Blackboard Learn LMS, now a standalone company after Anthology's 2026 restructuring
Best Academic Advising Software
Academic advising software helps advisors guide student success, primarily in higher education and high schools. This EdTech tool streamlines advising by centralizing student data, degree planning, communication, appointment scheduling, and more. Key benefits include:
More about Academic Advising Software
- Accessing student records and performance data
- Mapping out degree plans and requirements
- Scheduling advising sessions and office hours
- Email/messaging with students
- Tracking student progress and outcomes
- Generating reports on advising metrics
Quality academic advising software integrates with school systems for easy information sharing. The centralized platform allows coordinated, data-driven advising. Adoption continues growing as schools aim to boost engagement and improve student outcomes. This guide provides an overview of academic advising software and how it enhances advising.
Academic Advising Software Compared
Compare the 5 most relevant Academic Advising Software options on price, free trial and deployment.
| Product | Starting price | Free trial | Free plan | API | Deployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Anthology (Blackboard) Blackboard Learn LMS, now a standalone company after Anthology's 2026… | Custom | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based, On Premises |
 Slate (Technolutions) Higher education CRM for admissions, student success, and advancement offices | $30,000/year | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Civitas Learning AI-powered student success platform helping colleges predict and improve outcomes | Custom | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Ellucian Higher education SIS, ERP, and campus technology platform for colleges… | Custom | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based, On Premises, Hybrid |
 Watermark Assessment, accreditation, faculty activity, and course evaluation software for higher… | Custom | – | – | – | Cloud Based |
All Software
5 Best Academic Advising Software Options
Showing 1 - 5 of 5 products
Anthology was a higher education software company known for the Blackboard learning management system (LMS), along with student information system and CRM products. In September 2025 Anthology filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy under heavy debt from its 2021 merger with Blackboard. As part of the restructuring, Ellucian acquired Anthology's SIS/ERP business and Encoura acquired its CRM and student success business.
In March 2026 the remaining teaching and learning business emerged debt-free and rebranded back to Blackboard, with anthology.com redirecting to blackboard.com. Blackboard Learn remains a widely used LMS offering course management, gradebook, assignment tools, mobile access, accessibility features, and AI-assisted tools. Pricing is not published and is negotiated per institution.
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Explore various Keka features, compare the pricing plans, and unlock the potential of seamless operations by selecting the right software for your business.
- Course management and content authoring
- Gradebook and assignment submission
- Discussion boards and messaging
- Mobile app for students and instructors
- Native accessibility checker (Ally integration)
- Video Studio for instructor-created video content
- AI Design Assistant for course building
- AI Conversations activity type for AI literacy practice
- Activity dashboards, alerts, and at-risk student reporting
- Third-party LTI integrations
Pricing
Anthology (Blackboard) Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Higher education CRM for admissions, student success, and advancement offices
Slate is a cloud-based constituent relationship management (CRM) platform built by Technolutions, a company headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. It is widely used among admissions offices and also offers modules for student success and advancement, serving more than 1,700 colleges and universities. Slate handles application management, communications, event registration, application review workflows, and applicant or student portals from a single interface.
Technolutions publishes its licensing tiers openly. Admissions licenses start at $30,000 per year for institutions with fewer than 1,500 submitted applications and scale up based on application volume, reaching $175,000 per year at the largest published tier before custom pricing applies above 100,000 applications. Advancement licenses are priced separately by undergraduate enrollment, and the company states it has not raised list prices in over 20 years.
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- Application management and status tracking
- Multi-channel communications (email, text, print) with merge fields
- Automated, milestone-triggered campaigns
- Application review and committee reading workflows with territory assignment
- Applicant and student self-service portals
- Event management with mobile-first registration
- Student success and advancement modules
- Reporting and analytics
- Cloud hosting with no local hardware requirements
Pricing
Admissions - under 1,500 applications
$30,000/year
Fewer than 1,500 submitted applications
Admissions - 7,500-15,000 applications
$75,000/year
7,500-15,000 submitted applications
Admissions - 15,000-40,000 applications
$100,000/year
15,000-40,000 submitted applications
Admissions - 40,000-100,000 applications
$125,000-$175,000/year
40,000-100,000 submitted applications
Slate (Technolutions) Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
AI-powered student success platform helping colleges predict and improve outcomes
Civitas Learning is a student success platform that unifies data from an institution's SIS, LMS, CRM, and other systems into one place, applying predictive analytics to identify at-risk students and forecast outcomes such as retention and completion. Advisors get real-time alerts, shared notes, and AI-suggested next actions to guide outreach and coordinate campus-wide interventions.
The platform also includes scheduling and degree-planning tools that let students build course schedules aligned with predicted demand, plus initiative analytics to measure the return on student success programs. Civitas Learning, based in Austin, Texas, serves hundreds of colleges and universities but does not publish pricing; institutions must contact the company directly for a custom quote.
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Explore various Keka features, compare the pricing plans, and unlock the potential of seamless operations by selecting the right software for your business.
Features
View all Civitas Learning Features- Predictive analytics models identifying at-risk students
- Real-time advisor alerts and shared student notes
- AI-generated next-best-action recommendations for advisors
- Academic scheduling and degree planning tools
- Course demand projections for registration planning
- Initiative analytics measuring program ROI
- Data integration across SIS, LMS, CRM, and other campus systems
- AI assistants for note-taking and survey building
Pricing
Civitas Learning Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Higher education SIS, ERP, and campus technology platform for colleges and universities
Ellucian is a higher education technology company based in Reston, Virginia, that builds student information systems (SIS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for colleges and universities. Its core products include Banner, Colleague, and the newer cloud native Ellucian Student platform, covering admissions, registration, financial aid, student records, and academic advising. The Ethos data platform connects these systems with other campus tools.
In 2026 Ellucian acquired Anthology's Enterprise Operations business, adding the Anthology Student SIS/ERP line to its portfolio following Anthology's bankruptcy restructuring. Ellucian serves thousands of institutions worldwide and offers both cloud and on premises deployment options, with pricing negotiated individually per institution rather than published.
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Features
View all Ellucian Features- Banner and Colleague student information systems
- Ellucian Student cloud native SaaS SIS
- Ethos data integration and API platform
- Financial aid and student records management
- Recruiting and admissions tools
- Academic advising and degree planning
- Ellucian Experience unified portal and UX layer
- Ellucian Mobile app for students and staff
- Agentic AI powered automation and recommendations
- Analytics and institutional reporting
Pricing
Ellucian Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Assessment, accreditation, faculty activity, and course evaluation software for higher education
Watermark provides a suite of higher education software tools focused on assessment, accreditation, faculty activity reporting, and course evaluations. Its Planning and Self-Study product centralizes institutional planning, assessment, and program review, while separate modules cover faculty success reporting, student learning evidence, and AI-assisted survey analysis for course evaluations.
Aimed at provosts, deans, institutional effectiveness offices, and CIOs, Watermark is used by more than 1,700 higher education institutions worldwide. The company, headquartered in Austin, Texas, does not publish pricing; costs are quoted individually based on which modules an institution selects and its size, so prospective customers must request a demo and custom quote.
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Explore various Keka features, compare the pricing plans, and unlock the potential of seamless operations by selecting the right software for your business.
Features
View all Watermark Features- Centralized assessment and accreditation planning and self-study workflows
- Course evaluation and survey collection with AI-powered analysis
- Faculty activity reporting and automated review workflows
- Curriculum and catalog management tools
- Rubric-based assessment project scoring
- Student learning and licensure evidence capture
- AI insight tools including Academic Momentum and Instructor Insights
- Used by over 1,700 higher education institutions worldwide
Pricing
Watermark Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Academic Advising Software Buyer's Guide
Most Academic Advising Software options look alike on a feature grid, so the useful comparison is how each handles your actual process. This guide walks through capabilities, typical users, pricing models, and how to run a trial that tells you something.
What is Academic Advising Software?
Academic Advising Software helps teams support teaching, learning, enrolment, and the administration of an education provider. The value is mostly in removing duplicate effort, since the same information stops being re entered across disconnected tools. The better products stay usable at small scale without becoming limiting once volume increases.
Key features to look for in Academic Advising Software
These are the capabilities that most often distinguish Academic Advising Software products in practice.
- Student records and enrolment management
- Course, class, and timetable scheduling
- Assessment, grading, and progress tracking
- Attendance recording
- Communication with students and parents
- Fee and payment handling
- Reporting for staff and governing bodies
- Access for students, staff, and guardians
Benefits of using Academic Advising Software
Teams using Academic Advising Software well typically report:
- One record per student across their whole journey
- Less administrative work for teaching staff
- Parents and students kept informed automatically
- Timetable clashes caught before term starts
- Reporting ready when inspectors or boards ask
Who uses Academic Advising Software?
Academic Advising Software is used by administrators, teachers and tutors, registrars, and school or institution leadership. The best fit depends less on organisation size than on how closely a product’s assumptions match how you already operate.
How to choose the right Academic Advising Software
Worth weighing before you commit to any Academic Advising Software option:
- Whether it fits your institution type and size
- How communication with parents and students works
- Fee handling and whether it suits your payment structure
- Reporting required by your governing body
- How much training staff will need before term starts
Test two or three options on real cases, not a scripted demo, and weight the opinion of whoever will be in it every day.
How much does Academic Advising Software cost?
Commonly per student per year or per staff user per month. Larger institutions usually negotiate annual contracts with implementation included. Model cost at the scale you expect to reach, and check nothing you depend on sits in a higher tier than the one quoted.
FAQs of Academic Advising Software
Academic Advising Software covers the operational side of teaching and learning work, holding records, scheduling and invoicing together instead of across separate tools.
Generic software leaves you building the teaching and learning specifics yourself, whereas Academic Advising Software ships with them at a higher price.
Fit depends on the scale Academic Advising Software was designed for, so check whether the vendor’s typical teaching and learning customer resembles your own operation.
Migration support varies across Academic Advising Software, so ask what the vendor imports as standard from your current teaching and learning records and what needs manual work.
Academic Advising Software is usually billed per seat or per site each month, and specialist teaching and learning tooling generally prices above generic software.
Test Academic Advising Software on genuine teaching and learning tasks with the people who will actually use it rather than on a scripted scenario.