# Ellucian Student Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Is Ellucian Student the right Financial Management solution for you? Explore 39 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/171158/Banner-Finance/reviews

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Ellucian Student

3.7 (39)

[View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/171158/Banner-Finance/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/)

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Last updated March 13th, 2026

# Reviews of Ellucian Student

Ease of use

3.1

Customer Service

3.2

## Pros and Cons in Reviews

GC

Georgiana C

AccountantHigher Education, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“Implementing software systems is difficult but we had some excellent trainers when we went live with Banner Finance. “

July 18, 2023

CE

Carl E

Director of Enterprise IntegrationsEducation Management, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“The loss of Ellucian Customer Service Managers who were assigned to look out for and advocate on behalf of customers has perhaps been the biggest loss experienced by any software by any vendor.“

July 21, 2023

NC

Nicole C

Degree AnalystEducation Management, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“Our help guide isn't up to date with the new verse so sometimes going to the guide to figure out what you did wrong and why something will not save/update is a pain. But, I can usually figure out what I did.“

August 3, 2023

JN

Jonathan N

Administrative Systems Support TechnicianEducation Management, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“It is old and has the baggage of any old system and lots of training is needed for employees new to it.“

July 18, 2023

TM

Tasneem M

Associate professorHigher Education, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“Report customization is difficult.“

November 14, 2023

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 1-25 of 39 Reviews

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Most Helpful

Rating

Company Size

Reviewer's Role

Length of Use

Frequency of Use

Ryan S.  
Accountant - Internal Controls  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "I use this software every day for my accounting job at a major Midwest university."

July 23, 2018

5.0

This software has allowed me to be very efficient with my work as I am able to identify any accounting issues that may arise. Additionally, the system makes it very easy to look at prior fiscal years, which is a very large benefit when our auditors are asking for that information.

Pros

This software, and the newest update, has made accounting a breeze. The financial system allows me to easily see where any reconciling item may be, and allows me reference codes so I may gather further detail. The new capability of using Chrome is a great feature as well because our entire organization is comfortable with the format.

Cons

My only con would be that on some screens I am not able to copy certain data, which requires me to manually input the data. This is a small complaint because it is minimal amounts of typing.

Review Source

GC

Georgiana C.  
Accountant  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Banner Finance and related Ellucian products"

July 18, 2023

4.0

Ellucian is a robust computer system. Data does not get lost unexpectedly. There are exception reports that allow us to keep the financial records in balance and control reports that allow us to keep the subsidiary ledgers in agreement with the control accounts.

Pros

Implementing software systems is difficult but we had some excellent trainers when we went live with Banner Finance. The Ellucian support is very comprehensive. The various modules interface with Finance which eliminates duplicate data entry. And the current Banner product can be accessed from anywhere.

Cons

The length of the fields in Banner 9 data entry pages do not correspond to the data being entered. I shouldn't have to scroll to see what I have typed into a single field. There are often huge spaces but only a limited number of characters are accepted and the rest are truncated.

Reason for choosing Ellucian Student

It was the best alternative out there at the time. And, I believe it still is the best option. The Ellucian products have expanded and grown over time.

Review Source

JK

Joseph K.  
Instructional Designer  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Tries to do more than it can"

June 6, 2024

3.0

The people at Ellucian are professional and direct. Their systems are . . . neither. Their Course Catalog system lacks keyword searching - a problem they acknowledge but cannot solve. Their SIS will not provide real-time updates to our LMS - a problem they acknowledge but cannot solve, despite the existence of 3rd party solutions that do the job.

Pros

It brought together many disparate systems, saving a tremendous amount of time.

Cons

The company promises more than it can deliver, and attempts to integrate into multiple systems it should not.

Review Source

CC

Christian C.  
Talent Acquisition Specialist  
Outsourcing/Offshoring  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "The best platform to manage employees data."

February 19, 2024

5.0

Pros

This program provides a centralized database for storing all employee-related information, including personal details, employment history, benefits, payroll information, and performance evaluations. This centralized approach streamlines HR processes and ensures data consistency across the institution.

Cons

The initial investment and ongoing costs associated with Ellucian Banner, including licensing fees, implementation services, maintenance, and support, can be significant. The fact that they don't provide a free trial can play against the small businesses.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Assistant Project Manager  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Banner Finance Review"

March 4, 2019

5.0

Pros

Amazing application with many features and modules. Banner Finance in particular is the industry leading software. Great community with exceptional services.

Cons

Can be a little cumbersome and very little to no customization.

Review Source

CE

Carl E.  
Director of Enterprise Integrations  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Candid Review from a Prior Fan"

July 21, 2023

3.0

Pros

Ellucian Banner was a single solution for all our primary university functions. At the pricing secured in 2005, it remains an incredibly high value product in the growing list of software tools used by Utah State University.

Cons

Ellucian's technology maturity has been an incredibly bumpy road. There have been incredible wins like the Banner 9 Student Registration system. There has also been some major let downs such as the Higher Education Data Model and nearly incomprehensible Ethos API offering. The loss of Ellucian Customer Service Managers who were assigned to look out for and advocate on behalf of customers has perhaps been the biggest loss experienced by any software by any vendor. The rate at which Ellucian has changed their online community platform has been mind boggling and the loss of access to previous efforts by customers on each platform is huge. Ideas has finally been replaced, but most customers are already of the mindset that it's just another tool where great recommendations for product enhancements go to die.

Alternatives considered

[Salesforce Sales Cloud](https://www.capterra.com/p/61368/Salesforce/)[ServiceNow](https://www.capterra.com/p/254088/ServiceNow/)[Workday HCM](https://www.capterra.com/p/66908/Workday-HCM/)

Reason for choosing Ellucian Student

Ellucian (then SunGard HE) was first to address the needs specific needs of higher education at the time. It is no longer the only player and incessant pushes by Ellucian to adopt their SaaS offering is the greatest motivator to seriously consider other players in the space with significantly better Cloud offerings at similar if not cheaper rates.

Review Source

NN

Nick N.  
Director, Enterprise Applications  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Legacy Software That Has Not Been Modernized"

July 18, 2023

1.0

Pros

The only positive aspect of Banner is that it has a decent Student Information System.

Cons

Nearly everything. To begin, the interface has not been modernized to current application standards. The term "lipstick on a pig" applies more to Banner than almost any other application I have ever come across.They do not seem to care about making the ERP side of their product function well. They have focused most on the SIS side, which is understandable, but the lack of functionality on the ERP side means it is basically useless for a modern campus. It is only working for half of the business.Their reporting functionality is poor and bordering on non-existent.For IT, this product is a nightmare. The releases are extremely difficult to install and maintain. The codebase is locked in 20 years in the past. They still use 8 character table names!!! The amount of technical debt means if you even wanted to deploy it as a SaaS product, it is nearly impossible, let alone trying to put it up in the cloud.In short, the company seems to be resting on their laurels as the market leader and they are falling far behind the competition.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Programmer analyst  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Programmer / Helpdesk POV"

July 18, 2023

3.0

ActionLine support has great subject matter experts(SME) and support. Cloud team seems to be lacking SMEs and doesn't seem to fully understand how all the modules relate.

Pros

I am allowed to see all the DB, and make custom items. Shell jobs, Oracle Packages, Oracle Jobs, and they are coming out with improved interface coding by moving to GraphQL and React JS.

Cons

The cloud team is consistent about missing deadlines. Cloud support is very disorganized. Communication from cloud techs to customers is very poor, black box.

Reason for choosing Ellucian Student

I didn't. This product was purchased back in the 1990's.

Review Source

AM

Andrew M.  
Financial Aid  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Was a great product, not so much anymore."

July 19, 2023

2.0

Banner used to be great. Good support and a quality product but now there seem to be defects with every release and the move to the cloud has been a disaster. Things that used to take a few days now take weeks and we are constantly having to align with Ellucians timetables instead of them adapting to ours, the customer.

Pros

It does most of the financial aid processes we need it to do.

Cons

The customer service/support is awful. Maybe it's our cloud team but there are constant mistakes and delays to the point we are considering another SIS.

Review Source

Amanda W.  
Controller  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Robust ERP system"

January 29, 2019

5.0

Pros

Banner Finance is a very robust ERP system that allows you to track your accounting entries.

Cons

There is a large learning curve with any software that is this robust.

Review Source

GK

Greg K.  
Application Developer and System Admin  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Unified ERP designed specifically for higher-ed"

April 25, 2018

3.0

Pros

Focused for higher education application. Provides fully integrated, unified database system built on Oracle platform with modules for accounting, Human Resources , financial aid, Advancement, and all aspects of student management from recruitment to admissions through to graduation and alumni relations.

Cons

Very expensive, not particularly user-friendly or intuitive, high-cost maintenance agreements, not best-in-class in any area.

Review Source

RK

Rachel K.  
Program Manager  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Banner is outdated and not super efficient "

January 10, 2019

3.0

Pros

The ease of navigating through multiple screens and whether or not vendors have been paid along with check dates/check numbers made it easy to relay information back to our vendors in terms on payment.

Cons

Memorization of banner codes used for each banner screen can sometimes become overwhelming and inefficient.

Review Source

AB

Andrea B.  
Accountant 4  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Financial Management"

March 16, 2018

4.0

Pros

This software provides great financial management for the demands of Higher Educational needs. It is easy and user friendly.

Review Source

TF

Tara F.  
Financial Aid Counselor  
Financial Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Financial Aid User"

August 19, 2019

4.0

Pros

Ellucian Banner is the platform that I have used at my previous and current university, while working in financial aid. I have only ever used Banner so I do not have another platform to compare it to. This system has been very beneficial in automating the processing for financial aid. I have used this program for over 7 years. All student, and employee, related information is stored in one location and necessary processing can be handled with Banner. Financially and academic based, this program has helped be the "one-stop-shop" for all information for our large student base. Banner 9 has made the screens easier to use for new users (due to acronyms) but Banner 8 was the most efficient program I have ran.

Cons

Banner 9 seems to have a lag between screens that has not yet been improved. Being web-based, it has really slowed down or processing. There are glitches that are quickly fixed but there seems to be more issues with this new Banner program than what we ever dealt with while using Banner 8.

Review Source

JN

Jonathan N.  
Administrative Systems Support Technician  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "IBM for Higher Education"

July 18, 2023

3.0

It is our system of record, the main database tied to everything on campus.

Pros

ERP software is never quick or easy to implement but most people in higher education use this package so it is very well known in the industry.

Cons

It is old and has the baggage of any old system and lots of training is needed for employees new to it.

Reason for choosing Ellucian Student

Better features, better support, and better accepted by all decision-makers at the time (late 90s). Like IBM or HP, nobody gets fired for choosing the big, old standard.

Review Source

NC

Nicole C.  
Degree Analyst  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Degree evaluation"

August 3, 2023

4.0

Pros

Students degree evaluation - really my comment is to short. lol... I like pretty much everything with Ellucian

Cons

Our help guide isn't up to date with the new verse so sometimes going to the guide to figure out what you did wrong and why something will not save/update is a pain. But, I can usually figure out what I did.

Reason for choosing Ellucian Student

I don't know

Review Source

DK

Demetris K.  
Senior Accountant  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Banner Review"

July 26, 2023

3.0

Pros

I was not involved in that process or I guess I'm not sure what I like best. Well, the S.O.S. page is nice and it's easier to perform journal vouchers usinig S.O.S.

Cons

The fixed asset module is difficult to navigate and impute assets especially the accessories or parts that are less than $5K. There are too many steps involved to get these items capitalized and attached to the main asset.

Review Source

KD

Kala D.  
Scholarship & Administrative Coordinator  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Decent user experience"

February 26, 2019

3.0

Pros

The updates that came with Banner 9 have made it much more user-friendly, although there's still a long way to go in this department. It has become much easier to search for various Banner forms, a feature that was lacking in previous iterations of Banner. The overall look is sleeker than the previous version and navigation within the forms has been made somewhat simpler with the reorganization of the page and inclusion of tool dropdowns.

Cons

Occasional glitches disrupt the daily workflow. Many processes are still not as intuitive as they could be, especially when it comes to entering multiple invoices with separate FOAPAL strings. There is some difficulty getting Banner to talk to other software programs. While exporting data is easier than in previous versions of Banner, some print screen attempts go better than others.

Review Source

JN

Justin N.  
Senior Financial Analsyt  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Banner Finance - A Highly Functional Financial Tool for Higher Education"

July 16, 2019

4.0

Our overall experience with Banner Finance has been very positive. We are able to generate quarterly and annual financial reports that our auditors and finance staff can work with and drill down on to get detail behind the figures.

Pros

Banner Finance offers a lot of great functionality but what I liked most about the finance platform was its ability to interface between six campuses with Banner Student to communicate tuition payments and student receivables with our system financial system and update all as though they were one.

Cons

Because this financial platform is so big, when we have experienced problems with Banner, it has caused debilitating shutdowns that grind our finance and accoutning system to a halt and users are on standby until we can get traffic started again.

Review Source

TM

Tasneem M.  
Associate professor  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Best administrative software application to store data and manage users."

November 14, 2023

5.0

Pros

1\. User friendly. 2. Easy to execute and navigate the dashboard. 3. Excellent student database management system. 4. Grade entry made easy and customized as per the specifications. 5. Ellucian Banner faculty has features like students attendance tracking, class list approval, academic profile and detailed schedule making it easy to follow-up under one roof. 6. All data is secure.

Cons

1\. Report customization is difficult. 2. Restricted capabilities.

Review Source

RT

Rhonda T.  
Facilities & Housing Coordinator  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Easy to Use for Budgeting"

April 24, 2023

5.0

Pros

The college uses Ellucian Banner for all kinds of things. We use it to keep track of employee records. My main use is budget and creating purchase requisitions. I also use it with WebTMA to integrate charges from the work orders to charge the other departments.

Cons

My only issue with Ellucian banner is permissions are very restrictive so you have to be granted permission to a lot of different screens.

Review Source

SB

Stacey B.  
HR Coordinator  
E-Learning  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Good product"

April 27, 2023

4.0

Pros

I like the tracking of employees and you can easily see funds.

Cons

The page names are very confusing and you have to know the names of them to get there.

Review Source

JG

Jacqui G.  
Manager  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "As a user can be frustrating"

January 17, 2019

3.0

Overall I can't picture doing my job without Banner Finance, however, it can be a source of frustration too. But in the end it really is a powerful tool if you know how to use it.

Pros

As a person who uses this for work, only as a user (not an administrator) it is nice to have everything in one place and all info is presented clearly and as is. Sometimes you do need to take a few minutes or a few steps to get what you need, but its all there.

Cons

Transitioning from the last version to the latest has been cumbersome and challenging. Also, knowing the shortcuts for all forms can be like learning a new language.

Review Source

GC

Gabrielle C.  
Administrative Assistant  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Banner"

October 6, 2020

4.0

Banner is really difficult to use. Especially if you don't receive formal training, it isn't intuitive like some softwares. We really struggle each time we need to do something in Banner, and we have written instructions for everything in case we forget a step.

Pros

It has a lot of different features, which is nice, but we don't really know how to use them because the interface isn't intuitive.

Cons

It's hard to know what you are doing, and it's very easy to make a mistake that could do a fair bit of damage.

Review Source

JG

Justin G.  
Accounts Payable Analyst  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Banner Finance - Higher Education Focus"

September 30, 2018

4.0

Banner Finance allows our AP team to pull vendor data quickly and to export that information for closer review. Vendor management is a huge selling point for this software!

Pros

Banner Finance forms allow users to export into excel, which makes research easy. The vast array of available forms provide almost any data across the organization. The form search features are excellent as well!

Cons

The Banner 9 integration seems to make transitioning between forms sluggish.

Review Source

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