Ellucian Student Named Best SaaS Product for Education in 2026 SaaS Awards

Key Highlights:

• Ellucian Student has won the Best SaaS Product for Education and Nonprofits category in the 2026 SaaS Awards.
• Higher education's complete solution for the end-to-end student lifecycle, Ellucian Student brings Student, HCM, and Finance together on one AI-native platform.
• The award recognizes Ellucian Student's application of SaaS and AI to simplify institutional complexity, improve experiences, and deliver value across higher ed.

RESTON, Va., Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, announced that Ellucian Student has won the 'Best SaaS Product for Education and Nonprofits' category in the 2026 SaaS Awards. Ellucian Student is higher education's complete solution that powers the end-to-end student lifecycle. Together, Ellucian Student, HCM, and Finance operate as one AI-native platform — aligning people, resources, and decisions around a single vision: to unlock learning for all. Operated by global cloud computing awards organization The Cloud Awards, the SaaS Awards recognize outstanding innovation and excellence across the software-as-a-service industry, including business process improvement and advanced applications of artificial intelligence.

"We're proud that Ellucian Student has been recognized as the Best SaaS Product for Education in the 2026 SaaS Awards," said Laura Ipsen, president and CEO of Ellucian. "This recognition reflects the impact technology can have when it's built around the realities of higher education. Ellucian Student brings together the data, workflows, and institutional intelligence needed to put AI to work across the student lifecycle, helping institutions act earlier, operate more intelligently, and keep every learner moving forward."

Purpose-Built for the Complexity of Higher Education

Built SaaS-native and powered by the Ellucian Platform, Ellucian Student connects the people, data, resources, and processes that shape the student experience. Its AI is powered by the Ellucian Higher Ed Knowledge Graph, which catalogs and codifies 10,000 unique higher education processes informed by Ellucian's more than 50 years of expertise. This institutional intelligence enables AI to work within the policies, workflows, and operational realities of higher education — helping institutions automate complex work and take action with greater speed and confidence.

"The SaaS Awards celebrate technologies that help educational institutions better serve their communities, and Ellucian Student exemplifies this through its thoughtful application of cloud technology and AI across the entire student lifecycle," said Annabelle Whittall, Chief Operating Officer, The Cloud Awards. "By modernizing complex institutional processes while enhancing the experience of students, educators, and administrators alike, Ellucian has demonstrated both technical excellence and meaningful real-world impact. Its combination of innovation, scale, and measurable value makes Ellucian Student a thoroughly deserving winner of the Best SaaS Product for Education and Nonprofits award."

Capabilities That Keep Institutions and Students Moving Forward

Ellucian Student delivers connected capabilities across the student and institutional lifecycle, including:

• AI-powered automation and intelligent workflows that reduce manual coordination.
  
  
• Degree auditing, smart planning and registration that help learners understand requirements, navigate changing schedules, and stay on a clear path toward completion.
  
  
• Reporting, analytics and predictive insights that provide greater visibility into student momentum and institutional performance, supporting earlier, more informed action.
  
  
• Central workspace, business process automation, and low-code integrations that connect experiences and processes across campus while reducing operational friction and technical complexity.
  
  
• Purpose-built HCM and Finance capabilities that connect workforce, financial, and student operations so institutional resources and decisions remain aligned around student success.

James Williams, CEO of The Cloud Awards, added: "Marking 10 years of evaluating the best in software, this year's SaaS Awards winners have demonstrated what true excellence looks like in a hyper-competitive market. Technology buyers today demand unshakeable reliability, proven ROI, and seamless execution, and Ellucian has set the standard. The team and I offer our congratulations, and we look forward to seeing how Ellucian builds on this success in the months and years to come."

To view the full list of winners, please visit: https://www.cloud-awards.com/software-as-a-service-awards/2026-winners 

WHAT ARE THE CLOUD AWARDS
The Cloud Awards is an international program which has been recognizing and honoring industry leaders, innovators and organizational transformation in cloud computing since 2011. The Cloud Awards comprises five awards programs, each uniquely celebrating success across cloud computing, software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud security, artificial intelligence (AI), and financial technologies (FinTech).

Winners are selected by a judging panel of international industry experts. For more information about the Cloud Awards, please visit https://www.cloud-awards.com/.      

WHAT IS ELLUCIAN
Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries, serving more than 21 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrolment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes.

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SOURCE Ellucian