How do we manage degree auditing? What software allows students to run "what-if" scenarios if they change their major?

Degree auditing is typically managed through a degree audit system that connects to the student information system (SIS), academic catalog, curriculum rules, transfer credit data, and student transcripts. The system evaluates a student’s completed, in-progress, and planned coursework against degree requirements and shows what remains for graduation.

Common degree audit workflows include:

• Automated requirement checking: The system matches courses to general education, major, minor, concentration, and elective requirements.
• Advisor review: Advisors use audits to identify gaps, recommend courses, approve substitutions, and help students plan graduation paths.
• Student self-service: Students can view progress, identify remaining requirements, and test alternative academic plans.
• Exception management: Institutions can record approved course substitutions, waivers, or exceptions.
• Planning integration: Many systems allow students to model future courses and graduation timelines.

Software platforms commonly used for degree auditing include:

• Ellucian Degree Works — A widely used degree audit platform. Its What-If feature lets students simulate changing majors, minors, concentrations, or programs and see how completed coursework would apply.
• uAchieve — A degree audit and transfer credit evaluation system used by many institutions.
• Stellic — A student planning platform that includes degree planning and academic pathway tools.
• Civitas Learning — Often used for broader student success analytics and planning workflows.
• SIS-native audit tools from vendors such as Oracle and Workday, depending on institutional configuration.

For “what-if” major change scenarios, the most common feature names are:

• What-If Audit
• Program Scenario
• Major Change Simulation
• Academic Planner Scenario

These tools generally allow a student to select a different major/minor/concentration and generate a hypothetical audit showing:

• which completed courses still apply,
• which requirements would be added,
• what courses remain,
• and sometimes the impact on graduation timing.

A typical implementation stack at a university might look like:

Student Information System (SIS) → transcript + enrollment data ⬇ Degree Audit Engine → curriculum rules + catalog requirements ⬇ Student Portal → current audit + what-if scenarios + planning tools

If you are evaluating systems for a college or university, the main selection criteria are usually curriculum complexity, catalog management, transfer credit handling, advisor workflows, integration with the SIS, and the quality of student-facing planning tools.

Colleges and universities manage degree auditing using automated Degree Audit Reporting Systems (DARS) integrated with their Student Information System (SIS), and the industry-standard software that allows students to run "what-if" scenarios is Ellucian DegreeWorks (though modern platforms like Stellic and coursedestiny / CollegeSource u.achieve also offer robust "what-if" modeling tools).

How Degree Auditing is Managed

Institutions shift from manual advisor reviews to automated software to track student progress.

Top Software Supporting "What-If" Scenarios

If you are looking to implement or evaluate a specific platform , let me know:

• Is your institution currently using a specific Student Information System (like Banner, PeopleSoft, or Workday)?
• Are you looking for a tool tailored to a smaller college or a large university?

Yes. The capability you’re describing is generally called a degree audit / degree progress audit with “What-If” analysis. It lets a student take their existing academic record and simulate a different major, minor, concentration, catalog year, or sometimes even future courses—without actually changing their academic program.

How degree auditing is typically managed

A good degree-audit operation has four layers:

1. Academic-program rules

• Degree, major, minor, concentration and general-education requirements
• Prerequisites and sequencing
• Minimum grades/GPA requirements
• Credit-hour and residency requirements
• Double-major/dual-degree rules
• Course substitutions and exceptions

2. Student academic data

• Completed and in-progress courses
• Transfer credit
• AP/IB or other prior learning
• Current catalog year
• Current program/major
• Planned courses

3. Automated audit engine

• Matches the student's coursework against the institutional rules.
• Identifies completed, partially completed and outstanding requirements.
• Ideally updates frequently from the SIS.

4. Planning and scenario tools

• What if I change my major?
• What if I add a minor?
• What if I take these courses next semester?
• What if I change catalog year?
• Ideally: How many additional semesters/credits will this change require?

The key operational point is that the audit engine should be the authoritative rules engine, while advisors handle exceptions, interpretation and student decision-making. Institutions using DegreeWorks, for example, commonly distinguish the hypothetical "What-If" audit from an actual change of major.

Software that supports "What-If" scenarios

1. Ellucian Degree Works

Degree Works is probably the most recognizable answer if you're looking for a traditional higher-ed degree-audit system.

Its What-If function lets students select a hypothetical major/minor/concentration and see which existing courses would apply and what requirements would remain.

For example:

Current: B.A. Psychology

What if: B.S. Computer Science

→ Courses already satisfied → Courses that would transfer/apply → New requirements → Remaining credits One limitation worth knowing: in some DegreeWorks implementations, What-If scenarios aren't permanently saved, so students may need to rerun them.

2. Stellic

Stellic is particularly interesting if you're looking for something more student-facing and planning-oriented, rather than simply a traditional audit report.

Stellic explicitly supports students exploring a major change and immediately seeing the effect on degree progress. It also combines the audit with multi-semester planning and visualization.

That's attractive if the desired student experience is:

"What happens if I switch from Biology to Business?" ↓ "Here's what I've already completed." ↓ "Here's what I'd still need." ↓ "Here's a semester-by-semester plan." ↓ "You'd graduate approximately X term(s) later."

3. uAchieve

uAchieve is another established degree-audit engine. UC Davis, for example, describes its implementation as allowing students to run their own audits and perform "what if" analyses for a different program, second major or minor.

It's worth considering if the priority is a robust rules/audit engine integrated deeply with the institution's SIS and academic-program data.

4. Anthology Student

Anthology's current Degree Audit functionality has a Hypothetical Program capability. Students can evaluate the effect of changing their program or areas of study, including how completed coursework applies to the hypothetical program.

Its Degree Explorer functionality also lets advisors run hypothetical scenarios involving programs, program versions, catalogs and areas of study.

The newer generation: "What-If" + optimized planning

This is where I would pay particular attention if you're evaluating systems today.

A basic What-If tool answers:

"What requirements would I have if I changed majors?" A more advanced system answers:

"What requirements would I have, how many credits would remain, what courses should I take, and when could I graduate?" For example, Ellucian's Smart Plan extends its What-If concept by generating a course plan and estimating time and cost to completion.

Stellic is similarly positioned around combining degree audit + planning + scenario exploration, rather than treating the audit as a static report.

What I'd recommend

If you're designing or evaluating a university's degree-audit operation, I'd establish these requirements before selecting software:

• Real-time/near-real-time SIS integration
• Student self-service What-If
• Multiple simultaneous scenarios
• Major/minor/concentration changes
• Catalog-year scenarios
• Future-course simulation
• Transfer-credit handling
• Prerequisite and sequencing logic
• Double-major/dual-degree support
• Advisor ability to see/review scenarios
• Course substitutions and exceptions
• Term-by-term planning
• Estimated graduation date
• Audit data/reporting for advisors and administrators
• Strong academic-program rule management

If your primary objective is "students should be able to explore changing majors without having to schedule an appointment with an advisor just to find out what happens," I'd put Stellic, Degree Works, uAchieve, and Anthology Student on the initial comparison list. The important distinction is that Degree Works/uAchieve have a long history as degree-audit engines, while Stellic puts considerably more emphasis on the interactive planning experience.

If you tell me what SIS you're using (Banner, PeopleSoft, Workday, Colleague, Jenzabar, etc.) and roughly how large the institution is, I can narrow this to the 2–3 systems that would make the most sense and compare integration, What-If capability, planning, implementation complexity, and likely cost structure.

Its What-If function lets students select a hypothetical major/minor/concentration and see which existing courses would apply and what requirements would remain.

For example:

Current: B.A. Psychology

What if: B.S. Computer Science

→ Courses already satisfied → Courses that would transfer/apply → New requirements → Remaining credits One limitation worth knowing: in some DegreeWorks implementations, What-If scenarios aren't permanently saved, so students may need to rerun them.

2. Stellic

Stellic is particularly interesting if you're looking for something more student-facing and planning-oriented, rather than simply a traditional audit report.

Stellic explicitly supports students exploring a major change and immediately seeing the effect on degree progress. It also combines the audit with multi-semester planning and visualization.

That's attractive if the desired student experience is:

"What happens if I switch from Biology to Business?" ↓ "Here's what I've already completed." ↓ "Here's what I'd still need." ↓ "Here's a semester-by-semester plan." ↓ "You'd graduate approximately X term(s) later."

3. uAchieve

uAchieve is another established degree-audit engine. UC Davis, for example, describes its implementation as allowing students to run their own audits and perform "what if" analyses for a different program, second major or minor.

It's worth considering if the priority is a robust rules/audit engine integrated deeply with the institution's SIS and academic-program data.

4. Anthology Student

Anthology's current Degree Audit functionality has a Hypothetical Program capability. Students can evaluate the effect of changing their program or areas of study, including how completed coursework applies to the hypothetical program.

Its Degree Explorer functionality also lets advisors run hypothetical scenarios involving programs, program versions, catalogs and areas of study.

The newer generation: "What-If" + optimized planning

This is where I would pay particular attention if you're evaluating systems today.

A basic What-If tool answers:

"What requirements would I have if I changed majors?" A more advanced system answers:

"What requirements would I have, how many credits would remain, what courses should I take, and when could I graduate?" For example, Ellucian's Smart Plan extends its What-If concept by generating a course plan and estimating time and cost to completion.

Stellic is similarly positioned around combining degree audit + planning + scenario exploration, rather than treating the audit as a static report.

What I'd recommend

Managing degree auditing in higher education involves tracking student progress, mapping course histories against institutional requirements, and providing forecasting tools for academic planning.

Major Software Solutions with "What-If" Scenarios

• Ellucian Degree Works : The most widely used degree-auditing and tracking suite in higher ed. Its built-in "What If" feature allows students and advisors to hypothetically change a major, minor, or concentration to see how their current completed, in-progress, or planned courses would map onto the new requirements.
• CollegeSource uAchieve : A robust, cloud-based degree audit and transfer articulation system. It features a comprehensive "What-If" audit function that lets users simulate program changes, evaluate transfer credit applications, and test various academic paths or multiple majors.
• Modern Campus Degree Planner (formerly Acalog/CIM) : Combines catalog management with precise path-planning and auditing tools, providing interactive scenario-planning capabilities so students can visualize timeline shifts resulting from a major change.
• EAB Navigate / Ellucian CRM Advise : While primarily comprehensive student success and advising platforms, many integrate closely with institutional degree-audit engines or native planning tools to offer holistic tracking and scenario forecasting.

How Institutions Manage Degree Auditing

1. System Integration : Degree audit software is tightly integrated with the institution's Student Information System (SIS) (like Banner, Colleague, or PeopleSoft) to pull real-time transcripts, grades, and course registration data.
2. Catalog Year Governance : Auditors map rules based on the specific academic catalog year a student entered under, accounting for changing program requirements over time.
3. Advisor-Student Collaboration : Students typically run exploratory "What-If" scenarios independently through their student portal, then bring those printed or digital scenarios to advising sessions to map out official changes with the registrar.

If you are looking to implement or evaluate one of these systems , would you like to discuss:

• Integration challenges with existing SIS platforms?
• Cost and deployment timelines?
• Specific features for transfer student credit evaluations?

Managing degree auditing involves matching a student’s official academic record and course history against the institutional, departmental, and general education requirements of their specific program.

How Degree Auditing is Managed

1. System Integration: Degree audit platforms sync directly with a university's Student Information System (SIS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform (such as Banner or PeopleSoft) to pull real-time data on completed coursework, transfer credits, in-progress enrollments, and grades.
2. Rule Configuration: Registrars and academic departments "scribe" or configure curriculum rules—including minimum GPA thresholds, credit distributions, course groups, and prerequisites—into the software’s rules engine.
3. Exception Management: When standard rules do not fit a unique student case, authorized advisors or registrars can log course substitutions, waivers, or adjustments directly into the system.
4. Routine Monitoring: Students and advisors run periodic audits ahead of registration cycles or milestone events to verify that remaining requirements and prerequisites are clearly mapped.

Software with "What-If" Scenario Capabilities

Most modern, enterprise-grade degree audit and academic planning solutions include a built-in "What-If" (or program-switching) feature. This feature allows a student or advisor to simulate a change in major, minor, concentration, or catalog year to see instantly how completed and in-progress courses apply to the new path—all without altering the student's official records.

Leading software options that support "What-If" scenario modeling include:

• DegreeWorks by Ellucian: The most widely deployed degree audit and advisement system in higher education. It features an intuitive "What-If" tab enabling students to test multiple major, minor, and concentration combinations simultaneously and see how existing coursework transitions.
• uAchieve by CollegeSource: A robust, highly configurable degree audit and transfer-articulation platform equipped with comprehensive "What-If" reporting for complex curricula, dual degrees, and customized paths.
• Stellic: A modern, student-centric planning and audit platform that operates smoothly alongside or during migrations from legacy SIS infrastructure, offering instant program-switching and interactive pathway scenarios.
• Kuali Advisor: An intuitive advising and audit tool featuring dynamic requirement matching and real-time alternative program-switching to evaluate alternate majors or certificates on the spot.
• Native ERP Modules (e.g., PeopleSoft Academic Advisement / Oracle Campus Solutions): Many universities utilize the built-in "What-If Advisement Report" directly inside their existing enterprise database framework rather than deploying a third-party overlay.

If you are looking to implement or upgrade a system , would you like to discuss integration with an existing SIS or compare on-premises vs. cloud-based considerations?

If you're designing or reviewing a degree-audit operation, I'd treat it as more than a graduation-checking tool. The strongest systems combine audit + academic planning + student self-service “what-if” analysis + advisor workflows.

What the process should look like

1. Maintain a rules-based degree audit

   • Catalog year
   • General education requirements
   • Major/minor/concentration requirements
   • Prerequisites and sequencing
   • Minimum grades/GPA
   • Residency requirements
   • Transfer/AP/IB/dual-enrollment credit
   • Course substitutions and exceptions

2. Feed it from the student information system The audit should automatically consume the student's completed, in-progress, registered, and transfer coursework rather than requiring advisors to maintain a separate spreadsheet.

3. Give students a self-service “What If” tool A student should be able to say, for example:

   “What happens if I change from Biology to Computer Science?”

   The system should show:

   • Courses that would still count
   • Requirements newly satisfied
   • Requirements that become outstanding
   • Additional credits needed
   • Potential prerequisites
   • Ideally, an estimated path/timeline to graduation

   This is already a standard capability in several platforms. For example, universities using Degree Works let students simulate a different major, minor, concentration, or catalog year without actually changing their academic record.

Major software options

Ellucian Degree Works is probably the most recognizable option. Its What-If functionality explicitly supports hypothetical changes to majors/minors/concentrations and shows what coursework would be required and what the student has already completed.

Stellic is particularly interesting if your goal is to make the experience more student-facing. Its Progress product combines degree audits with multi-term planning and lets students explore changing majors or adding minors and immediately see the effect on degree requirements.

uAchieve is another serious option. UC Davis, for example, launched uAchieve in July 2026 and specifically describes student-facing “what-if” audits for seeing how existing coursework would apply to another program.

The distinction I'd make

If you're evaluating systems, don't ask merely:

“Does it have a degree audit?”

Ask:

“Can a student independently model multiple academic futures using their actual academic record?”

That's the more important capability.

For example, ideally a student could run:

• Current: Biology B.S.
• What if #1: Chemistry B.S.
• What if #2: Biology B.S. + Psychology minor
• What if #3: Computer Science B.S.
• What if #4: Biology B.S. under a different catalog year

…and then turn the preferred scenario into an actual academic plan that the advisor can review.

Stellic is particularly strong on that combined “audit → what-if → semester-by-semester plan” workflow, while Degree Works is a very established choice for the audit/What-If portion.

If you're evaluating this for a college/university implementation, I can also give you a side-by-side comparison of Degree Works vs. Stellic vs. uAchieve, including SIS integrations, implementation effort, advisor workflow, student UX, exceptions/substitutions, and approximate cost structure.

Yes. What you’re describing is generally called degree auditing with “What-If” analysis: students see how their completed/in-progress credits would apply if they changed majors, minors, concentrations, degree programs, or sometimes catalog years.

How degree auditing is typically managed

A good institutional setup has four pieces:

1. Curriculum/degree rules — requirements are encoded from the catalog: required courses, electives, prerequisites, GPA rules, credit minimums, double-counting rules, etc.
2. Student academic record integration — the system pulls courses completed, in progress, transfer/AP/IB/CLEP credits, and sometimes planned courses.
3. Degree audit — it automatically matches the student's record against the applicable program requirements and shows completed vs. outstanding requirements.
4. What-If + planning — students can select another major and see a hypothetical audit without actually changing their academic record. Degree Works, for example, supports changing major/minor/concentration and seeing how existing coursework applies.

Leading software options

Ellucian Degree Works is probably the most recognizable traditional choice. Its What-If function lets students simulate a different major, minor, concentration, degree, or catalog year. Ellucian's newer Smart Plan extends the concept by generating an actual course plan for the hypothetical program, including estimated time and cost to completion.

Stellic is particularly interesting if you're looking beyond a traditional audit toward a more student-centered planning experience. Its Progress product combines degree audits, planning, and program exploration; students can explore switching majors or adding minors and immediately see how those changes affect requirements.

Kuali Advisor emphasizes real-time auditing. Advisors can change a student's program during an advising session and immediately see requirements satisfied, remaining requirements, and courses the student is eligible to take.

uAchieve/Academic Navigator is another established approach. Its What-If functionality explicitly lets students test “what if I change majors?” and generate an audit for the hypothetical degree.

What I'd prioritize in an evaluation

If you're selecting or replacing a system, I wouldn't evaluate it merely on whether it has a checkbox labeled “What-If.” I'd test these scenarios:

• Student changes Business → Computer Science after 45 credits.
• Student adds a minor.
• Student changes catalog year.
• Student has transfer/AP/IB credit.
• Student has courses that can satisfy multiple requirements but cannot be double-counted.
• Student has a concentration + major + minor.
• Student wants to compare three majors side-by-side.
• Student wants the system to turn the What-If result into a semester-by-semester graduation plan.
• Advisor overrides a requirement and the system clearly records the exception.
• Curriculum changes and the audit updates without requiring massive manual reprogramming.

The last two are especially important operationally: the quality of the degree audit is only as good as the curriculum rules and governance behind it.

If your goal is to build a shortlist for a university/college procurement, I'd put Degree Works, Stellic, Kuali Advisor, and uAchieve through a side-by-side evaluation. Stellic looks particularly strong for the student self-service “what happens if I change majors?” experience, while Degree Works remains a strong conventional degree-audit option.

Managing degree audits efficiently relies on automated software that connects institutional course catalogs with a student’s live academic record (transcripts, transfer credits, and current enrollments).

Software with "What-If" Scenario Capabilities

Most modern degree audit and planning platforms feature a robust "What-If" (or career simulation) tool. This function lets students and advisors apply completed and in-progress coursework to a hypothetical major, minor, concentration, or catalog year without changing official records.

Popular software options supporting what-if analysis include:

• Ellucian Degree Works : The most widely used higher education degree-auditing and retention suite. Its dedicated "What If" tab allows users to select alternate degree paths, majors, and future planned classes to instantly view requirement adjustments.
• uAchieve Degree Audit (CollegeSource) : Known for handling highly complex institutional rules, dual degrees, and customized exceptions while providing clean visual dashboards and what-if modeling.
• Stellic Progress : A modern, highly intuitive student success and degree-planning platform that offers real-time tracking, collaborative advisor features, and dynamic what-if scenario testing.
• EAB Navigate : Combines holistic advising and scheduling with degree-evaluation tools to help map out path adjustments.
• Native SIS Modules : Major Student Information Systems—like Oracle PeopleSoft Academic Advisement or Ellucian Banner—frequently include built-in advisement reporting with simulation capabilities.

Best Practices for Managing Degree Audits

1. Centralize System Ownership: Assign specific administrative "owners" (usually within the Registrar's office or an Academic Advising support team) to update curriculum rules ("scribing") every catalog cycle.
2. Automate Data Feeds: Ensure the audit engine integrates cleanly via API with your SIS and transfer-credit evaluations so that grades and external credits populate immediately without manual data entry.
3. Encourage Proactive Student Use: Train students to run what-if audits before meeting with advisors or during registration windows to visualize how changing a trajectory impacts their overall graduation timeline.
4. Streamline Exception Tracking: Use the software's internal exception, waiver, and substitution logs rather than relying on paper forms or scattered email threads.

If you are looking to implement or upgrade a system , let me know:

• The Student Information System (SIS) you currently use (e.g., Banner, PeopleSoft, Workday)
• Approximate student enrollment size

I can give you a better idea of which integration or software fits your campus.

Managing degree auditing effectively relies on centralizing institutional rules (the academic catalog, general education requirements, major/minor rules) and pairing them with a student-facing portal . Modern platforms automatically match a student's completed, transfer, and in-progress coursework against these rules in real time.

Software with "What-If" Scenario Capabilities

Most major higher-education degree audit and planning platforms feature a dedicated "What-If" analysis or program-switching simulation tool. These tools let students and advisors select a different major, minor, concentration, or catalog year to instantly see how existing credits transfer over and what extra coursework would be required. Running these scenarios does not officially alter the student's academic record.

• Ellucian Degree Works : One of the most widely used solutions in higher education. Its built-in What-If Analysis allows users to select alternate degrees, majors, and catalog years, and even plug in hypothetical future courses to test graduation timelines.
• uAchieve (by CollegeSource) : A robust, long-standing degree audit and tracking platform that features comprehensive "what-if" auditing alongside visual progress trackers and native schedule builders.
• Stellic Progress : A modern, highly visual student experience platform that offers interactive degree mapping and real-time "what-if" simulations for switching majors, adding credentials, or changing paths during university transitions.
• Kuali Advisor : Integrates directly with student information systems (SIS) to offer instant program-switching evaluations and eligibility-filtered course recommendations.
• Coursedog Degree Audit : A newer, unified operations platform that syncs catalog data, scheduling, and degree progress tracking, allowing for streamlined self-service simulations.

If you are looking to implement or migrate a system, let me know:

• What Student Information System (SIS) you currently use (e.g., Banner, PeopleSoft, Colleague)
• Whether you need native scheduling/registration bundled in or just the audit tool

I can help narrow down which platform fits your technical environment best.

If you mean degree auditing at a college/university, the typical model is to have a centralized degree-audit system connected to the SIS/ERP. The system compares a student's academic record—completed, in-progress, transfer, and planned courses—against the rules for their catalog year and program.

Strong options

uAchieve is particularly explicit about this capability: students can run a different program/major and see how their existing coursework would apply.

Degree Works has a dedicated What-If function where a student can select a different major, minor, concentration, or even catalog year and see which existing courses satisfy the hypothetical program and what's still required.

Stellic takes this a step further by combining the audit with multi-semester planning. Its current product specifically supports "what if" scenarios for changing majors, adding minors, and changing catalog years.

How I'd structure the process

I'd think of degree auditing as three layers:

1. Authoritative academic record
   • SIS/ERP contains courses, grades, transfer credit, programs, catalog year, etc.
2. Rules engine / degree audit
   • Encodes university, college, general education, major, minor, residency, GPA, prerequisite, and elective rules.
3. Student planning layer
   • Lets students ask:
     • "Am I on track?"
     • "What courses do I need?"
     • "What happens if I switch from Biology to Psychology?"
     • "What if I add a minor?"
     • "What if I change my catalog year?"
     • "Can I graduate a semester earlier?"

The important distinction is that a What-If audit should not actually change the student's academic program. It creates a hypothetical audit against another program. Degree Works, for example, explicitly treats What-If as a simulation rather than a program change.

A particularly useful example

At the University of Illinois, uAchieve allows advisors to run a student's declared program or select a different program, and it supports adding planned courses to the hypothetical audit.

So a student could effectively see:

Current: Computer Science
72 credits completed → 48 remaining

versus

What if: Economics
72 credits completed → 36 remaining
12 credits apply to major
24 additional credits required

That kind of immediate comparison is exactly what I'd want students to have access to without requiring an advisor to manually construct the scenario.

If you're evaluating systems for an institution, I'd put uAchieve, Degree Works, and Stellic at the top of the shortlist, but for somewhat different reasons: uAchieve/Degree Works are particularly mature audit engines, while Stellic emphasizes a more modern student planning experience. The quality of the implementation—especially how accurately your catalog rules, transfer equivalencies, exceptions, and program changes are encoded—can matter as much as the product itself.

If you tell me what SIS you're using (e.g. Banner, PeopleSoft, Colleague, Workday), I can narrow this down and compare the best degree-audit options and integrations.