A Guide to HubSpot for Education

The education industry is rapidly changing.  From ChatGPT to online classes, managing schools and universities has never been more difficult. 

Enter HubSpot.

Whether you're running admissions, coordinating outreach, or managing alumni relationships, HubSpot helps streamline communication, automate processes, and organize everything in one place. Here's how education institutions can get the most out of the platform, without needing a tech degree to make it work.

Getting Started: Setting Up Your HubSpot Portal

Choose the Right Plan and Sign Up

If you're new to HubSpot, start by creating an account with your institution's email address. Education and nonprofit discounts are available, and you can choose from Starter, Pro, or Enterprise depending on your complexity and goals.

Starter is great for basic CRM and email needs. Pro and Enterprise unlock more automation, customization, and reporting power, especially useful for institutions with multiple campuses or departments.

Customize Your Portal for Education

Start by making the platform your own. Set your branding, input your school’s contact info, and start building the structure around your unique needs.

What to set up first:

• Brand assets like your logo, colors, and domain

• Custom properties for education-specific data (Student ID, Grade Level, Program, Enrollment Status, Parent Contact)

• Custom Objects (available on Pro+ plans) to track Programs, Campuses, Faculty, or even Dorm Assignments

This foundation makes it easier to scale and personalize your outreach later.

Organizing Teams and Roles

HubSpot isn’t a one-size-fits-all login. You can control who sees what and ensure each team only accesses what they need.

Set Up User Roles and Permissions

Admins need full access to manage integrations, workflows, and data across the system.

From there, you can create customized views for:

• Admissions teams, who handle prospective student journeys

• Student Success or Academic Advising, who track current student engagement

• Faculty, who may need visibility into students in their courses

• Marketing or Communications, responsible for parent updates, newsletters, or alumni outreach

Use Teams to Streamline Access

Create Teams inside HubSpot like "Admissions," "Alumni Relations," or "Parent Communications" to group users and manage shared assets like dashboards or templates. It’s an easy way to ensure everyone stays in their lane.

Managing Student, Parent, and Alumni Contacts

HubSpot’s CRM helps you keep people organized by name, and also by where they are in their journey with your institution.

Organize Contacts with Smart Properties and Associations

Use HubSpot’s custom properties to track things like:

• Grade level or academic year

• Enrollment status (prospective, current, alumni)

• Program or major

• Guardian contact and relationships

With associations, you can link students to parents, advisors, and even specific academic departments.

Segment Your Database for Better Outreach

Not everyone needs the same message. HubSpot’s lists and segments help you group contacts by lifecycle stage, engagement level, or specific interests.

A few common segments to create:

• Prospective students by lead source or application status

• Current students by academic standing or extracurriculars

• Parents by student year or volunteer history

• Alumni by graduation year, donation status, or region

These segments power smarter, more personalized emails, workflows, and reporting.

Streamlining Admissions and Enrollment

Admissions is one of the most process-heavy parts of any school. HubSpot helps turn that chaos into a smooth, trackable journey.

Build an Admissions Pipeline

Use deals or tickets to create a visual pipeline that shows where each prospective student stands.

Here’s a sample setup:

• Inquiry received

• Application started

• Application submitted

• Interview scheduled

• Decision made

• Enrollment confirmed

Each stage can trigger automated emails, task assignments, or internal alerts so nothing slips through the cracks.

Automate Follow-Ups and Status Updates

Workflows are your best friend here. Set them up to:

• Send confirmation emails after inquiries or application submissions

• Remind students to finish applications

• Automate interview scheduling with tools like Calendly

• Send personalized admissions decisions and next steps

You can even notify your team when a high-priority lead hits a key milestone.

Log Everything. Automatically

Every call, email, note, and meeting is automatically tracked in a contact's timeline. No more chasing down spreadsheets or buried email threads.

Keeping Alumni Connected

Alumni relationships are about more than annual fund appeals. HubSpot helps you stay in touch and build real connection over time.

Send Personalized Newsletters

Use dynamic content and smart lists to personalize your outreach by graduation year, degree program, or career field. Highlight upcoming reunions, alumni success stories, and ways to give back.

Promote Reunions and Events

• Use HubSpot forms to capture RSVPs

• Automate reminders and post-event thank-yous

• Send targeted invites based on class year, geography, or past involvement

Run Targeted Fundraising Campaigns

With HubSpot’s segmentation and personalization tools, you can create campaigns that actually resonate, whether you’re reaching out to first-time donors or major gift prospects.

Track engagement and ROI through HubSpot’s campaigns tool, which ties emails, forms, ads, and landing pages together into one reporting view.

Reporting and Analytics: See What’s Working

With HubSpot, you don’t have to guess what’s working, because the data tells you.

Track Admissions Performance

Build dashboards to visualize:

• Application-to-enrollment rates

• Average time from inquiry to enrollment

• Stage-by-stage drop-off

• Performance by lead source or program

Monitor Student and Parent Engagement

You can see who’s opening your emails, clicking through to resources, or showing up for events. If you're integrated with your LMS or SIS, you can even track attendance or academic performance trends alongside communication activity.

Analyze Campaign Results

• Run A/B tests on email subject lines or CTAs

• Compare performance across email, ads, or social

• Attribute applications, donations, or sign-ups to the right channel

With HubSpot’s latest reporting features, including attribution modeling and multi-touch analytics, you can finally connect your efforts to outcomes.

Is HubSpot Right for Your School?

If your team is stuck juggling spreadsheets, clunky systems, or disconnected tools, HubSpot is worth a serious look. It’s built to help you:

• Get more organized

• Save time through automation

• Improve communication with students, parents, and alumni

• Track what’s working and adjust in real-time