A shared perspective on the extant and ideal organizing principles for an institution's advising system is important to the overall effectiveness of advising. In this essay, I develop a vision of advising as educating, and from that vision, derive some higher order principles for an institutional advising system that will accommodate the wide range of prevailing theories and practices of advising and still allow for meaningful assessments and evaluations of advising effectiveness. Seven basic principles for organizing and managing institutional advising systems are identified.