Degree Planning Software ROI Calculator for Universities

Overview

This calculator helps universities quantify the financial impact of degree planning on advising workload, student attrition, and pre-census subject withdrawals.

Enter your institution’s figures to generate a customised business case, including estimated cost savings and revenue impact.

What does poor degree planning cost your university?

Degree planning challenges create measurable financial impacts across advising, retention, and enrolment behaviour.

Academic advising workload

High volumes of manual advising are required to interpret program rules, validate subject selections, and sequence subjects into coherent multi-term study plans.

At scale, this creates significant staffing cost during peak enrolment periods.

First-year student attrition

Students who leave in first year represent multiple years of unrealised tuition revenue.

For example, a university with 20,000 EFTSL and a 12% first-year attrition rate may be losing tens of millions in lifetime enrolment revenue.

Pre-census subject withdrawals

Students withdrawing before census dates reduce revenue for that teaching period.

These are not only operational issues — they represent quantifiable financial impact.

Calculate your institution’s ROI

Enter your institution’s figures to estimate advising cost savings, attrition-related revenue impact, and pre-census withdrawal losses.

The calculator generates a customised business case based on your inputs.

All inputs remain local to your session. No data is stored or transmitted.

Calculator

Data sources (Australia)

Indicative inputs for Australian universities can be derived from publicly available data published by the Department of Education.

Relevant sources include:

Frequently asked questions

How is return on investment calculated?

By estimating advising cost savings and retained enrolment revenue based on your inputs, and comparing these to the cost of implementing and operating a degree planning platform.

Can I customise the assumptions?

Yes. All inputs and key assumptions can be adjusted within the calculator to reflect your institution’s context.

Is this calculator specific to Australian universities?

It is designed using Australian higher education structures, including EFTSL and census dates, but can be adapted to other contexts.

What is EFTSL?

Equivalent Full-Time Student Load — a standard measure of student enrolment used in Australian higher education funding and reporting.

How does a degree planning platform reduce advising costs?

By reducing manual validation, clarifying study pathways, and preventing planning issues before enrolment decisions are made.

Interpreting your results

To discuss your results or the methodology in more detail, contact our team at info@studyplanner.com.au

Ready to transform academic advising and student outcomes? Take the first step today!

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