# What Claude (Anthropic) with web search answered for student information systems (colleges) on 2026-09-20

## In short

On 2026-09-20, Claude (Anthropic) with web search was asked "best student information systems for colleges". It named 11 brands; the first six, in order, were Ellucian, Ellucian Banner, Oracle, Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Ellucian Colleague and Jenzabar.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Question | best student information systems for colleges |
| Asked on | 2026-09-20 |
| Engine | Claude (Anthropic) with web search |
| Model | claude-opus-5 |
| Brands named | 11 |
| Sources cited | 9 |
| Audience | colleges |
| Coverage | Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included. |
| Last verified | 2026-09-20 |

Page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/s/student-information-systems-colleges-2026-09-20
Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.

## The answer, as recorded

Asked on 2026-09-20 through Claude (Anthropic) with web search (model claude-opus-5).

> The honest answer is that "best" here is almost entirely a function of institution size and budget - this market segments hard. Here's who I'd actually name, in order:
> 
> **For large universities / R1s doing a full modernization**
> 
> 1. **Workday Student** - the platform I'd look at first if you're replacing a legacy system and have the budget and project capacity. It's a Leader in the 2026 Gartner MQ for the second year running, ~100 institutions live (LSU, UBC, WashU, Santa Clara) and 200+ in flight. Its real advantage is that Student sits on the same platform as Finance and HCM, so you're not integrating three vendors. The cost: multi-year implementations (Miami OH went live on HR/Finance in 2024 with Student not finishing until 2027) and serious internal change management.
> 2. **Ellucian Banner (SaaS)** - the incumbent, ~24% of the North American higher ed SIS market. Deep functionality, huge consultant pool, and you can hire people who already know it. It's the low-risk choice; it's also the one people complain about. Best if you want to modernize the deployment without re-engineering every business process.
> 3. **Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions** - ~10% share, mostly big publics

## Brands named, in the order the engine gave

| Position | Brand | How it was named |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ellucian | mentioned |
| 2 | Ellucian Banner | mentioned |
| 3 | Oracle | mentioned |
| 4 | Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions | mentioned |
| 5 | Ellucian Colleague | mentioned |
| 6 | Jenzabar | mentioned |
| 7 | Jenzabar One | mentioned |
| 8 | Anthology | mentioned |
| 9 | Populi | recommended |
| 10 | Thesis Elements | mentioned |
| 11 | Classe365 / Classter | mentioned |

## Sources the engine cited

- https://listedtech.com/blog/north-american-sis-highered-market-share-january-2025-update/ (other)
- https://investor.workday.com/news-and-events/press-releases/news-details/2026/Workday-Named-a-Leader-in-2026-Gartner-Magic-Quadrant-for-Higher-Education-Student-Information-Systems/default.aspx (other)
- https://www.ellucian.com/newsroom/ellucian-completes-acquisition-anthologys-sis-and-erp-business (vendor)
- https://campustechnology.com/articles/2026/01/05/ellucian-officially-acquires-anthologys-sis-and-erp-business.aspx (other)
- https://www.fullfabric.com/articles/top-student-information-systems-2026 (other)
- https://www.siselements.com/best-student-information-systems-small-colleges-2026 (other)
- https://www.capterra.com/p/89408/Populi/ (review)
- https://www.capterra.com/p/132292/Jenzabar-ERP/ (review)
- https://miamioh.edu/workday-info/overview.html (reference)

The question page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/q/student-information-systems/colleges

Answer Watch records what one AI answer engine said on one date, nothing more. Each page names the engine and the model, carries the date the question was asked, and lists the brands that appeared in the answer in the order the engine gave them, with the sources it cited. It is a measurement, not a ranking, not a recommendation and not a claim about the world. Brands that did not appear in an answer are not named on any public page. Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.