DegreeCheck allows JCCC students and counselors to complete an automated degree or certificate evaluation to determine whether the students are on track for graduation.

DegreeCheck matches a student's academic progress against degree requirements in the college catalog and then generates a report indicating which requirements have been fulfilled and which remain toward completion of a goal or certificate.

The program has two other ingenious features - a "planner" so students and counselors can plot future class enrollment and a "what if" scenario so students can see how credits may apply to various degrees or certificates in case they want to change majors.

"This should be a useful tool that gives students and counselors good, accurate information," said Debbie Young, degree audit coordinator. "And one of the biggest benefits is that students can do the audit themselves."

"DegreeCheck will save counselors a huge amount of time," said Amy Warner, counselor.

In the past, counselors filled out forms by hand, marking which classes were completed and which were still needed. In some cases where one class can count toward several categories, the process was particularly time consuming.

DegreeCheck will

• Provide real-time advice. Information is refreshed each night so any changes about grades or classes added or dropped will appear the next day.
• Allow direct access to multiple related services and advice through hyperlinks to catalog information, class schedules, transcripts and FAQs.
• Provide a secured site. Counselors, the registrar and graduation analysts will have varying levels of access to an account.
• Provide a snapshot of academic history, courses in progress and those planned.

DegreeCheck is not an official audit. Students will still need to complete an application for graduation.