Overcome These Top Three Challenges to Academic Planning

High expectations and unexpected changes are the name of the game in academic planning. But can your plans keep up?

Nearly 60% of college students face delays in completing their degree due to preventable planning issues. What's more – institutions that implement robust academic planning tools report an average increase of 15% in student retention rates.

In this article, we explore the three most significant challenges to your academic plans – unmet student expectations, changing student plans, and evolving degree requirements. You'll also discover how you can better equip your institution to support students and ensure academic plans remain resilient amidst change.

Challenge #1: Unmet Student Expectations

Today's students have high expectations for user experience, which are influenced by the advanced technologies they use daily. Amazon curates recommendations based on a search for "jacket." Netflix understands the types of shows they enjoy based on previous viewing history. Google Maps knows how to avoid toll roads on a 4-hour trip based on saved preferences.

Yet, academic planning so frequently requires a level of manual intervention that begs students to ask, "It's been three years — why doesn't my plan know me yet?"

This gap in personalized academic support is not only frustrating for students; it poses significant challenges for institutions as well. Unmet student expectations can lead to decreased satisfaction and retention, ultimately impacting graduation rates and institutional reputation.

Ellucian's Smart Plan directly addresses these challenges by building and personalizing an academic plan for each student, automatically adjusting them for any changes. Like Amazon, Netflix, and Google Maps, it understands each student's history, preferences, and life events to continually propel students on the optimal path to success.

By leveraging this technology, institutions can enhance student experience, foster greater engagement, and drive academic achievement.

Challenge #2: Changing Student Plans

The Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI) reports that 85% of students are "post-traditional," meaning they share one or more of the following characteristics:

They delay enrollment in college after high school
They attend part-time for at least part of an academic year
They work full-time while also enrolled in school
They are financially independent
They have dependents (a spouse and/or children)

Often, your students are more than just students. With all they're balancing, they may face real conflicts that their academic planner must honor. But does yours?

Flexibility in academic planning isn't an add-on; it's a foundational requirement. Institutions must accommodate students' shifting priorities and schedules to promote retention and successful completion outcomes.

Ellucian's Smart Plan was built on the principle that student plans will change over time. For example, suppose junior Billy can no longer take classes on Thursdays due to new childcare responsibilities. In that case, Smart Plan will automatically update his plan with his new optimal path toward completion. Importantly, it prioritizes maintaining his original timeline to minimize any financial consequences.

When academic plans are responsive to the realities of students' lives, institutions can foster a more supportive educational environment that leads to more tremendous success for all.

Challenge #3: Evolving Degree Requirements

Degree requirement planning often happens in a silo. Updates made by faculty and department leaders — including new program requirements, schedules, course rotations, and more — take too long to get to the advising office. Why? Lack of real-time connectivity between academic planners and degree audit technology.

Any academic planner is only as accurate — and consequently, useful — as its audit counterpart. How can the academic planner adjust accordingly if the audit is late in transmitting an update to a program requirement?

The implications for students and advisors working off outdated, imprecise plans are significant: wasted time and money on credits that don't advance their goals, compliance challenges for institutions, and growing frustration among students.

Thankfully, this is an avoidable situation. Smart Plan is natively integrated with Degree Works and Colleague Student Planning, auditing tools built to keep your ever-changing requirements and best practices documented, up-to-date, and accurate. This not only ensures that Smart Plan remains a reliable source of truth for students and advisors but also provides institutions with a competitive advantage. By offering real-time updates, institutions can enhance operational efficiency, improve student outcomes, and foster meaningful conversations about academic pathways.