9 Best Student Information Systems, Higher Education
How do you compare software that ranges from a single all-in-one app for a small college to a platform that runs an entire university's finances? That is the problem facing anyone shopping for a student information system, because the products sold under that label are surprisingly different from one another.
The answer is to compare them by what kind of institution they suit, which is how this guide is organised. Each of the nine platforms gets a clear explanation of what it does, who it is for and what to watch out for, beginning with Full Fabric for business schools, specialist universities and professional education.
Quick picks
- Full Fabric: business schools, specialist universities and professional education
- Thesis SM: smaller universities and colleges in the UK and Canada
- Jenzabar One: private colleges in the US
- Workday Student: universities already running Workday
How to Get the Most from These Tools
Buying the right system is only half the job; the other half is setting it up well. These habits help, whichever platform you pick, and they cost little.
Map before you migrate. Write down how each process works now, from first enquiry to graduation, and mark the steps that cause delays. The new system should remove those steps, not copy them.
Clean your records. Duplicate students, old course codes and incomplete addresses travel with you into a new system unless someone fixes them first.
Go in stages if you can. Several platforms allow admissions or recruitment to go live first and the student record later, which protects a live intake from disruption.
Train early. Staff who learn the system weeks before launch make fewer mistakes than those who learn on the day.
Plan for reporting. If your institution files government returns, schedule a trial run well before the first real deadline. Keep integrations documented, too, so that upgrades or staff changes do not break the connections between your SIS and other systems.
The Platforms, One by One
1. Full Fabric: Best for Business Schools, Specialist Universities and Professional Education
Every programme has its own journey. An MBA applicant might go through an interview and a committee decision, while someone booking a two-day course simply pays and turns up. Full Fabric lets institutions design custom lifecycles for each type of programme, and those lifecycles are included in the €12,000 annual platform fee along with contact management, events, forms, landing pages and automations.
Those journeys all live on one data model shared by the CRM, admissions, commerce and the SIS. That means the person who first filled in an enquiry form is the same record that later receives grades, a transcript and a diploma, and nobody has to copy information from one system to another.
The SIS side covers course and calendar management, grades, re-registration, transcripts, diplomas, certifications and stacked learner management, where smaller courses build towards bigger qualifications. UK institutions get HESA reporting, and the platform is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022.
What it leaves out is finance and HR software, and US financial aid is not covered. Usage-based charges for Commerce, Admissions and SIS sit on top of the platform fee, and implementation is a separate one-off cost.
2. Thesis SM
Thesis SM is a cloud student system for small and medium-sized institutions in the UK and Canada. It used to be called Unit4 Student Management, and some staff may still know it by that name.
For UK institutions it handles a long list of required reports and checks: HESA and HESES, ILR, UniStats, and UKVI rules for sponsoring international students. Canadian institutions can issue T2202 tax forms. That coverage is unusual for a system aimed at smaller institutions.
Staff can design workflows with their own rules and automatic emails, and build standard, ad hoc or custom reports. Open APIs and full CSV export keep the data accessible. Plan for 12 to 24 months to implement, and note that US colleges are pointed to a separate product, Thesis Elements.
Thesis says most other systems take around 30 months to implement, so it presents its timeline as comparatively quick. Its UK G-Cloud listing describes clients ranging from about 1,000 students to almost 40,000, and the company also looks after older student systems such as CAMS and QL.
3. Jenzabar One
Jenzabar One is a cloud platform for American colleges that combines four systems in one: Jenzabar Student, Financial Aid, Finance and HR software. All four share a single record, so information about a student's studies and money sits together.
The company focuses on students who don't follow the usual route, such as adults returning to education or people studying part-time. Flexible and recurring payment plans and messaging across several channels are designed with those learners in mind.
From its Boston base, Jenzabar points to more than four decades in higher education, and IDC rated it a Leader for North American higher education SIS in 2024. UK and European reporting is absent, and prices are private.
Beyond the core four systems, the platform includes advancement for fundraising, online learning support, data analytics, automated workflows and a Campus Marketplace for selling services. For a small IT team, having all of that from one supplier reduces the number of connections to look after.
4. Workday Student
Most people know Workday for its HR and finance software. Workday Student brings records, advising, the student experience and student financials onto that same platform.
If your university already uses Workday for staff and money, this is the main reason to consider it: student, staff and budget data can be analysed together without connecting separate systems. Advisors get AI-powered planning tools and alerts about students who may be at risk, and students use a mobile-first app.
Named users include Deakin, the University of Queensland and Macquarie University. Workday does not publish prices, does not mention UK or US government reporting on its overview pages, and warns that some unreleased features may change.
For technical teams, Workday Extend allows custom apps to be built on the same platform, and a partner Marketplace offers add-ons. Skills intelligence, which links study pathways to the skills employers need, is another feature Workday highlights.
5. Ellucian
Ellucian is a software company that works only with higher education. Its student products, Banner, Colleague and Anthology Student, sit under the Ellucian Student name, and its HR and finance software run on the same platform.
American colleges tend to value its handling of financial aid and its AI tool for matching students to scholarships most, followed by degree planning, early warnings for advisors and an automated student advisor. Ellucian counts roughly 3,000 customers across 50 countries.
Anthology Student joined Ellucian when an acquisition completed at the end of 2025. Ellucian has not explained how its three student systems will develop together, so new buyers should ask which one is recommended. Prices are not published; the company offers a demo and an ROI calculator instead.
Gartner has named Ellucian a Leader for higher education SaaS SIS for two years in a row. The SaaS version of Banner upgrades itself automatically and offers REST APIs, which helps IT teams connect other systems.
6. Classe365
Smaller colleges and training providers are the audience for Classe365, a deliberately simple single product. Inside it are records, attendance, report cards, a learning area, an admissions CRM, degree audit and fee collection, plus portals and apps for both parents and students.
Its pricing is easy to understand. The core module is priced by student numbers, and each extra module has a flat price however many students use it. Renewing annually saves 10%, and not-for-profit discounts are available.
Check reporting first, because national returns such as HESA don't feature in Classe365's material. Its current price list dates from 1 January 2025 and replaced one that had stood since 2013.
A public API is documented for technical staff, and enterprise terms apply to institutions with more than 1,000 students. For a small private college, that combination of simple pricing and a broad feature set can be enough to run everything in one place.
7. Classter
Schools, colleges, academies and training firms all run on Classter, which works as a set of modules you mix and match: admissions, a virtual classroom, billing, a library or HR, each priced per active student.
It works in seven languages and connects to more than 40 tools, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle and Canvas. That makes it practical for groups working across countries or running several kinds of education at once.
The weak point for universities is regulation, since neither HESA nor IPEDS is mentioned. Classter's own worked example for a 1,000-student college charges €8.50 per active student for the core module.
Support comes through a help portal and knowledge base, and a public changelog shows what has been updated. The company reports a 98% user satisfaction rating, and its developer is Greek, according to the website footer.
8. TechnologyOne OneEducation
OneEducation is an ERP, or enterprise resource planning system, meaning it runs the business side of an institution as well as student records. Finance, HR, payroll, timetabling and curriculum management all share one data model.
With SaaS+, setup, help desk support and future upgrades are bundled into one subscription, so long-range budgets are simpler to build. TechnologyOne trades in the UK, Australia and New Zealand and claims more than 6.5 million students on the suite.
It is best for universities replacing several systems at the same time. Institutions that only want a student system, or that are based outside those three countries, will find it less suitable.
Course design tools arrived when TechnologyOne bought CourseLoop, and exams, room booking and the DxP Student portal are part of the same suite. The company has been building ERP software since 1987, with Victoria University among its named customers.
9. Oracle Student and PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
There are two Oracle options: the long-standing PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.2 and the cloud-based Oracle Student, which splits into Student Management and a financial aid module named Student Financial Planning.
Oracle Student copes well with irregular course lengths, unusual grading and continuing education, where short courses are charged at enrolment and sponsors receive invoices. Universities already on Oracle's finance and HR cloud have the strongest reason to choose it.
Its documentation is written for the US, with references to FERPA, and prices are not published.
Other useful features include Student Central, where students manage their own information, a course scheduler and academic plan templates. Oracle also supports consortia, where several institutions share degrees or exchange students, without having to set the system up again.
Comparing the Nine
Platform |
What it is |
Best for |
Published pricing |
Full Fabric |
Unified CRM, admissions and SIS |
Business schools and specialist institutions |
€12,000 per year platform fee plus usage |
Thesis SM |
Cloud SIS |
Smaller UK and Canadian institutions |
Not listed |
Jenzabar One |
SIS and ERP |
US private colleges |
Not listed |
Workday Student |
SIS on Workday's platform |
Workday customers |
Not listed |
Ellucian |
Higher education suite |
Large North American institutions |
Not listed |
Classe365 |
All-in-one SIS, LMS and CRM |
Small providers |
Modular model |
Classter |
Modular education platform |
Mixed education groups |
Per active student |
TechnologyOne OneEducation |
Education ERP |
Back-office consolidation |
Not listed |
Oracle Student and PeopleSoft |
Cloud and legacy SIS |
Oracle universities |
Not listed |
Key Features to Look For
Whichever platform you shortlist, check for a handful of features that make daily life easier.
A student self-service portal lets learners check grades, update details and pay fees without emailing staff. A built-in or connected admissions system means applicant information flows straight into the student record. Government reporting support matters for any regulated institution, so confirm HESA in the UK or financial aid in the US.
Check the support model as well, including phone coverage, help centres and status pages. Look too for documented integrations with your learning platform, payment provider and CRM, and for clear security information, such as named certifications. Finally, ask about flexible programmes: short courses, corporate groups and stackable credentials are increasingly common, and not every system handles them well. Ask, too, how long implementation usually takes for an institution of your size.
Final Verdict
Our overall recommendation for business schools, specialist universities and professional education providers is Full Fabric. Every programme can follow its own custom lifecycle, recruitment and records live on one learner file, and the platform fee is public. Smaller UK and Canadian institutions with demanding reporting should weigh up Thesis SM, and anyone already invested in Workday, Oracle or TechnologyOne should look first at that supplier's student product.