Lake Land College Approves $6 Million Technology Overhaul to Streamline Operations

January 17, 2026 / Newspaper Staff /

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Lake Land College Board of Trustees Meeting | Dec. 8, 2025

Article Summary: The Lake Land College Board of Trustees approved a major upgrade to the college’s information technology systems, authorizing nearly $6 million in contracts to migrate to a cloud-based software suite. The move is intended to streamline enrollment processes and improve data security.

Lake Land College Technology Key Points:

Software Contract: A five-year agreement with Ellucian for SaaS (Software as a Service) was approved at a net cost of $4,497,957.
Professional Services: An additional $1,452,786 was authorized for Ellucian and Ferrilli Consulting to manage the migration between 2026 and 2028.
Funding: The college will utilize its Fund Balance to cover approximately $2.89 million of the transition costs over the next three years.
Timeline: The transition begins in 2026, with full conversion projected by January 2028.

The Lake Land College Board of Trustees on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, voted to modernize the institution’s core technology infrastructure, approving contracts totaling nearly $6 million to migrate the college’s student information and administrative systems to the cloud.

The board approved a five-year agreement with Reston, Virginia-based Ellucian to upgrade from the current “Colleague” product to the new Ellucian SaaS (Software as a Service) suite. The contract, secured via the Iowa Lakes Consortium, is valued at $4,497,957 after incentives.

According to a memo from Vice President for Business Services John Woodruff, the college chose to remain with Ellucian because the vendor serves more than 75% of the higher education market and has been a partner for 20 years.

“We need to upgrade our technology platform,” Woodruff stated in the memo, citing strategic goals to “Streamline Enrollment Processes and Technology.”

The move to the cloud is expected to remove “siloed knowledge containment” and reduce cyber risk through quicker software patch deployments.

To support the aggressive migration schedule, the board also approved a professional services contract not to exceed $1,452,786. This work will be split between Ellucian and Ferrilli Consulting of Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Woodruff noted that the college will use its Fund Balance to pay for the professional services and the net increase in maintenance costs during the transition period, which runs from Jan. 1, 2026, through March 31, 2028. By fiscal year 2029, the college projects positive cash flow from the change due to the elimination of current software costs and expected organizational efficiencies.