Case Study: Keene State College achieves faster course planning and improved advising with Ellucian Colleague Student Planning

Self-service solution cuts course planning time, redefines advisor role

Keene State College, a public liberal arts college of about 5,000 students, struggled with an outdated registration system that forced students to spend hours each semester manually searching and assembling schedules. To deliver self-service tools and refocus advising on mentoring, Keene State deployed Ellucian's Colleague Student Planning, while managing faculty resistance to change and the need for rapid training before the semester start.

Ellucian’s Colleague Student Planning added visual time‑block scheduling, what‑if scenarios, prerequisite warnings, automated advisor alerts and integrated degree progress, so students can build, register from, and share semester plans. A soft rollout plus targeted orientation drove adoption—two‑thirds of students created a course plan within a year—reduced registration friction, improved electronic advisor communication, and let advisors spend face time on mentoring and career planning rather than basic course selection.

Keene State College

Phoebe Price

Academic and Career Advisor