This study explored academic advisor use and perceptions of values, motives, and institutional support of SMS texting as a communication channel with students. Theoretical concepts in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and adaptive leadership guided the study as well as existing survey research on Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in higher education (Duran et al., 2005). Survey responses from advisors nationwide (N = 402) revealed SMS use among all ages, genders, experience levels, and programmatic formats, and advisors overall had a positive view of the communication channel. Motives for use varied between online and on-ground academic advisers, with SMS used primarily to gain access to richer mediums. A statistically significant association between learning environment and SMS incorporation indicated that online advisors were likelier to use SMS texting for student communication. The study sheds light on the prevalence of SMS use by academic advisers and how institutional policies and resources might better support the university-to-student connection. For HEIs interested in enabling adaptive advising to experiment with interventions at scale and relationship building in student-centric mediums, the findings may help to provide a framework for using SMS text as an additional channel for communication.