The Wait Is Over: Your 4 Must-Haves for Academic Planning Technology

Picture this: you're an advisor working with a sophomore student, and together you're trying to plan for the next 5 semesters. Can you answer these questions?

1. How will a new minor impact their graduation date and financial cost?
2. What's the fastest path to completing all their major prerequisites?
3. Which courses best accommodate their 20 hour/week work schedule?

Academic planning is difficult with so many variables that affect each plan—life events, declaration changes, you name it. Think of a mathematical equation that grows in complexity. At a certain point, the only efficient way to solve it is with a calculator.

The same is true for plans. But much like calculators, not all academic planning technology is created equally. Here are the 4 must-haves for academic planning technology to ensure students' success.

Self-Correcting Capabilities

Let's face it, student circumstances change all the time. Whether declaring a new field of study or updating work hours, student goals and calendars rarely sit still. But historically, planners have done very little to adjust for changes. Instead, they require students and advisors to be the planners. The results have been sub-optimal; there is simply too much change for students and advisors to keep up with.

The planner—not the student, not the advisor—should automatically generate a comprehensive plan and self-correct for any changes. Self-correcting capabilities...

• Ensure students follow up-to-date plan recommendations and stay on track for timely completion
• Free advisors' time to foster deeper, more effective conversations about academic, career, and life aspirations
• Prevent any eleventh-hour revisions or forgetfulness to update the plan at all

Find us an academic plan that never changes, and we'll send you some chocolate. In all seriousness, plans are only useful when always accurate. When students and advisors can focus on execution, they are much more successful in achieving their goals.

Transparency Around Completion

A third-year student approaches you, their advisor, with a proposition to add a chemistry major. They ask you what you think. If you simply respond with an opinion, you're not sharing the complete story.

Academic planning technology must show students exactly when they will finish—and how any change could alter the completion date and cost of their education. Time impacts money , and students need the proper data points to make the most informed decisions.

Are an additional year and $44,675 too much for that student? Maybe show them the data points for a chemistry minor, instead.

When students see the full picture, the finish line seems more certain—and goals feel more achievable. Belief is key to student retention and completion.

Unification of Planning and Registration

In writing this blog, I made a critical mistake. To "save time," I edited a paragraph directly in the live blog—instead of first in the Word document. When I had to make an additional edit, the post and document were no longer in sync. Confused, I spent 25 minutes trying to understand what I did.

The same situation often applies to registration. But in this case, the consequences are far more serious. There's too much change for students and advisors to maintain manually, so they take shortcuts. At registration. Not in their plan. In doing so, they often make critical mistakes that delay on-time completion and cost money. There aren’t enough advisors to help every student at these critical decision points.

Your academic planning technology should let students register for courses directly from their unique plans. Specifically, make sure your technology:

• Integrates seamlessly with your SIS registration and adheres to all existing registration rules and policies
• Understands the registration window for individual students, automatically enabling registration at the appropriate time
• Warns students of the implications that dropping courses will have on their overall plan before they commit to the change

Registration is smoothest and simplest when it’s a non-event... a non-event for students, registrars, advisors, and everyone in between. #makeregistrationanonevent

Sound Audit Foundation

We saved the prerequisite for last. Ironic, right? Because that could easily happen if your audit and academic planning technology are not in sync.

No academic planning technology stands a chance without a sound audit foundation.

Would you build a new home on a cracked foundation? Your academic audit technology is your home's foundation. In academia, so much shifts around: catalog years, program requirements, and class sections, to name a few. You’d hate for your foundation to shift, too.

If the audit is your foundation, then the plan is your house. No house will stand the test of time without a strong base. A successful audit must remain detailed, up-to-date, and accurate to power academic plans that rely on its integrity, all the time.

Integration between these two technologies—and your SIS—is paramount to the success of all stakeholders: students, advisors, registrars, etc.

So, what do you think? Do you feel confident in evaluating academic planning technology?

This summer, we're hosting a weekly demo series showcasing Smart Plan, higher education's most powerful academic planning technology. Join us to see how it checks off all the must-haves. See you there!

Register Now