While Microsoft Excel is commonly associated with complex calculations and data analysis, it offers a wide range of applications which can enable you to fly through your academic years. With the help of pre-designed templates, even those with limited Excel experience can easily leverage its functionalities.

Whether you are a student, educator, or professor, you can manage everything from study schedules and project timelines to attendance records and grade books without needing to deal with complex formulas and formatting headaches.

10 Back to school planner

This back to school budget planner is an invaluable tool for students to kick off their academic year on the right foot. It is more than just an item template to help you plan and remember everything you’ll need. You can create an ultimate shopping list with different categories like textbooks, supplies, clothes, and more, and jot down the quantity, cost, whether it has been bought, and calculate total costs. The template shows a budget summary and purchasing progress at the top.

It also comes with pre-configured pivot tables and charts. You can track your budget breakdown by categories, visualize them in charts, and even create a to-do list. Copy it to your workbook, approach the academic year with confidence, and set yourself up for success.

9 Monthly budget tracker

College students may want to keep a close tab on the monthly budget. Instead of using a dedicated app, utilize this Excel template to manage your finances and gain a clear picture of your income and expenses. It’s essentially a digital spreadsheet where you can input, categorize, and analyze your spending habits.

There are dedicated sections for housing, entertainment, transportation, loans, taxes, and insurance. You can start adding estimated and actual costs and calculate the differences at the end of each month. This truly helps you develop discipline at an early age.

8 Project to-do list

Project planning is where a versatile tool like Excel truly shines. If you are looking to manage and track your school projects, you can’t go wrong with this template. You can divide the entire project into different activities, set due dates and budgets to keep the overall costs in check, and even track the progress of each activity.

I recommend copying the workbook into your Excel account and reusing it every time you start a new project.

7 Absence schedule

So far, we have talked a lot about Excel templates for students. Let’s check out this one for educators. As the name suggests, it efficiently monitors and manages student attendance throughout the academic year. The template has separate tabs for each month of the school year, and each monthly tab contains a list of all students in the class or grade level. While this one is designed for employees, you can easily tweak it for your students.

Teachers can use the columns for each day of the month and mark student attendance with codes like P (Present), A (Absent), E (Excused Absence), T (Tardy), and V (Vacation). It also has handy automation that calculates total absent and present days.

6 My college budget

This is another handy Excel template for students. If you didn’t love the template above, consider using this budget planner for your college years. It’s effective, neatly designed, and gets the job done in no time. It has multiple sheets, including a budget summary, monthly income, monthly expenses, and semester expenses.

You can add item names, amounts, and monthly expenses, as well as different columns for date, description, and more. With this template, you definitely don’t need any finance app to manage your money.

5 Semester calendar

This is my favorite Excel template for students and I highly recommend that you give it a shot. If you are tired of juggling syllabi and scrambling to keep track of (and meet) deadlines, this semester calendar template is your secret weapon for staying organized and conquering your classes. Don’t mistake it as your average calendar, though. It is a powerful template with multiple sheets like class lists, deadlines, weekly schedules, and semester calendars designed specifically for students.

Microsoft has done a splendid job with the esthetics too. It doesn’t look boring or bland like other Excel sheets. The iconography, choice of pictures, and background shade are spot-on and easy on the eyes.

With a four-month view, you can get a bird’s-eye view of your entire semester, so you can plan ahead and avoid those last-minute cram sessions. And with a deadline summary sheet, you won’t miss an assignment again! This template visually highlights important due dates, keeping you on track and stress-free.

This is another effective project planner that earned a spot on our list. You can ditch the sticky notes and chaotic spreadsheets by utilizing this project timeline template for effortless project planning and execution. When you work on a project with your fellow classmates, you need a capable system in place to visualize deadlines, track progress, and keep your team on the same page.

You can visualize your entire project unfold on a clear, concise timeline, from start to finish. You can also assign tasks to team members, track individual responsibilities with ease, and plan the entire project in manageable four-week chunks, perfect for short-term projects or breaking down larger initiatives.

Such a template ensures everyone is aligned on deadlines, responsibilities, and progress. Take it for a spin and experience the power of a visual, collaborative timeline.

3 Assignment schedule

With a dedicated assignment schedule template, you can say goodbye to messy grade books and hello to streamlined assignment tracking. Although the current template is designed for a different use case, you can easily edit it for your class. It is a game-changer for educators and professors looking to organize student work, monitor progress, and foster collaboration.

It has relevant columns like assignment, course, instructor, due date, start date, progress, and overall percent. It also carries conditional formatting where the template highlights relevant cells based on the project completion process.

You can keep track of assignments for different classes or subjects in one central location and glance over the due dates for each assignment, ensuring students and educators are on the same page. It basically streamlines assignment management and reduces administrative workload.

2 Student schedule

Are you tired of juggling classes, assignments, and extracurriculars? This student schedule template is your key to staying organized and maximizing your time. You can visualize your entire day with a time-blocking calendar, making it easy to plan study sessions, social activities, and everything in between.

There is also a separate class list sheet where you can view each class with unique IDs, day, location, start and end time, and more in a single place. You can use the capable table slicers to filter your schedule by day, location, or any other criteria and stay on top of your schedule with color-coded reminders that alert you to upcoming classes or deadlines.

1 College loan calculator

With tuition and college costs on the rise, many students rely on loans to fund their education. Instead of relying on pen, paper, and calculator, utilize this template to understand your loan commitments, plan your repayment strategy, and take control of your finances.

You can input all your loan information in one place – loan amounts, interest rates, repayment terms – for a clear overview of your financial obligations. You can also insert loan payback data with beginning date, length, and ending date to keep track of your payment details effectively.

Overall, you can make informed decisions about your loan repayment strategy, explore different repayment options, and find a plan that fits your financial goals.

Go digital with these Excel templates

These Excel templates offer a powerful and versatile solution for students and educators seeking to improve organization and productivity. What are you waiting for? Whether you’re a student aiming to plan and excel in your studies or an educator looking to create a more efficient learning environment, explore the templates above and take your Excel game to the next level.

However, if you’re looking to design a personalized to-do list tailored to your needs, check out our comprehensive guide.