For districts, networks, and college access organizations

Why teams leave Salesforce for Overgrad

Salesforce can be built into anything. That is the problem and the pitch.

A sales CRM can be shaped into a student success system. Somebody has to shape it, and then keep shaping it every year.

What a donated license really costs

Salesforce gives nonprofits the licenses. The licenses were never the expensive part.

What gets in the way
Consultants to build it, commonly $12,000 to $20,000
Three to six months before anyone uses it
Five or more add-on apps to cover basic college access work
The difference

It already does the job the day it arrives.

Clearinghouse sync, college applications, texting, alumni tracking, and outcome reporting are all in Overgrad already. Setup, migration, and training come with it.

"We hesitated to replace our legacy setup because of the disruption we assumed it would cause. What surprised us was that Overgrad didn't just simplify our systems. It unified our work. Within weeks, we had a single, end-to-end view of student progress."

Brendan Campbell Chief of Staff, Uncommon Schools

"Switching from Salesforce cut our costs significantly. Plus, our team actually likes using it. No more consultant dependency for simple changes."

Beth Mesrobian Chief College and Career Officer, Carmen Schools

What you pay for over three years

The line items, for a mid-sized charter network

Overgrad
One line
What shows up on the invoice
  • PlatformPer enrolled student
  • ImplementationIncluded
  • Add-on appsNone
  • ConsultantsNone
Salesforce
Four lines
What shows up on the invoice
  • PlatformPer user, or donated
  • Implementation$12,000 to $20,000
  • Add-on appsAround $12,000 a year
  • ConsultantsHourly, every year
The gap
is usually enough to pay a counselor

Send us your current Salesforce spend and your enrollment. We will put your real numbers next to ours, in writing, within one business day.

Teams rarely leave Salesforce because it broke. They leave because it never stops needing work.

What is different

It was built for this work, so there is nothing to assemble first.

01. All-Inclusive

It comes in one box

A Salesforce build needs add-on apps for student success workflows, messaging, and signatures, each with its own annual fee. Overgrad has them already.

  • Application tracking, included
  • Clearinghouse sync, automatic and included
  • Two-way texting, included, billed per message
  • A student portal that works on a phone
  • Document management, included
All-inclusive platform illustration showing bundled capabilities All-Inclusive Platform Bundled PURPOSE-BUILT All Included TYPICAL CRM Add-ons Required
Implementation timeline illustration comparing deployment speeds Implementation Speed Fast Overgrad Weeks Typical CRM Months IMPLEMENTATION Fixed Cost TYPICAL CRM Hourly Risk TRAINING Minimal
02. Fast Implementation

Running while they are still scoping

A Salesforce build runs three to six months with consultants on the clock. We move your data, train your team, and agree on the timeline in writing before you sign.

  • A launch date agreed in writing up front
  • Setup and migration included, no hourly risk
  • Training measured in hours, not weeks
  • One person on our side who owns your launch
03. No Consultants

Change it yourself, on Tuesday

On Salesforce, a new field or a changed report is billable consultant hours. In Overgrad the person running the program does it.

  • Workflows built without code
  • Add and change fields yourself
  • Support included in the annual fee
  • No certification required to run it
Workflow automation illustration showing trigger-condition-action structure Workflow Automation Active Draft Paused Workflow Structure TRIGGER CONDITION ACTION TASK FALLBACK ESCALATE FLOW TYPE Entry Wait Send Assign ENROLLED Active MESSAGES Sent TASKS Created AUTOMATIONS Running TRIGGER TYPES DELIVERY STATUS Tracked RESPONSE HANDLING Configured
Career Pathways illustration showing student distribution across post-secondary options Pathway Distribution All Pathways 4-Year College Enrolled 2-Year College Enrolled Apprenticeships Active Trade / Certificate Active Military Employment Completion Tracking Enrollment Persistence Completion PATHWAYS Visible STATUS Tracked Data sources connected
04. Built for Education

Built for counselors, not sales teams

Salesforce was built to track deals. Every part of it that understands a student had to be added by somebody. Overgrad started here.

  • One student record, middle school through alumni
  • Outcome measures that already exist
  • Common App integration, native
  • Comparison across schools, standard

When Salesforce is the right call

Every department already runs on Salesforce

You have an admin on staff, or a partner on retainer

Student success is one job among many the system does

Waiting several months to launch is fine

Getting your data out

01

All of it comes with you

Students, applications, messages, and the custom fields your team built. We move them.

02

Run both for a while

Keep Salesforce on while your team tries Overgrad with real students

03

Short training

Most staff are working in it the same day

04

No more hourly

The consulting cycle ends when the migration does

4-6 weeks
Average migration time
6-8 months
Average time to ROI

Put your Salesforce spend next to ours

Book a 30-minute walkthrough. Bring your current costs and we will show you the comparison with your own numbers in it.