StarRez + Ellucian: Elevating the Campus Experience Through a Smarter Integration

Higher education institutions face a pressing challenge: how to streamline operations, empower staff, and enhance the student experience in an environment that demands real-time data and seamless digital interactions.  

For over 15 years, StarRez and Ellucian have partnered to help institutions meet the evolving demands of higher education—combining deep industry expertise with powerful technology to deliver a smarter, more connected campus. As a proud Ellucian partner, StarRez also sponsors and attends Ellucian Live each year, where higher ed leaders, tech innovators, and housing professionals come together to explore the future of student success. Now, with a Colleague SaaS Safe Badged integration connecting their platforms, the StarRez + Ellucian partnership is entering an exciting new chapter—offering even more seamless solutions for student housing management and institutional success.

Let's take a closer look at who StarRez and Ellucian are, how their partnership began, how it’s evolved, and most importantly—what it means for the 500+ mutual customers who can now benefit from a seamless housing integration experience.

Who Are Ellucian and StarRez?

Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries, serving 20 million students. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future.

StarRez has also been a cornerstone of student housing for over 30 years. Supporting a community of 1,300+ institutions globally, StarRez empowers on- and off-campus communities to thrive through a robust platform that manages 3.5+ million beds worldwide. From roommate matching to billing and communication tools, StarRez centralizes everything housing staff and students need into one user-friendly portal—delivering operational power alongside a modern, mobile-first student experience.

Together, these two powerhouse platforms bring a game-changing integration to the higher education landscape.

How StarRez Joined the Ellucian Partner Network

StarRez became an Ellucian housing partner over 15 years ago, when it became clear that the two companies were rooted in shared values—supporting student success, driving institutional efficiency, and empowering staff through technology. This common vision, along with their mutual customers seeking efficient ways to manage and sync student housing data with their Student Information Systems (SIS), laid the foundation for a long-standing and trusted collaboration.

Years later, the StarRez/Colleague API was established to eliminate manual file transfers and introduce real-time data sharing. This intuitive, easy-to-configure integration allowed institutions to seamlessly map data, sync housing assignments, manage meal plans, process billing, and refunds.

By removing friction and improving data accuracy, this initial integration helped schools to streamline their housing operations, save time, and enhance service delivery across departments.

How the StarRez + Ellucian Integration Has Evolved

Fast forward to today, and the StarRez + Ellucian integration has expanded dramatically, supporting both Ellucian Banner and Colleague systems. The integrations now include two-way syncing of:

• Housing assignments and status updates

• Meal plans and automated prorations

• Financial transactions, including deposits, damage billing, cancellations, and refunds

• Student demographic and engagement data, providing staff a consolidated view

Institutions can now choose from two flexible billing integration models:

1. StarRez as the Billing Engine: StarRez manages billing complexity (e.g., daily proration, early termination fees), then sends finalized transactions to Colleague for posting—saving time and reducing errors.

2. StarRez as the Data Source: Billing is done directly in Colleague, and StarRez sends data updates to Colleague for complete visibility and accuracy—no matter your IT strategy.

This evolution reflects a deepened collaboration between the two platforms, offering flexible integration methods—API or batch—to fit any infrastructure. Whether using StarRez for billing, meal plan automation, or third-party integrations like Blackboard, Flywire, or DocuSign, institutions benefit from a connected tech stack that supports end-to-end housing operations.

"You cannot underestimate the power of two companies working closely together on a common goal... both StarRez and Ellucian collaborated to standardize the interfaces. The APIs will only make mutual customers happy and that is huge."

- Mitzi Steele, Roanoke College

This standardization has been key to delivering reliable, scalable solutions that adapt to each institution’s unique needs.

Part of a Best-in-Class Higher Ed Tech Stack

StarRez and Ellucian don’t just deliver value on their own—they’re designed to work seamlessly as part of a best-in-class higher education operations ecosystem. Together, they serve as the core of a connected campus infrastructure, integrating effortlessly with other leading technologies used across housing, dining, facilities, payments, and communications.

This interoperability empowers institutions to build a tailored tech stack that meets their unique operational needs while delivering a smooth, unified experience for students and staff alike.

How Mutual StarRez & Ellucian Customers Benefit Now

With over 500 mutual customers, the benefits of this enhanced partnership are already making an impact across campuses worldwide. Here's what institutions can now achieve:

1. Seamless Student Experiences

Students today expect digital tools that match the ease and polish of consumer apps. StarRez delivers a mobile-first portal where students can manage everything from applications and roommate matching to e-signing contracts and selecting rooms in real time.

This unified portal reduces friction, supports retention, and keeps students engaged through every step of their housing journey.

2. Empowered Staff

For housing and residence life teams, the StarRez + Ellucian Banner integration unlocks real-time access to actionable data, insights, and automation tools—all in one centralized platform. Staff can manage student engagement, track communication history, handle billing, log duty calls, and manage packages more efficiently. This integration doesn't just improve daily workflows—it powers major milestones like move-in with greater accuracy and ease.

By leveraging data from Banner—such as immunization records, full-time status, and contract completion—staff can automate and streamline critical housing processes.

"We built a process in StarRez that assesses fields in Banner—transcripts, immunization records, full-time status, signed contracts—and only then allows students to move forward with check-in... It saves our team a ton of last-minute chaos."

- Jason Bartlett, Director of Residence Life at St. John’s University

This kind of smart automation reduces manual checks, eliminates bottlenecks, and allows staff to focus on creating a smooth, welcoming experience for students. Plus, with robust permissions and logging, sensitive data remains secure—ensuring transparency and compliance every step of the way.

3. Efficiency for IT & Operations

IT leaders benefit from flexible integration models—whether APIs or batch processing—and support for third-party tools and Ellucian best practice SaaS Safe integrations (currently available for Colleague customers). With centralized logging, automated data syncs, and no file management required, technical teams can reduce manual tasks while ensuring secure and reliable operations.

Institutions like CU Boulder have already seen tangible returns. They replaced manual billing cycles with StarRez automation, freeing up staff time and significantly reducing errors. Adjustments can now be made in just a few clicks, with accurate data syncing back into Colleague.

4. Smarter Decision Making

StarRez’s powerful reporting and analytics suite turns data into action. Housing and IT teams can access customizable dashboards, visual occupancy tools, and shareable reports—helping them optimize costs, maximize revenue, and stay aligned on strategic goals.

From damage billing appeal windows to meal plan adjustments, the platform ensures every interaction is trackable, auditable, and easily reported.

CSU Pueblo has been able to streamline processes significantly with StarRez and Ellucian Banner. Carl Rodriguez, a StarRez power user, shared how vital features like dashboards, notes, and automated reporting have improved efficiency for both staff and students.

“Being able to see live data in real time has replaced our old pen-and-paper tracking, which was much less efficient. The automation of reports has also saved us a lot of time, especially with financial reporting.”

- Carl Rodriguez, Assistant Director of Housing at Colorado State University Pueblo

On average, StarRez customers spend 50% less time on billing tasks, which translates to a time savings of 25 hours per month for the typical institution—freeing staff to focus on strategic, student-centered work.

Building the Future of Higher Education Operations —Together

The enhanced partnership between StarRez and Ellucian represents more than just a technical integration—it’s a strategic collaboration built on shared values and a commitment to student success and institutional efficiency. Today, our partnership is stronger than ever, as we work together to deliver seamless, cloud-ready integration solutions for StarRez, Banner, and Colleague—solutions designed to meet the needs of modern campuses both now and in the future.

Whether you’re looking to automate your billing process, create a one-stop student housing portal, or enable staff with real-time engagement data, StarRez + Ellucian provide the platform, innovation, and partnership to help you achieve your goals—and to keep elevating the student experience for years to come.

You have the vision. StarRez has the platform. Ellucian brings the ecosystem. Together, we’re building smarter, more connected campuses.

Connect with us to schedule a custom demo of the integration.