Top 8 CRM For Higher Education: A Complete Guide

Higher education institutions do more than merely provide education to students. They manage several operations, from student recruitment and retention to building strong relationships with alumni. However, carrying out these tasks can be cumbersome when data is scattered across spreadsheets, communication is inconsistent, and administrative processes are complex.   

To address these challenges head-on, modern institutions are quickly turning towards specialized customer relationship management systems (CRM). A CRM for higher education centralizes information, improves stakeholder engagement, and automates functions throughout the student lifecycle. 

In this guide, we will walk you through our top picks of the best CRMs for higher education, their key features, benefits, and selection tips to guide you in making an informed decision. 

Salesforce Education Cloud is a unified platform that blends artificial intelligence (AI) and next-gen student information system (SIS) capabilities into one centralized platform. The platform offers Agentforce modules for each stage of the student journey, including recruitment, admission funnel, academic operations, research, and alumni relations. These AI agents also provide 24/7 support to students and staff. 

Moreover, its innovative features equip institutions with fundraising and grantmaking tools that manage Philanthropic patterns, external grant applications, and internal research grants all in one place. 

Salient Features 

• Student recruitment pilot 
• Holistic advising support 
• Intelligent degree planning 
• Philanthropic research 

Slate by Technolutions is a comprehensive system designed for admissions and enrollment management in higher education. It centralizes the entire application process, from inquiry to final decision, with tools for tracking, review, and reporting. 

Furthermore, with built-in Slate AI feature, it brings intelligent insights, advanced automation, and hyper-personalized communication to daily workflows. It improves decision making, handles complex tasks, simplifies administrative work, allowing teams to focus on building real connections with students and alumni. 

Salient Features 

• Unrivaled suite of features 
• Application management 
• Record management 
• Slate AI 

TargetX is a complete CRM specifically built for higher education to manage the entire student lifecycle, from recruitment and admission to retention and student success. It offers two main suites: Recruitment Suite and Retention Suite. These suites streamline recruitment and support student success using features such as a student success center, appointment scheduling, and SMS outreach. 

Moreover, the platform also includes specialized tools such as UChat for connecting prospects, insights for growth analytics, and engages for managing walk-in visitors. These tools connect students, improve experience, and bring conversions efficiently. 

Salient Features 

• Online chats 
• Workflow automation 
• Form builder 
• UChat 

Element451 is an all-in-one AI-powered student engagement platform especially crafted for higher education. It helps institutions manage student enrollment, the engagement process, student success, and alumni relations in a one secure system. 

However, its built-in AI workforce ‘Bolt Agents’ simplifies the process of reviewing applications, answering queries, and bringing student success while helping reduce reliance on additional staff. These agents work across multiple channels, including emails, texts, and phone calls, helping students from recruitment, admission, to the alumni journey. 

Salient Features 

• Bolt agent support 
• Task management 
• Bolt knowledge hub and insights 
• Shared conversation inbox 

LeadSquared is a feature-packed admission CRM built to support higher education institutions, which enables administrators to manage the recruitment process from start to end by automating workflows. Moreover, several other tasks, such as task assignments and follow-ups, are also simplified using this platform without losing engagement. Also, with the help of LeadSquared, you can simplify communication, leading to quick and efficient responses to the queries raised by students. 

Its unified admission portal makes the application process hassle-free for students, where they can fill in forms, upload documents, and make payments from any device. However, with its marketing performance dashboard, users can view marketing campaigns, track lead sources, and clearly see ROI reports. 

Salient Features 

• Lead management 
• Enquiry management 
• Application tracking 
• Student admission portal 

Blackbaud CRM is customizable software with flexible cloud solutions that bring digital transformation across universities and colleges. It connects advancement, enrollment, admission, and alumni engagement operations on a single platform.  

Furthermore, it provides fundraising software solutions that focus on increasing institutional revenue, enhancing alumni engagement, and connecting departments and students to save time. 

Salient Features 

• Unified database for donor reporting 
• High-impact lifecycle management 
• Single sign-on 
• Editable digital thank-you letters 

Ellucian is specifically built to support every student throughout their educational career. It is a blend of three solutions: CRM Recruit, CRM Advise, and CRM Advance in one unified platform. CRM Recruiter simplifies the recruitment funnel and admission process of students with a built-in student information system (SIS), personalized communication, and a mobile-friendly environment. Advisors use academic tools to support students, track their performance by monitoring KPIs, and spot risks early with the help of learning management system (LMS) integrations. 

In addition to that, pre-built dashboards and a data lake allow users to make informed decisions and predict outcomes. Furthermore, the CRM Advance solution has made fundraising easier for users. They can track personalized donor outreach and campaigns to build strong relationships. 

Salient Features 

• Software as a service (SaaS) migration 
• System evaluation 
• Project oversight 
• Roadmap creation 

Jenzabar CRM is a comprehensive software platform that supports strong student lifecycle management. It features a mobile-friendly student information system (SIS) that covers the complete student life from initial registration and course management to alumni engagement.  Moreover, you can change the traditional education, extend cloud services, and bring in more new students in one unified platform through its ‘Jenzabar One’ and ‘Jenzabar SONIS’ platforms.  

Data is the most valuable resource for higher education, and Jenzabar offers AI solutions that enable users to store their data to create a personalized student journey, make informed decisions, and allocate resources efficiently. 

Salient Features 

• Student billing 
• Student information system 
• Course management 
• Automate financial aid process 

Every CRM comes with its own benefits that enable higher education institutions to stay ahead of the student’s needs.   

• By centralizing applicant data and communication, institutes can simplify the admissions process  
• It helps to improve student engagement through personalized interactions  
• Users can enhance relations with alumni and donors through targeted outreach and tracking system 
• With advanced reporting and analytics features, users can create data-driven insights  
• The automation of repetitive administrative tasks increases operational efficiency and eliminate errors 

Why Do Higher Education Departments Need A CRM?  

Information Management  

Institutions these days look forward to maintaining separate databases categorizing them as students, alumni, and donors. This helps avoid issues related to record duplication, outdated information, and extra administrative work. So, in this regard, CRM assists in consolidating all records into a single system, which helps ensure that every department remains aligned on a unified data.  

Student Engagement 

If you want to build a strong relationship with students, you need to do a personalized and consistent communication, which is not possible without a unified system.  

A CRM helps to build strong connections with students by personalizing their journey from the very first interaction. By an automated system, it keeps them engaged, improves retention, and ensures a smooth journey from student to alumni. 

Simplify Admission Process  

In today’s educational landscape, admissions are not a single-step process, instead they involve multiple steps, starting from initial application and recruitment, to final enrollment. Handling of these steps through manual processes or disorganized systems often leads to delays and errors. A CRM centralizes the whole journey of student from admission to alumni relations that creates a streamlined and more transparent experience for both staff and applicants.  

Student Retention

Students at risk of dropping out or underperforming need to be identified through timely insights into their academic progress and engagement levels. It is not possible to track them without the right tool. However, by using dedicated CRM software administration can intervene with academic support. They either provide counseling or personal outreach to the students to mitigate the issues.  

Data-Driven Decision Making  

Higher institutes enroll a large number of students every year. Without proper analysis, much of this information remains unused.  A CRM turns data into actionable insights through reporting and analytics, helping departments refine recruitment, engagement, and retention strategies with precision.  

What Should Higher Education Institutions Consider When Choosing A CRM? 

No one size fits all. From admissions management to alumni engagement, every CRM comes with its own set of capabilities that range. Below are key factors that you need to keep in mind while selecting the best CRM. 

• Objectives: Before doing research online for the best CRM for higher education, clearly define the primary outcomes you want to achieve. If your focus is to attract more qualified applicants, then look for strong lead tracking and communication tools. If your priority is your student’s success, choose a system with advanced analytics that can monitor progress and flag potential issues early 
• Required Features: When you search for a specific CRM for higher education, you will find several options in the market. Some of them offer an all-in-one approach, while others are specialized for specific functions and needs. To get a clear understanding of what your institute actually needs, arrange a short meeting with representatives from every department and gather their insights. Compile a list of essential features before making a final decision 
• Integration Capabilities: Make sure your selected CRM integrates with systems you already use, such as SIS, LMS, and other tools. It keeps data accurate across multiple platforms and reduces repetitive administrative work 
• Financial Planning: Before committing to any vendor, be mindful of the total cost, including add-ons, implementation fees, and ongoing support. When you are done with the selection, match the desired plan to your budget cycle and ensure you are investing in your required features 

Final Thoughts 

Selecting the right CRM for your higher education institution depends on various key factors, institution goals, desired features, and financial planning.  

The eight platforms that we highlighted above have a distinct set of characteristics and benefits. Each one of them is designed to meet the unique needs of higher education institutions.  Still not sure about which one is best for your institution? Feel free to reach out for expert recommendations that will help you in aligning a CRM with your educational goals.