# Ellucian Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Ellucian the right Higher Education solution for you? Explore 84 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/135932/Ellucian/reviews --- Ellucian 3.6 (84) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/135932/Ellucian/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Ellucian Ease of use 3.2 Customer Service 3.5 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews RL Richard L Senior DeveloperEducation Management, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The learning curve was not too steep.“ June 23, 2025 JW Justin W Chief Information OfficerHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The implementation and particularly the "train the trainer" model which just doesn't fit our instituton given our small size and limited resources.“ April 15, 2025 SH Sheenah H Exec DirectorEducation Management, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Recruit has some great reports, integrates with both Eventbrite and Salesforce and can really streamline enrollment processes fo4 a school.“ August 28, 2022 EK Elizabeth K ProfessorHigher Education, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “This is not an intuitive system, especially to users making a transition from the company's older product which was not visually or logically similar at all. “ November 3, 2022 AM Andrew M Associate DirectorEducation Management, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Part of this could be all of the changes the Department of Education has implemented over the past couple of years and in that regard Ellucian is doing a good job of adapting.“ September 7, 2023 EK Elizabeth K ProfessorHigher Education, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Support materials are not adequate on the web site, unless you are a (paying) implementation team member. “ November 3, 2022 AM Andrew M Associate DirectorEducation Management, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “When the financial aid module is working it does a pretty good job of what we need it to.“ September 7, 2023 SH Sheenah H Exec DirectorEducation Management, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Implementation is painful, at best.“ August 28, 2022 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 84 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Neisha P. Marketing Administrative Assistant Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ellucian for Community College " November 14, 2018 4.0 In the beginning I had to constantly keep my list of instructions handy if I wanted to enter a requisition for a purchase order, now its easy because I've done so many. Practice makes perfect!!!! Pros I liked how you can add features, customize it for the needs of the institution. I work for a small college and we don't need all the extra features that the larger colleges might implement. Cons It can be a little difficult to navigate for the beginner. Unless the user knows what they want there is a chance of getting lost. Ive been using the software for about 4 years now and i sometimes get lost or have to search for specific information. There is no menu with a list of options. So I guess what I'm saying is that it would be nice if it was more user friendly, easier to navigate. Review Source JW Justin W. Chief Information Officer Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Game Changer for our Institution" April 15, 2025 4.0 Overall, it's been pleasant. There have been some hiccups, but nothing so severe that we have come to regret the decision/investment. Pros It's a great tool and one that has revolutionized our experieince as an institution - moving from antiquated methods to operating at light speed. Cons The implementation and particularly the "train the trainer" model which just doesn't fit our instituton given our small size and limited resources. Alternatives considered [Ellucian Student](https://www.capterra.com/p/171158/Banner-Finance/) Reason for choosing Ellucian Colleague was a better fit for our needs and institution size. Review Source CL Cassaundra L. Assistant Registrar Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Literally the Worst" February 6, 2019 1.0 On top of clunky, unreliable system is a virtually non-existent customer service/support team. You can post/reference questions to/by other users, but other than that you basically just get the 900 page technical manual and have to figure it out yourself. If you have a home-grown system and are considering making the switch to Ellucian--don't! Just wait a couple years for another company, like Workday, to develop a SIS that makes sense. Ellucian is a dinosaur. Pros When Ellucian's products were first released--decades ago--they were cutting edge. Banner, their SIS (Student Information System) quickly became the industry standard for enterprise databases on college campuses which transformed the way higher education leaders use data to make informed decisions. Their products continue to be effective for large universities that have every module of Banner installed, i.e. have their entire campus from registrar to bursar to admissions running on an Ellucian solution. When used "out-of-the-box" it does its job, not easily or beautifully, but gets it done. Cons It's as if Ellucian (and their strongest competitor PeopleSoft) got comfortable once they dominated the market and just stopped trying to make the actual user experience better. They put on large, fancy conferences and have great branding, but using their systems is a NIGHTMARE. A different programmer designed every form/screen/section so they all function differently. Where two clicks should do, fourteen are required. The bugs far outweigh the features. Something breaks more often than it doesn't. It's awful, but they have us trapped because no one else can compete with them. Sometimes I think it would all be easier if we just used Excel to track student records! Since our school implemented Ellucian products 5 years ago, to the tune of millions of dollars, we've had to add 2 new positions in our office just to handle the tech components. And don't even get me started on what happens when you attempt to customize their products. Endless headaches. Review Source MV Mark V. CIO Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Good product. . .maybe?" December 8, 2022 4.0 Neutral to negative. Massive additional costs during deployment, a tendency to confusion among the supposed "experts" around how basic pieces of the software worked, forced third party software changes that were unnecessary and expensive, and a quote that was clearly lowballed with the expectation that we'd end up paying on the back end for additional products that we didn't know were needed made this whole process less than good. Pros We liked the idea of a connected suite that worked with most of our existing software. Cons The consultants were very much at odds with each other and added confusion to the process. It also turns out that it didn't work with our existing software even when the vendors were listed as compatible on the Ellucian partner site. It also turns out that some of our 3rd party software would have worked, but we were told that it wouldn't. In the end the confusion and lack of understanding/ability from Ellucian consultants cost us tens of thousands of additional dollars during our deployment. Alternatives considered [Jenzabar One](https://www.capterra.com/p/132292/Jenzabar-ERP/) Reason for choosing Ellucian Price, but our costs ended up exceeding the cost of any of the alternative vendors. Switched from [Jenzabar One](https://www.capterra.com/p/132292/Jenzabar-ERP/) Jenzabar, as a software package, isn't useful to a growing college. It's expensive, restrictive, and the support was extremely poor. Review Source RL Richard L. Senior Developer Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Old but modern tool." June 23, 2025 4.0 Ellcian has been in my working environment for the last 15 years. The learning curve was not too steep. Does a lot of t What we need. Pros The product has existed for alo g time and i.proved over time. It's very stable and has nost of the functionality we need. Cons The product has changed directions multiple times (frameworks) through the years, so many times we had to change our own direction to follow. Review Source Mark D. Director of Operations & Data Management Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ellucian SIS does what it is designed to do, store data in a standardized manner." July 15, 2018 3.0 Standardized data. Student lifecycle data storage. Central hub of data for all things related to the student, their experience, and relationships. Pros Easy to use and navigate. Validation tables prevent data from being entered incorrectly. Standardized data means consistent reporting outputs and expected values. Covers the entire lifecycle of the student journey so the Ellucian SIS is set up to be the storage space of all student data. Cons Difficult to customize and add fields to the SIS if business processes require it. Can feel overwhelming for new users to learn the system. Very limited ability for most functional users to create their own reports. Usually need to involve report writers with SQL report writing ability. Reporting on multiple areas of the student journey can be difficult when needing to see multiple screens and forms. Review Source Timothy S. IT Project Manager Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Very stable software used by best higher ed. institutes" June 19, 2018 5.0 Ellucian Banner has provided our students and staff with a single application that manages aspects of course registration, work, bills, payments, grades, academic status. Single sign on module was extremely helpful Pros It is a high-end software. Very stable. It integrates with the Microsoft LDAP. We have been using it for student and employee account management in term of course registration, tax forms, billing, salaries, student employment, grading, transcripts. It has very secure and solid database which is essential for the above mentioned matters. Cons Managing it requires training. It is not easy to administer. The price is very high compared to competing software in the higher education sector. Review Source Justin S. Director of Enrollment Systems and Data Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A mess of a company and a patchwork of modules" February 14, 2019 2.0 Covers general SIS/ERP for a college but causes more frustrations than solutions Pros Ellucian Banner is comprehensive in that it can cover most of the core functions of a college/university. But that's about it. Cons Ellucian hasn't advanced the products in years. Every attempt for updates have been met with upgrade issues, compatibility problems, and user frustration. New products are rare and generally poor, whether they use COTS or homegrown applications. Review Source Lisa R. Student Services Technician Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ellucian User for 15+ years" August 30, 2019 4.0 Pros Since our college gained access to the web-based version of Ellucian (we call it Colleague at our school, too), it has been a lot easier to use. Cons I wish the help feature and other help documents were a little easier to follow. We used to have a gentleman who worked in Admissions & Records that would make PowerPoint presentations and quick guides to help out the Ellucian users. Review Source Jennifer R. Banner Business Systems Analyst Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "It's hard to be vanilla" April 25, 2018 4.0 We were in desperate need of an SIS and for the most part, it does serve our needs. Pros I like that we have a consortium we can share ideas and code with and have a single voice to Ellucian. Cons Banner INB is very clunky to use - even if you are good at using software in general. It is not a very intuitive product; however, the company is moving in the right direction. Review Source LJ Lauren J. Associate Director of Alumni Engagment Fund-Raising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Overall good CRM for non-profit/fundraising" November 30, 2022 5.0 Pros Online platform available - the ability to store a lot of information in many different ways, and report customization. Cons A little clunky in how many clicks it takes to find the information you are looking for. Review Source SS Steven S. SystemAdmin/Programmer/Analyst Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Difficult to use | Difficult to maintain | Expensive | Releases are poorly tested by Ellucian QA " February 1, 2019 1.0 \-Business users in all departments find Banner difficult to use -Database engineers find Banner difficult to maintain -IT staff finds Banner difficult to support Banner is obsolete in the technological age we live; there are cloud finance, HCM, CRM, and student information applications which integrate well with each-other and outperform banner in nearly every category. Pros Customer support Is friendly and responsive. Cons \-There is a Massive maintenance overhead -There is a need for business users to constantly watch the community for systemic issue and bug alerts -Documentation is intentionally over-complicated to encourage the purchase of Ellucian consulting -Implementation is more complicated than competitor applications due to the age of the product -Data is stored un-uniformly in 'shotgun' style in the database making migration away from banner very difficult. -There is no dashboard -- the entire user interface is a very weak showing -Self service is impossible to leverage for reliable company-wide / student-wide document delivery. -Almost no reporting capabilities are built-in; admins must instead write database queries for end users. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Student Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Access your university from your pc" April 3, 2019 3.0 I have used this system when I was a professor assistant and student Pros This product provides a learning management system which makes the jobs easier for students and the professors. Students can easly check their duties and see their activities on this system and professors can easily manage their classes easily. Cons If there are a lot of students dont buy this software, during the peak times it makes lots of bottleneck and managing the problem is not that easy always some problem appears if some administrative user did something wrong. The money you pay and the service you have dont compensate each other Review Source MJ Mike J. Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Colleague as an ERP" October 15, 2016 4.0 Colleague is an overall great product. Ellucian has been working hard to improve Colleague's features and functionality, especially on the Self-Service platform. This work has kept them at the front edge of innovation with responsive design that allows your constituents serve themselves from any device. This takes pressure off of administrative staff so they can focus on quality support to your students. Ellucian does a good job at being connected to their customers and understanding the constantly changing needs in the academic world. They hold focus groups, beta testing groups to allow the engaged community of customers to provide input, and it shows in the quality of the newer products they have created. Pros Mobile friendly self service Integration through Ellucian XE Active user community on Ellucian's eCommunities social media platform Cons Reporting. Expect to spend money on a reporting tool. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Educational Leader Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great suite, odd language" November 1, 2022 4.0 Pros Great suite for information storage and processing. Cons Odd language for how to navigate. Too difficult for novice users. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Non-Federal Resource Specialist Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Started out as a great idea, but functionality is horrible." August 1, 2018 3.0 Pros Visually appealing and the user interface is easy to use and navigate through tabs. A nice face lift from the older interface. Cons The program is so slow. When you're trying to do multiple processes a day, the waiting adds up. Sometimes I will wait a whole minute to wait for a process to execute, very frustrating. Review Source KK Kathy K. FA Technology Specialist Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "I work with one module for the software and they have a great network for help." August 22, 2017 4.0 The Ellucian software is very helpful in keeping our school on track and making it easier for the student to navigate Admissions to registration to financial aid to graduation. Pros Very functional and customizable to your school. We get the opportunity to let the company know what we want in the software and they usually update to meet the various schools needs. Very aware of all federal guidelines and requirements. Cons Training for use of the module or processes would be nice when something new is implemented. Several screens and options are usually available with short descriptions. Review Source AV Ashley V. Director of Admissions Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ellucian works well as a student information system. " April 13, 2018 4.0 Pros The software houses all of our student information and IT finds securing the database reasonable for higher education. Though Ellucian, we are able to recruit, register, and maintain financial aid records for students. Our HR office also uses it to house employee and faculty information. Cons Many of the screens take excessive commands to get through. There are three or four extra steps every time you want to pull a transcript, run an evaluation, or register a student for classes. Review Source IS Isaac S. Finance Systems & Projects Manager Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Overall good customer service." July 12, 2018 4.0 Pros The community that is always ready to help each other. You can reach out to hundreds of users and get answers. Cons Upgrades can be very time consuming and complex, the reporting is not up to standard and some user functionality is not easy. Review Source CT Connie T. Prospect Research Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy to use" December 4, 2018 4.0 We use this as our database for all alumni and friends. Pros It's easy to use and my favorite thing about this software is that I can enter very little info to do a search to find who I'm looking for. The possibilities are endless! Cons When it shows a listing of all the proposals a person has received, I have to pull each one up because there isn't anything about the listing that identifies specific ones. It's a minor irritation Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Senior Payroll Generalist Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "I work at a community college and use for various tasks." July 18, 2018 4.0 Pros I like the different search functions between forms and person search. I like being able to generate reports with historical data going back to the life of the employee. Cons Having to many fields on a screen initially, sometimes it takes a while to find what I'm looking for when in a screen . Also having to learn the different key combinations to doing simple things can be a little difficult at first. Review Source NB Nela B. Staff development specialist Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Worked in Ellucian at a community college " April 25, 2018 3.0 Pros Very user friendly. Screens are very self explanatory making it easier to understand what fields need to be filled out Cons There is a lot of functions that cannot be changed once saved. In leaves it would be beneficial if you could delete something if it was inputted incorrectly Review Source BE Beth E. Coordinator II Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Better that other similar products" August 6, 2019 5.0 Pros the ability to see all the course work, history, current, gpa's, holds, etc at one place Cons still isn't always correct, some courses show up in places where they don't belong Review Source SJ Syrine J. Analyst Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Higher Education Tool" December 9, 2018 5.0 Pros I liked the fact that it could house both student and faculty information at the same time. In addition, it allowed you to input information for instructors and move them around if necessary. We used the Banner by Ellucian software and it was useful for our needs Cons Nothing to note. It is good for meeting the needs of an institution. Review Source MW Mandy W. Senior Records Specialist Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great for recruiting nor for admissions" April 9, 2018 4.0 Pros This is a great tool for recruiting. It can send out emails and invites to different events. It can keep track and store records, it has great potential. Cons We were promised that this tool would streamline the admissions process and make it so that our school would only need to have one application. This was a promise that this program could not and has not been able to keep. Review Source Similar Products Featured