For Charter Networks & College Access Organizations

Purpose-Built Beats Customized

Salesforce can do anything. The question is: should it?

Leading education organizations are choosing tools built for student success instead of sales CRMs retrofitted for education.

The Hidden Costs of "Free"

Salesforce donates licenses to nonprofits. The platform itself is just the beginning.

$12K-$20K implementation consulting
3-6 months to go-live
5+ apps required for basic college access workflows
The Purpose-Built Alternative

Everything included. Ready in weeks.

Overgrad includes NSC integration, college applications, SMS, alumni tracking, and outcome reporting in one platform, with a fixed implementation cost.

"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

3-Year Total Cost of Ownership

Mid-sized charter network: 250 students, 3 counselors

Overgrad
$37,250
3-year total
  • Year 1$14,750
  • Years 2-3$11,250/yr
  • Implementation$3,500 (fixed)
  • Apps & Add-ons$0
Salesforce
$78K - $96K
3-year total
  • Year 1$36K - $44K
  • Years 2-3$21K - $26K/yr
  • Implementation$12K - $20K
  • Required Apps$12K/yr
$41K - $59K
3-year savings with Overgrad

Enough to hire an additional college counselor for a year, or serve 100+ more students with your existing budget.

Most organizations don't fail on Salesforce. They simply outgrow the cost of customization.

What's Different

Purpose-built means everything works out of the box.

01. All-Inclusive

No App Store Required

Salesforce requires Co-Pilot ($8K/yr), messaging apps ($2K/yr), DocuSign ($1K/yr), and more. Overgrad includes everything.

  • College application tracking included
  • NSC integration automated and included
  • Two-way SMS built-in, pay per message
  • Student portal included, mobile-friendly
  • 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

Weeks, Not Months

Salesforce implementations take 3-6 months with expensive consultants. Overgrad launches in 4-6 weeks with a fixed fee.

  • 4-6 weeks from kickoff to go-live
  • Fixed $3,500 implementation (no hourly risk)
  • 3-4 hours of staff training total
  • Dedicated implementation manager
03. No Consultants

Break the Consulting Dependency

Salesforce creates ongoing consulting costs at $220/hr for changes, maintenance, and support. Overgrad is self-service.

  • No-code workflow builder
  • Self-service configuration
  • Support included in annual fee
  • No Salesforce admin certification required
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 Student Success Workflows

Salesforce was built for sales pipelines. Every education feature requires customization. Overgrad was built for K-20 student success from day one.

  • K-20 student lifecycle built-in
  • Pre-built education outcome metrics
  • Common App integration native
  • Multi-site benchmarking standard

When Salesforce Makes Sense

You already standardize on Salesforce across departments

You have in-house admins or a retained implementation partner

Student success workflows are one of many use cases

Long implementation timelines are acceptable

Migration Made Easy

01

Full Data Migration

Students, applications, communications, and custom fields. We handle it all.

02

Parallel Running

Test Overgrad while keeping Salesforce active during transition

03

Fast Training

Most staff are up and running in under 2 hours

04

Break Dependencies

Exit the hourly consulting cycle for good

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

See a Purpose-Built Alternative to Salesforce

Schedule a demo and we'll show you exactly how Overgrad compares, including a custom cost comparison based on your Salesforce spend.