IIvy & Ocelot

Ivy & Ocelot is Gravyty’s AI assistant for colleges, built from the merger of Ivy.ai and Ocelot. It answers student questions about admissions, financial aid, housing and IT around the clock by chat, text, email and phone, and sends reminders before deadlines. Gravyty says more than 2,750 institutions use it, and Penn State’s version answered 47,000 questions on its own in one year at 93% accuracy. It is best for colleges and universities with many service offices and heavy after-hours demand.

Pricing is by quote only. The main thing to plan for is upkeep: answers depend on the content behind them, and departments spend hours each week reviewing. This review is based on Gravyty’s product pages, customer results and Capterra reviews; we have not tested it hands-on.

Campus Results From Gravyty, a Tracker and Capterra

Ivy & Ocelot comes with more published campus results than most higher education assistants. These figures are from Gravyty’s own posts, a pricing tracker and Capterra; each was checked on the source page.

For a buyer, the Purdue Northwest and Penn State numbers are the useful ones because they show both sides. The assistant answered tens of thousands of questions at 93% to 97% accuracy, and 40% of Purdue Northwest’s questions arrived after hours, when no office was open. But Penn State’s six departments each spend three to five hours a week reviewing interactions, which is the real running cost of good answers.

The institution figures measure different things. Gravyty cites more than 2,750 institutions in 2026 and 1,100+ institutions behind the 15.6 million interactions figure, so read each in its own context. Treat the enrollment gains at Purdue Northwest as one campus’s result, reported by the vendor, not a benchmark.

The security list is the other standout. SOC 2, FERPA, HIPAA and GDPR are common in this market, but TX-RAMP and StateRAMP matter for public universities in states that require them, and they can shorten a procurement review that would otherwise take months.

An Answer Agent, Outbound Messaging and Campus Search

Ivy & Ocelot combines a question-answering agent, outbound messaging and campus search. Here is how a college typically uses it, based on Gravyty’s product pages and customer accounts.

65 Content Packs and 30-Plus System Connections

1. Start from content packs. Gravyty provides more than 65 prebuilt packs covering admissions, financial aid, advising, student success and counseling.
2. Connect systems. Gravyty integrates with more than 30 campus systems, including Ellucian Banner and Colleague, PeopleSoft, Jenzabar, Slate, Salesforce, Raiser’s Edge NXT, Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace, Flywire and Touchnet.
3. Configure by department. Each office sets its own answers, brand voice and shortcuts; Penn State added applicant-type buttons for admissions.
4. Launch channels. Turn on web chat, SMS, WhatsApp, email, social and telephony as needed. Students need no login or download.
5. Tune. Gravyty’s team handles ongoing optimization, and content refreshes from verified sources every 24 hours.

Round-the-Clock Answers in More Than 100 Languages

Once live, the assistant answers student and family questions 24/7 in more than 100 languages, using a hybrid of generative AI and intent recognition. Connected to the SIS or CRM, it can answer questions that depend on a student’s own record. It sends automated SMS and email reminders for housing applications, FAFSA and orientation, and two-way messaging lets students reply. Interactions from that outreach are tracked in the institution’s ERP and CRM, so staff can see who responded. At Purdue Northwest, proactive reminders filled housing applications a month early. AI Search, formerly IvySearch, puts a generative search bar on campus websites.

Two Campus Deployments

Purdue University Northwest serves about 6,000 students across two Indiana campuses. Its assistant, Ask Leo, is connected to Banner and Slate and answered more than 100,000 questions automatically at 97% accuracy. Forty percent of those questions came after hours and 16% on weekends. Proactive reminders filled housing applications a month early, and Gravyty attributes a 9% rise in accepted students to two-way messaging and CRM integration.

Penn State runs LionChat for more than 88,000 students across 24 campuses. Six departments use it: Bursar, Registrar, Admissions, Financial Aid, IT and Housing. In one year it answered 47,000 questions autonomously at 93% accuracy, and each team spends three to five hours a week reviewing interactions and updating content.

What Needs Staff

Complex or sensitive requests are routed to people, and live chat is available for handoffs. Staff also own the content: when policies change, the system flags answers for review, and Penn State’s teams spend three to five hours a week each on review and updates. The assistant does not change registrations, award aid or process payments by itself.

Admin Controls

Role-based permissions, a multi-campus structure and unified analytics dashboards are built in, along with a no-code AI agent builder and flow builder for new use cases. Gravyty’s site also lists embedded payments, with payment systems such as Flywire and Touchnet among its integrations, which matters for bursar offices fielding balance and payment questions.

No Price List, With Onboarding and Support Included

Gravyty does not publish a price list for Ivy & Ocelot, and pricing trackers list no public plans. This is what is known about the package.

Staff Review Hours at a Large University

Staff time at a large university. If six departments each spend three to five hours a week reviewing interactions, as Penn State’s do, that is 18 to 30 staff hours a week, or 936 to 1,560 hours a year. Count that time alongside the license.

After-hours coverage. At Purdue Northwest, 40% of inquiries arrived after hours. On a volume like its 100,000 questions, that is about 40,000 questions that would otherwise have waited for an office to open.

Questions to ask in the quote. Whether pricing is per student, per department or per channel; whether telephony and WhatsApp cost extra; and whether former Ivy.ai or Ocelot contracts carry over at the same terms.

What to Check in a Demo

• Your own questions: bring the 20 questions your offices get most and see how the assistant answers them from your content.
• Live data: ask to see an answer that depends on a student’s record in your SIS or CRM, not only on web pages.
• Handoff: watch what happens when a question is out of scope, and where the conversation lands for staff.
• Reporting: check which questions, accuracy and after-hours measures the dashboards show and whether data exports.
• Outreach: confirm how SMS consent, opt-outs and sending limits work for reminder campaigns.

Ivy & Ocelot Compared With Mainstay, Element451 and CollegeVine

Higher education has several AI agents built for enrollment and student services. These three are the closest alternatives on our site.

Ivy & Ocelot is the broadest service desk of the group, with the most named integrations and a long higher education record through Ivy.ai and Ocelot. Element451 and CollegeVine push further into tasks such as reading applications or entering transcripts. Mainstay is the pick for research-backed nudging. More options are on our AI agents for education and customer support pages.

All four sell by quote, so the comparison comes down to scope. If the main problem is phone and email volume across many offices, Ivy & Ocelot’s breadth fits. If the problem is admissions workload, Element451’s application reader or CollegeVine’s transcript processing take work off staff more directly. Many colleges already run a CRM such as Slate or Salesforce, and Ivy & Ocelot is designed to sit beside it rather than replace it.

Universities With Many Service Offices and After-Hours Demand

• Universities with many service offices: one assistant can cover admissions, aid, registrar, bursar, housing and IT, as LionChat does at Penn State.
• Colleges with heavy after-hours demand: 40% of Purdue Northwest’s questions came after hours.
• Institutions on Banner, Colleague, PeopleSoft or Jenzabar: these SIS platforms are named integrations.
• Public institutions with procurement rules: TX-RAMP and StateRAMP coverage helps state buyers.
• Diverse student populations: answers in more than 100 languages.
• Enrollment teams fighting melt: automated reminders for housing, FAFSA and orientation keep admitted students moving, as Purdue Northwest’s early housing fill shows.

K-12 Schools and Teams Wanting Transactions Completed

• K-12 schools: the product and content packs are built for higher education.
• Teams wanting an agent to complete transactions: look at agents that write to the SIS, such as CollegeVine.
• Small colleges without staff to maintain content: quality depends on regular review.
• Buyers who need list prices to compare: every quote here is custom.

Weekly Content Upkeep and Accuracy Checks

• Content upkeep: plan for several hours a week per department, as at Penn State.
• Accuracy checks: 93% to 97% accuracy at named campuses still leaves some answers to correct, so keep handoff paths clear.
• Reporting depth: Capterra reviewers of Ocelot wanted more detailed analytics and exports; check current dashboards in the demo.
• Merger transition: Ivy.ai and Ocelot customers should confirm feature parity and contract terms on the combined platform.
• Vendor figures: campus results and institution counts are published by Gravyty.
• Text outreach rules: proactive SMS campaigns need consent and opt-out handling; confirm how the platform manages both before launching reminders.

Gravyty Merges Ivy.ai and Ocelot Into One Product

On October 27, 2025, Gravyty launched Ivy & Ocelot, completing the integration of Ivy.ai and Ocelot after the companies combined earlier in 2025, and listed SOC 2, FERPA, HIPAA, GDPR, TX-RAMP and StateRAMP compliance. Chief executive Justin Beck said the product helps institutions do more with limited resources.

On June 8, 2026, Gravyty published enrollment results from Purdue University Northwest, Penn State and San Diego Mesa College and said more than 2,750 institutions use the platform.

One Assistant for Every Campus Office, at All Hours

For colleges that want one assistant to answer students across offices at any hour, Ivy & Ocelot is a strong option. It scores 8.2/10 on our scale, with top marks for integrations, security and user sentiment. Published campus results, 47,000 questions answered autonomously at Penn State and 97% accuracy at Purdue Northwest, show what a maintained deployment can reach.

Published pricing and more autonomy beyond answering and nudging would lift the score. Ask for a quote that spells out channels and departments, budget staff time for content review, and compare it with Element451 or CollegeVine if you want agents that complete tasks in your systems. A one-semester pilot in two offices, measured on accuracy, after-hours volume and staff review time, will show whether the numbers at Penn State and Purdue Northwest carry over to your campus.

FERPA, Cost and the Ivy.ai and Ocelot Merger

What Is Ivy & Ocelot?

It is Gravyty’s AI assistant for higher education, formed from Ivy.ai and Ocelot and launched in October 2025. It answers student questions 24/7 across chat, text, email, social and phone and sends proactive reminders.

How Much Does Ivy & Ocelot Cost?

Gravyty does not publish prices. Colleges request a demo and quote, and onboarding, training and 24/7 technical support are part of the package.

Is Ivy & Ocelot FERPA Compliant?

Gravyty says it is FERPA compliant and also lists SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, TX-RAMP and StateRAMP, with role-based access and encrypted data transmission.

What Happened to Ivy.ai and Ocelot?

Gravyty combined Ivy.ai, Ocelot and Gravyty in 2025 and launched Ivy & Ocelot as the merged product. Existing customers should confirm which features and terms apply to them.

Can Ivy & Ocelot Change a Student’s Registration or Aid?

Its published features focus on answering questions with live data, sending reminders and routing complex requests to staff. For agents that write data into the SIS, compare CollegeVine or Element451. Its strength is pulling live data to answer account-specific questions, not changing the record.