ABSTRACT
College degree planning (CDP) is the process of determining, in order to satisfy requirements for a specific college degree at a given institution, a set of courses and a schedule for completing those courses. CDP is especially important and difficult in the United States, where many students enter college without deciding on a focus for their studies and thus are faced with choosing from a myriad of potential majors and their associated complex sets of degree requirements, which can include many courses in other areas of study. While students outside the United States often have much less flexibility in choice and sequencing of courses, many countries are now changing their policies in this regard and are moving toward greater latitude in course selection. This article will thus focus on the utility of information technology (IT) for student decision support in two closely related college planning areas: (1) major selection (MS) (a challenging problem that is faced by pre-college students worldwide as well as by a significant number of U.S. students (so-called undeclared students) who have enrolled in college without having chosen a focus for their studies) and (2) CDP, a related but more complex problem in which it is assumed that a college major has been selected (or at least is being considered), but the set and sequencing of courses required to complete that major are yet to be determined, along with the courses needed to satisfy additional degree requirements.
