Understanding Your Integration Paths
Last updated: August 28, 2026
Housing.Cloud connects to your student information system in one of three ways. This article helps you choose the right one; your contract sets which are available, and your Integrations Specialist confirms the fit before anything is locked.
The Three Paths
| Ethos | SFTP | Public APIs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available to | Banner & Colleague (Ellucian) | Any school | Any school |
| How it moves | Ellucian's platform, on a schedule + on change | CSV files in and out, on a schedule | On-demand, your app calls us |
| Operated by | Housing.Cloud | Housing.Cloud | Your institution's IT admins |
| Best for | Ellucian-native exchange, no code to maintain | Predictable batch flows | Custom apps, live queries |
They're peers, not tiers. Most schools pick one path for the SIS, and may add the Public APIs for something they build themselves.
How to Choose
- On Banner or Colleague? Ethos is usually the cleanest fit — Housing.Cloud reads student and term data and pushes assignments, charges, and meal plans back, with no file-handling code on your side. It needs Ellucian endpoint access, and Banner needs a little SIS configuration. See Ethos Enablement.
- On PeopleSoft, Workday, Anthology, Jenzabar, Populi, or in-house? SFTP is the path — a secure repository where you push profiles in and pull occupancy, transactions, meal plans, and applications out, using fixed, documented CSV schemas. See SFTP Setup & Cutover.
- Building something custom (a portal widget, a live lookup)? Add the Public APIs on top of either of the above.
What We Don't Do (No Webhooks)
There's no real-time event push from Housing.Cloud to your systems. The closest options are Ethos egress, which fires when records change, and the Public APIs, which your systems can poll. If a downstream tool expects to subscribe to events, plan for a scheduled pull instead.