Overview

Degree Works converts course, program, and academic data into detailed degree audits and plans that students and advisors can manage. When a major change or course withdrawal alters a student’s path, an audit can become a revised plan rather than remaining a static record of unmet requirements. What-if scenarios also let students consider how choices such as switching majors or dropping a class could affect their completion timeline.

Institutions can create templated pathways for programs with a fixed sequence of courses and labs. Reporting spans course use toward requirements, students who have strayed from plans, missing courses, and aggregate information for future-term offerings. That makes the system relevant to both individual advising and course planning, though it is designed around institutional workflows rather than standalone student use.

Key features

Audits and planning: Degree audits, plans, and what-if scenarios connect curriculum rules to potential next steps. This suits advising teams managing changing student circumstances, but plans are manually administered.
Transfer articulation: Degree Works maps credits from other institutions to show how previously earned coursework applies. The optional Transfer Equivalency component evaluates external coursework and helps prospective students understand which credits may be accepted.
Student workspace: Degree Progress and Academic Plan cards present progress in a personalized Ellucian Experience workspace, giving students a view of both requirements and their plan.
Alerts and interventions: Early alerts can notify advisors when students fall behind completion requirements when Degree Works is used with Ellucian CRM Advise. Institutions should factor that companion product into any alerting workflow.
Institutional integration: Ellucian describes out-of-the-box ERP/SIS connections through open APIs and extensibility tools, and says Degree Works can integrate with virtually any student information system. A separate planner brief describes Banner Workflow integration for plan approvals.

Pricing

Degree Works is paid, with custom pricing based on full-time equivalent students rather than application-user count. Ellucian keeps its pricing methodology commercially confidential, so institutions should request a quote and compare it against their enrollment and integration scope. There are no published lower-cost plans or free tier to weigh against the institutional offering.

Platforms

Degree Works is described as SaaS-enabled and mobile-friendly, with Android, iOS, web, API, and Linux platforms. Its operational environment document specifies an Intel x86 Linux server and cautions that other hardware environments or substituted software may be unsupported. That document is dated March 16, 2020, so institutions with nonstandard infrastructure should confirm the supported setup during evaluation.

Ellucian says its cloud services are ISO 27001:2022 certified and makes SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II, and SOC 3 reports available to customers. SaaS security is a shared responsibility: Ellucian takes on more security tasks as customers move to SaaS, but does not assume all of them.

Who it's for

Degree Works is aimed at higher education institutions whose students, advisors, academic planners, and transfer staff need to navigate institutional curriculum rules together. It is particularly relevant to structured programs and campuses that want reporting on both individual progress and course demand. It is less suitable for buyers seeking an independently priced product or a system detached from institutional student records and advising processes.

Pros and cons

Pro: Audits can become plans that change with a student’s circumstances, helping advisors turn requirements gaps into manageable paths.
Pro: Transfer mapping and optional Transfer Equivalency address credit applicability for current and prospective students.
Pro: Reporting includes missing courses, plan adherence, and aggregate course-use data that can inform future offerings.
Con: Custom, FTE-based pricing makes costs harder to compare without an institutional quote.
Con: Automatic alerts depend on use with Ellucian CRM Advise, adding a companion-product dependency to that workflow.
Con: The documented operational environment is specific to Intel x86 Linux servers and warns that alternatives may be unsupported.

Alternatives

For a different approach, consider FlightPath, Civitas Advising, EAB Navigate360, ConexED Retain, CoreCampus, Ellucian Advising, HighPoint Degree Planner, and Kuali Financials.

Choose FlightPath if you want a free, self-hosted web application with no download, installation, or use charge; it requires a web server, MySQL, and PHP 7.4 or 8.x. Civitas Advising is worth considering for institutions seeking an annual-subscription advising platform scaled to institution size, with scope and integrated systems affecting the quote and multi-year terms typical. EAB Navigate360 may suit institutions preferring an enterprise license for all staff and students, with pricing tied to enrollment and technology scope rather than per-user or per-office fees.

CoreCampus is a cloud platform with a monthly fee based on average annual FTE students; its described plan includes all software modules and features. Ellucian Advising is another paid Ellucian product to compare through a demo or direct inquiry. ConexED Retain, HighPoint Degree Planner, and Kuali Financials are paid alternatives; Kuali invites institutions to book a demo about pricing.

Browse Academic Advising Software and Degree Audit Software for more options in these categories.

Verdict

Degree Works is a strong choice for colleges and universities that need degree audits tied to adaptable academic plans, transfer-credit mapping, and institution-level reporting. Its central advantage is connecting student progress with advising action and course planning. Look elsewhere if you need transparent pricing or cannot accommodate the documented Linux-server environment; alerting also requires Ellucian CRM Advise.