Use the individual plan of study
Students typically must meet certain requirements, including taking certain classes, to graduate. Campus Cafe’s degree audit tool lets you configure which courses are required and lets students and advisors track their completion. The individual plan of study tool provides a way for you to suggest when and in what order students take the required classes. Students can track their progress against the plan and adjust their plan if they become out of sequence by failing a class, taking a leave of absence, etc. This helps students and advisors answer the question “what if I…”
Because curriculum requirements can change over time, you can create different plans of study versions for different catalog years. This allows you to set different plans for students who entered your institution at different times and are following different requirements - even if the students are in the same academic program.
You can also assign multiple plans of study to the same student. For example, if the student is pursuing multiple majors or wants to try “what if” scenarios such as what if I changed majors, studied abroad, took a leave, etc. Although students can have multiple plans, only one is considered “active” at a time.
Prerequisites
Required permissions
Module | Number | Description |
|---|---|---|
Student | 1269 | Associate individual plan of student with students |
Student | 1270 | View a student’s individual plan of study |
My Info | 1267 | Student can view their individual plan of study |
Associate plan of study with one student
You can apply the individual plan of study template to a single student to provide the student guidance on which courses to take when.
Go to the student’s profile.
Go to Person Selected > Plan of Study. Alternatively from the profile click Student Degree > Plan of Study.
In New Plan select the plan of study, typically corresponding to the student’s major. Ensure you select the version that match’s the student’s catalog year.
Click Create.
The plan of study template appears. You can adjust the individual course requirements, including semester, course, credits, requirement category and minimum quality points to align with the student’s individual situation. You can also add a note. For example, indicating a student plans to take a specific course in an non-typical sequence because the student plans to study abroad.
Click Save.
Associate plan of study with many students
You may want to associate a plan of study with a group of students. For example, you want all math majors entering in the upcoming semester to have their plans of study in time for orientation when students will select courses with their advisors.
This process adds the plan to all students selected. However, it doesn’t change the active plan if a student already has one. If you wish to change students' active plans, first inactivate their plan.
Go to Filters > Students.
Use the Filters to return the students you wish to associate with the plan of study. For example, you may narrow your results to only math majors with an entering semester of the upcoming fall.
Click Plan of Study > For All.
Select Create New Plans.
Select how to create plans based on one of the following:
the student’s current major.
a specific plan you select. For example, Fall 2023: Math.
an empty plan.
Click Generate.
Campus Cafe displays the results, including students for which plans couldn’t be generated. This most often occurs if you haven’t created a plan for the student’s major.
Inactivate plans for a group of students
If you need to change the plans of study for many students, you may first want to inactivate any current plans the students have on their records. The former plans will remain visible to students but no longer be marked as active.
Go to Filters > Students.
Use the Filters to return the students you wish to associate with the plan of study.
Click Plan of Study > For All.
Select Inactivate Plans.
Click Process.
View or change a student’s plan of study
Students and advisors can view a plan of study to track progress and plan for future course registrations.
Advisors go to the student’s profile > Person Selected > Plan of Study.
Students go to My Info > Plan of Study or use a link you’ve placed in the student portal.
The top of the plan shows credits grouped by the degree requirement category. Your institution creates these categories. Common categories include major requirements, general education requirements and elective requirements. Requirements can also be left uncategorized. Next to each category Campus Cafe shows how many credits are planned for that category versus how many the student has earned to date.
Below the summary Campus Cafe shows each course requirement and its present status, whether it is planned or completed. Planned courses show the course title as the title appears in the Catalog Semester (999999). For courses the student is enrolled in or has completed, Campus Cafe shows the course title matching the semester in which the student took the course. If the same course has multiple sections with different titles in the same semester, Campus Cafe displays the first course title regardless of the section the student registered for.
The plan of study follows the degree audit course display logic. If Exclude from Degree Audit is selected (checked) on a student’s Enrollment History course listing, that course won’t appear on the plan of study, nor will it satisfy any plan of study requirements.
Advisors and students can change a student’s plan of study to align with their unique needs. For example, needing to take a course out of normal sequence due to a leave or having to repeat a failed course. Advisors and students can only adjust semesters, courses, and categories for planned courses. Courses the student has completed are read only.
For each plan, you can change a requirement, add a requirement or remove a requirement.
For each course requirement not yet completed, working your way right across each row, you can change the semester, course provided the course exists in your course catalog, required credits, requirement category and minimum quality points.
You can add requirements by clicking the plus and adding the semester, course provided the course exists in your course catalog, required credits, requirement category and minimum quality points.
You can delete a requirement by clicking the minus sign next to the requirement.
After making adjustments, click Save.
