Manual advising processes slowing you down?
With growing enrollment demands and outdated systems, keeping every student on a clear path to graduation is a huge administrative burden. You’re drowning in spreadsheets.
The real issue is that manual data entry and tracking lead to errors and missed opportunities to support at-risk students before it’s too late.
This isn’t just a feeling. The National Center for Education Statistics found that 45% reporting manual data entry errors impact advising accuracy. This directly threatens your institution’s retention and graduation goals.
But the right software can fix this. It helps by automating degree progress tracking and providing actionable insights to advisors.
In this article, I’m going to guide you through the best academic advising software available today. I’ll break down tools that integrate with your SIS to streamline operations.
You’ll find solutions that reduce advisor workload, improve student engagement, and ultimately boost your institution’s retention and graduation rates.
Let’s get started.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Rock Software → | Mid-sized universities | |
| 2 | PowerSchool → | Growing K-12 districts | |
| 3 | Skyward → | Public school districts | |
| 4 | Anthology → | Comprehensive higher ed | |
| 5 | EAB → | Retention-focused institutions |
1. Red Rock Software
Struggling with outdated advising processes?
Red Rock Software empowers you to overcome evaluation paralysis, offering solutions that streamline operations. This means your institution can stop worrying about manual processes and start focusing on student success.
Your administrative workload can be significantly reduced with efficient degree audits. This creates more time for personalized student engagement.
Here’s how you can transform your academic advising.
Red Rock Software provides the comprehensive tools needed to manage degree audits effectively, even for large student populations. This capability directly addresses the challenge of supporting growing enrollment demands, ensuring no student is left behind.
You can enhance student success metrics and improve graduate rates through personalized pathways. Additionally, you’ll gain actionable insights from enrollment trends, enabling data-driven retention strategies. This ensures you can meet accreditation requirements and maintain competitive positioning through advanced advising capabilities, fostering scalable systems for evolving enrollment dynamics and regulatory demands.
Imagine a system that truly supports your institution.
Key features:
- Comprehensive degree auditing allows you to manage degree audits for large student populations, ensuring accuracy and compliance for every student.
- Streamlined administrative workflows reduce manual processes and administrative workload, freeing up advisors to focus on personalized student interactions.
- Data-driven insights provide actionable intelligence from enrollment trends, supporting predictive advising and improving student retention strategies.
Learn more about Red Rock Software features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: While specific features are not detailed, Red Rock Software’s focus on robust degree audits and streamlining operations suggests a strong fit for institutions aiming to improve student success and operational efficiency. It’s poised to be the best academic advising software for mid-sized universities.
2. PowerSchool
Struggling to manage your student success initiatives?
PowerSchool offers a unified platform designed to streamline operations and boost student engagement. This means you can say goodbye to outdated manual processes.
With PowerSchool, you can transform your advising workflows and improve retention. This helps overcome evaluation paralysis.
Here’s how PowerSchool delivers.
You can gain actionable insights from enrollment trends, improving graduate rates through personalized pathways. This enhances your ability to manage degree audits efficiently.
PowerSchool provides a comprehensive suite of tools that support growing enrollment demands, ensuring your institution can scale. It integrates with existing SIS/LMS platforms, reducing administrative workload for your advisors and IT teams alike.
This allows you to make data-driven retention strategies, access predictive analytics for at-risk students, and foster competitive positioning through advanced advising capabilities.
Experience streamlined compliance and enhanced student success.
Key features:
- Unified Platform: Consolidate your academic operations onto one intuitive platform, allowing you to manage student data and advising processes from a single source of truth.
- Data-Driven Insights: Utilize predictive analytics and reporting tools to identify at-risk students early, personalize academic pathways, and boost overall student retention rates.
- Seamless Integration: Connect PowerSchool with your existing SIS and LMS platforms, ensuring smooth data flow and minimal disruption to your current academic workflows.
Learn more about PowerSchool features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: PowerSchool offers robust features for improving graduate rates and operational efficiency, making it a strong contender for the best academic advising software. Its predictive analytics and comprehensive reporting capabilities directly address your need for data-driven insights to boost student success.
3. Skyward
Are you struggling with overwhelming administrative tasks?
Skyward’s Student Information System (SIS) offers solutions designed to streamline essential administrative functions, saving you valuable time. This means you can devote more hours to student support.
It helps you complete tasks with super speed, freeing up your staff to focus on meaningful engagement that directly improves student success metrics. This empowers your entire academic community.
Here’s how Skyward delivers a better experience for everyone.
Skyward provides a comprehensive SIS solution, enabling you to increase instructional time and engage families on a deeper level. This empowers you to deliver the best educational experience to your students, from initial enrollment to graduation.
Its Student Services module centralizes student profiles, schedules, and test scores, allowing for unified data management. This streamlines the crucial process of managing degree audits for large student populations, providing personalized pathways. The system’s interoperability ensures seamless integration with your existing data systems, enabling continuous use without disruption. Additionally, Skyward offers robust analytics capabilities, like DistrictPulse, providing actionable insights from enrollment trends and helping with predictive advising to support at-risk students and improve retention rates.
This platform empowers your institution to foster a more efficient, successful, and enjoyable culture.
Speaking of optimizing operations, if your institution also manages physical resources, my article on integrated distribution systems offers valuable insights.
Key features:
- Student Information System (SIS): Centralizes student data, including profiles, schedules, and test scores, to support comprehensive degree audits and personalized academic pathways.
- Interoperability and Integrations: Ensures seamless integration with existing data systems, allowing you to maintain current platforms while leveraging Skyward’s advanced capabilities.
- Data Analytics (DistrictPulse): Provides actionable insights from enrollment trends and supports predictive advising, helping to identify and assist at-risk students for improved retention.
Learn more about Skyward features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Skyward stands out as a strong contender for the best academic advising software due to its powerful SIS, comprehensive data management, and interoperability. The platform helps academic leaders streamline operations and access crucial analytics for data-driven retention strategies, as evidenced by one district operating with fewer administrative employees using Skyward.
4. Anthology
Struggling with student retention and operational efficiency?
Anthology provides a complete SaaS solution suite, featuring a Student Information System (SIS), a Learning Management System (LMS), and a Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solution. This means your institution can streamline operations and boost student success.
This integrated approach helps overcome the evaluation paralysis many provosts and deans face, offering a unified platform instead of disparate tools.
Here’s how Anthology helps.
Anthology’s SIS, called Anthology Student, streamlines your operations and empowers student success across their entire journey. The LMS, Blackboard, offers modern learning capabilities and built-in AI, simplifying teaching and engaging learners. This comprehensive suite centralizes student data and academic records. Additionally, Anthology Reach is a CRM solution ensuring institutional sustainability and strategic growth. Plus, Anthology Illuminate provides a holistic data and reporting platform that unites siloed sources from across your campus, delivering key, actionable insights and enhanced analytics.
The result: improved graduate rates and reduced administrative workload.
While we’re discussing operational efficiency, my article on best GIS software covers complex planning.
Key features:
- Complete SaaS Solution Suite: Offers a unified ecosystem including SIS, LMS, and CRM solutions to manage all aspects of student lifecycle and institutional operations.
- Holistic Data and Reporting: Anthology Illuminate integrates data from across your campus to provide actionable insights and advanced analytics for data-driven decisions.
- Integrated AI Capabilities: Blackboard LMS includes built-in AI to simplify teaching, enhance student engagement, and advance learning through innovative and responsible technology.
Learn more about Anthology features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Anthology’s comprehensive SaaS ecosystem, with its integrated SIS, LMS, and CRM alongside powerful analytics, makes it a top contender for the best academic advising software, addressing challenges from student retention to operational efficiency.
5. EAB
Struggling with student retention and graduation rates?
EAB offers Navigate360, a leading CRM designed for higher education to recruit, retain, and engage students. This means you can simplify complex advising workflows.
You can streamline operations, especially if you’re dealing with outdated manual processes and poor student engagement metrics.
Here’s how to boost your institution’s success.
EAB provides solutions focused on student success and retention, empowering you to address current limitations effectively. This means you can enhance student outcomes with predictive analytics and personalized guidance.
Navigate360, for example, is described as your “mothership” where you note every decision made, why you did something, when you met with someone, providing game-changing transparency and accountability. Additionally, EAB’s data and analytics solutions help CIOs and IT teams advance strategic priorities and build a data-informed culture across campus, offering powerful data warehousing and direct-to-user analytics tools for better decision-making.
This all leads to improved student outcomes.
Key features:
- Student Success and Retention solutions: Recruit, retain, graduate, and empower more students using higher education’s leading CRM technology, enhancing overall student experience.
- Navigate360: Higher Education CRM: Engage students and alumni with a student-centric AI-powered platform that improves transparency and accountability in advising.
- Data and Analytics solutions: Leverage powerful data warehousing and direct-to-user analytics tools to drive strategic priorities and foster a data-informed campus culture.
Learn more about EAB features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: EAB’s Navigate360 stands out for institutions aiming to improve retention and graduation rates, with typical improvements of 3-15% reported by partners. Its AI-powered CRM and robust data analytics make it the best academic advising software for institutions seeking to streamline operations, enhance student engagement, and make data-driven decisions to foster student success.
6. Jenzabar
Struggling with fragmented advising and retention efforts?
Jenzabar offers Jenzabar One and Jenzabar SONIS, unified solutions to streamline operations and drive student success. This means you can break through traditional education barriers.
The software helps you unite your campus under one platform, extending services to the cloud and attracting the “New Student,” thereby enhancing student engagement and operational efficiency.
Let’s talk about the solution.
Jenzabar provides a comprehensive suite of tools designed to help every department achieve its mission efficiently and economically. This includes modules like Analytics, Chatbot, Communications, and Retention.
Their Retention software allows for early intervention systems to boost student engagement, which is crucial for improving graduation rates. Additionally, their Workflow software helps automate processes, simplify access to student data and improving accuracy in reporting.
You also get tools like Enrollytics, which drives enrollment using real-time data, and an AI-driven Chatbot to empower student agency. These capabilities work together to foster a competitive position for your institution, supporting evolving enrollment dynamics.
Ultimately, this helps you empower students and attract them to your campus.
Key features:
- Unified Campus Platform Unites your campus under one comprehensive platform, integrating systems and eliminating silos to streamline operations and enhance overall institutional efficiency.
- AI-Driven Engagement Tools Empowers student agency and engagement through an AI-driven chatbot and leverages AI to drive both institutional and student success by harnessing data.
- Strategic Retention Software Enables early intervention systems and promotes student success through dedicated retention software, maintaining high retention rates and improving student engagement.
Learn more about Jenzabar features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Jenzabar offers a robust, unified platform designed to address the core challenges of academic advising. With a strong focus on AI-driven insights, retention strategies, and workflow automation, it’s a strong contender as the best academic advising software for institutions aiming to improve student success, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.
7. Watermark
Are your academic operations truly optimized?
Watermark offers a comprehensive suite to manage institutional data, improve student success, and meet accreditation requirements, helping you go beyond basic advising. This means you can track progress and foster continuous improvement.
Their solutions empower you to automate tasks and simplify data collection, ensuring your focus remains on student and institutional success. You can streamline processes and gain valuable insights.
It’s time to transform your academic advising.
Watermark’s Educational Impact Suite automates key administrative burdens, allowing you to concentrate on student outcomes. This centralized system gathers critical data for improved decision-making and institutional effectiveness, alleviating evaluation paralysis.
Here’s how: you can utilize early alerts and AI-powered tools to keep underserved students engaged, significantly boosting student retention and optimizing program completion rates. This proactively supports your student body.
Additionally, capabilities like Planning & Self-Study foster campus collaboration, while Curriculum Strategy streamlines development and updates your catalog in real time, making compliance and reporting much easier for your team.
You’ll gain actionable insights for student success.
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Key features:
- Student Success & Engagement: Uses early alerts and AI to boost student retention and program completion, ensuring proactive support for your student body and improving graduate rates.
- Planning & Self-Study: Facilitates campus collaboration and continuous improvement by providing an assessment and accreditation platform to meet evolving requirements and streamline workflows.
- Curriculum Strategy: Simplifies curriculum development and real-time catalog updates, reducing administrative workload and supporting efficient management of degree audits for large populations.
Learn more about Watermark features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Watermark offers a robust suite for academic advising, helping provosts and deans streamline operations and boost student success. Their tools automate tasks, enhance student engagement, and provide vital data for retention strategies, making them a strong contender for the best academic advising software.
8. Ellucian
Struggling with complex advising processes and student retention?
Ellucian provides a complete student lifecycle solution, powering end-to-end student engagement. This includes advanced degree audit and planning tools.
You can streamline operations with intuitive planning tools and AI-driven student engagement, transforming your student information system. This means your institution can focus on what truly matters.
Simplify your academic advising workflow.
Ellucian’s integrated ecosystem keeps learners moving forward with proactive support. It helps remove financial uncertainty, a major barrier to student success.
Your academic advisors gain powerful tools for personalized planning and degree discovery, propelling on-time completion for your students. Plus, AI-driven solutions and real-time insights streamline the education experience. This helps you recruit, enroll, advise, and ultimately graduate students, while managing budgets, grants, and spending with streamlined processes.
This comprehensive platform ensures students are on track at every stage of their learning journey.
Key features:
- Student Lifecycle Management: Powers the entire student lifecycle with an end-to-end solution, including recruitment, enrollment, advising, and graduation.
- Degree Audit & Planning: Provides personalized planning and degree discovery tools that are designed to propel your students toward on-time completion.
- AI-Driven Engagement: Offers AI-powered solutions and real-time insights to enhance student engagement and streamline the overall educational experience.
Learn more about Ellucian features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Ellucian stands out by offering a complete, AI-enriched platform specifically designed for higher education. Its focus on personalized planning and streamlined processes makes it suitable as a top academic advising software, aiming to improve retention rates and operational efficiency for your institution.
9. Stellic
Is evaluating academic advising software causing you evaluation paralysis?
Stellic offers next-generation degree management tools to align your entire campus towards on-time graduation and career success. This means you can empower students to own their academic journey.
Stellic makes it easy for advisors to keep track of students and their plans with proactive alerts for when students are at-risk of falling behind.
Here’s how to streamline operations.
Stellic helps transform workflows with a connected campus, allowing key administrative processes like exceptions and graduation certifications to go from weeks to hours. This is achieved through instant access to reporting on student degree progress, meaning you can graduate more students, faster, while saving valuable resources. Additionally, Stellic unlocks powerful data, leveraging insights from SIS and student plans to identify trends in course demand and projected graduation bottlenecks. This helps you make data-driven decisions and better allocate resources like course offerings. Plus, you can supercharge advisors with tools to filter advisees instantly, communicate effectively, and collaborate across departments.
Improve student success and retention today.
Speaking of student engagement and retention, you might also be interested in my article on best patient engagement software.
Key features:
- Adaptive, guided degree planner: Helps students organize, track, and personalize their degree path while aligning with their career goals.
- Proactive, smart advising assistant: Enables advisors to easily track students, view plans at-a-glance, send bulk messages, and receive proactive alerts for at-risk students.
- Reimagined degree audit and reporting: Transforms administrative processes by building reports on student progress and making audit changes in minutes, while unlocking powerful real-time data on course demand.
Learn more about Stellic features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Stellic excels at providing a student-centric, holistic approach, with up to an 8x increase in student engagement within the first year for its users, making it suitable as a top academic advising software solution for improved retention and graduation rates.
Conclusion
Is outdated advising hurting your institution?
The challenge isn’t just managing student data. It’s finding a platform that truly integrates with your systems and empowers advisors, not just overwhelms them.
The right tools make a huge impact. Cognitive Market Research reports AI-driven platforms can reduce administrative time by 30%. This crucial time saved allows advisors to focus on personalized student success.
So, what’s the best solution?
After reviewing these nine platforms, I recommend Red Rock Software. It’s built to tackle the core challenge of streamlining complex degree audits for you.
Beyond dedicated advising tools, improving overall team efficiency often hinges on effective communication. My guide on best collaboration software explores options to boost team output.
Its strength lies in automating workflows and providing clear, data-driven insights. It is the best academic advising software I’ve found for mid-sized universities needing to improve operational efficiency and student outcomes.
I suggest you see how it can directly support your campus goals. Visit the Red Rock Software website to explore its features.
You’ll build a more successful student body.
