In fall 1995, a study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness, according to student perception, of the educational planning system of the San Diego Community College District (California). Of the 26,753 students who enrolled via the district's telephone registration system that fall, 6,937 answered at least one question on an optional survey regarding their satisfaction with the educational planning process. An analysis of their responses revealed the following: (1) 52% of the respondents indicated that they had an educational plan; (2) among all respondents, 40.1% selected their classes based on their educational plan, 29.7% by reviewing a course catalog, 21.5% based on personal interest, and 4.4% based on the requirements of the four-year university that they attended; (3) among respondents who did not have an educational plan, 36.2% felt that they did not need one, either because the catalog provided the information that they needed or because they were not pursuing a degree, and 21.9% were unaware of educational plans; and (4) 59.4% of the respondents did not attend an orientation session because they were not aware of them (39.6%), were already familiar with the college (29.5%), or didn't see value in attending (16.1%). Data tables are appended. Most of the report consists of the student survey with responses. (BCY)