Blackbaud Tuition Management (formerly Smart Tuition) vs Senior Systems, from Community Brands

Likelihood to Recommend

Smart Tuition is a good platform for schools that want to incorporate the financial aid application process and billing together. Parent use is easy to navigate, and it reduces the time spent by school staff to manage accounts. In a school where the financial aid application process is not done by a third party, Smart Tuition may not be the option they are looking to implement.

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Kim Norbeck

Admissions Coordinator

Wheaton Christian Grammar SchoolEducation Management, 51-200 employees

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Senior Systems school software is great for small schools looking for a software package that can be implemented across many departments in the school at a reasonable price. Senior Systems does offer on boarding and training to help learn the system but continuing training is difficult though also necessary. Senior's admissions software modules leave much to be desired though they have purchased Ravenna which offers a top-of-the-line option that blends very well with Senior.

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Verified User

Administrator in Other

Education Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Blackbaud Tuition Management (formerly Smart Tuition)

Senior Systems, from Community Brands

Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology

Online Registration Management

District Communications, such as messaging and alerting

Roster Management

Platform Customization

Student Data Security

Community Support

Class Scheduling

Compliance Support

Pros

Website is easy to navigate
Customer service is very professional and helpful
Multiple options for making payments and setting up accounts

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Kim Norbeck

Admissions Coordinator

Wheaton Christian Grammar SchoolEducation Management, 51-200 employees

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A broad-based, unified platform that can be used in many areas across campus.
Robust database that is very customizable.
A web-based platform that can be used on any device.

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Verified User

Administrator in Other

Education Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Cons

I have been happy with Smart Tuition and have not had any issues.

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Kim Norbeck

Admissions Coordinator

Wheaton Christian Grammar SchoolEducation Management, 51-200 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Outdated look and feel for internal and external customers.
Somewhat complicated and tough to learn; it's not very intuitive.
Customer service response times and support leave something to be desired.

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Verified User

Administrator in Other

Education Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Alternatives Considered

I use FACTS in my role at work, and my children's school uses Smart Tuition. I am more familiar with Smart Tuition as a parent, but it seems to be a good solution for the high school. Since we do the financial aid in-house at my school of employment, FACTS works better for us.

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Kim Norbeck

Admissions Coordinator

Wheaton Christian Grammar SchoolEducation Management, 51-200 employees

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On the admissions front, SchoolAdmin beats the Senior Admissions module hands down for ease of use, performance, customer service, and reliability. We have had no downtime issues with Senior but regularly experienced downtime issues with Senior. School Admin is also very intuitive and easy to learn and use. Senior has a much steeper learning curve.

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Verified User

Administrator in Other

Education Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Excellent tracking of accounts for the school
Customer service interacts with the parents' questions
One system for the school staff to manage

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Kim Norbeck

Admissions Coordinator

Wheaton Christian Grammar SchoolEducation Management, 51-200 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

A fairly priced system.
[The] convenience of having to manage only one system and database.
Senior is long overdue for an update and refresh to make it look modern and to make it more easy and intuitive to use.

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Verified User

Administrator in Other

Education Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Blackbaud Tuition Management (formerly Smart Tuition)

Senior Systems, from Community Brands

Blackbaud Tuition Management (formerly Smart Tuition) vs Senior Systems, from Community Brands