Parent/Student Portal - Collaboration Tools - Self Service Portal **Platform Additional Functionality** - Messaging **Outreach** - Messaging - Appointment scheduling - Alerts and Notifications - Self-Service tools - Mobility **Artificial Intelligence & Analytics** - Natural Language Query & Reporting - Automated Chat & Support Bots - Predictive Analytics - AI‑Assisted Academic Planning **Additional Functionality** - Reporting & Statistics - For Higher Education - Drag & Drop - Alerts/Notifications - Customizable Branding - Search/Filter - Activity Dashboard - Generative AI - Customizable Reports - Performance Metrics - Chat/Messaging - Third-Party Integrations - API - AI Copilot - Report Cards - Fee Collection - Mobile App - Role-Based Permissions ## Top Ellucian Student Alternatives - [Workday Student](https://www.g2.com/products/workday-student/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (55 reviews) - [Jenzabar One](https://www.g2.com/products/jenzabar-one/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (56 reviews) - [Oracle Higher Education Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-higher-education-cloud/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (14 reviews)