Spreadsheets vs a student information system for a career college
When Excel and Google Sheets stop being enough for a career college — attendance hours, payment plans, T2202 season and inspections — and what changes when the records live in one system.
Last checked October 29, 2026
Short answer
Spreadsheets work for a career college until the same student appears in several of them — attendance, payments, grades and schedules — and the copies disagree. A student information system keeps one record per student, so attendance totals, payment reminders, T2202 slips and transcripts come from the same data instead of being rebuilt by hand.
Where spreadsheets break
- Attendance hours are typed into one sheet and totalled in another, so monthly hours and the student file drift apart.
- Payment plans live in a separate tracker; reminders depend on someone remembering to send them.
- Class schedules are rebuilt for every new student, and holidays or college breaks are counted differently each time.
- T2202 season means rebuilding a year of payments per student, net of refunds, by the last day of February.
- Nobody can tell who changed a cell or when, which is the first question in an inspection or a student complaint.
What changes with one system
In Cohort each student has one record: the signed contract, program dates, attendance, grades, invoices, payments and documents. Monthly hours, overdue lists, schedules, T2202 slips and transcripts are produced from that record, and every change is logged with the person and the time.
Moving over without disruption
Start with current students only: import them from your spreadsheet, check a handful of records side by side, then switch attendance and payments for new activity. Past years can stay in the spreadsheet until you need them, and graduates' transcripts stay with your transcript service provider.