Kuali Financials vs Starfish

Kuali Financials is a cloud financial management system for colleges and universities. It brings accounting, budgeting, procurement, reconciliation, procure-to-pay and general ledger functions together, with restricted fund tracking and grant management. Finance teams can configure charts of accounts, controls, approval workflows and routing, and use reporting and audit support to manage financial transactions. Drag-and-drop forms and no-code workflows are intended to digitize additional processes without custom development. The system connects to campus systems through APIs and integration capabilities; Kuali describes REST and GraphQL APIs, real-time data access and Kuali Bridge for building multi-step integrations. Kuali says it delivers capabilities continuously rather than requiring institutions to wait for major upgrade cycles. Its Trust Center says customer data is encrypted in transit and at rest, with access managed through configurable roles and permissions. Kuali lists SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, completed HECVAT Full v4.x and TX-RAMP authorization. Pricing is by inquiry, and the product page invites institutions to book a demo. Kuali states that the software is not designed to process or store payment card data.

Starfish is a web platform for colleges and universities to coordinate student success work, identify student needs, and support timely interventions. Early Alert, Scheduling, and Case Management help institutions identify and track students, engage them, and connect them with resources aligned to their needs. Operational Analytics gives faculty and staff data for proactive advising and helps connect institutional strategy to student-success approaches. Strategic Analytics supports action for student groups identified through risk factors and offers focused dashboards for reported data. Degree Planning helps students follow academic pathways, flags when they are off track, and gives institutions information to anticipate course demand. The platform supports cohort management and intervention throughout the student journey. EAB provides implementation help, staff training, update management, and change-management guidance through dedicated Strategic Leaders familiar with each partner institution. Partners can also join the nationwide Student Success Collaborative to share strategies with peer success leaders. EAB directs prospective customers to contact its team or request a demo; no price is stated. Its Trust Center lists TX-RAMP Level 2 certification and security topics including role-based access control, single sign-on support, and multi-factor authentication.