GradPath: A Constraint-Aware Academic Advising System for Graduation Planning and Risk Analysis

Academic planning can be complicated by fragmented degree requirements, prerequisite dependencies, limited course availability, and student-specific constraints. This paper presents GradPath, a web-based academic advising system that generates term-by-term graduation plans using prerequisite graph modeling and constraint-aware scheduling. Grad-Path accounts for completed coursework, program requirements, semester availability, credit limits, and prerequisite dependencies when constructing feasible academic plans. The system also incorporates rule-based risk analysis and a what-if simulation component that allows students to examine how changes in course load, course availability, or planned enrollment may affect their projected graduation path. Evaluation across simulated academic scenarios demonstrates that GradPath can generate schedules that satisfy the modeled academic constraints. Formative user feedback further suggests that the system can improve the clarity of long-term academic planning. GradPath provides a foundation for explainable, proactive academic plan