Microsoft Office Tools and Templates for the School Year (2024)

Whether you’re deep into the semester or about to start a new year, it’s never too late to adopt tools to stay on track with school. From planners and calendars to budget and essay templates, we have a list of Microsoft Office college tools to help you throughout the school year.

Schedules and Planners

Keep track of homework and appointments with schedules that help you plan. These planners let you know what you have to do and when you have free time.

With this college year calendar, you add all of your appointments and events on one tab and then view your free and busy times on the yearly planner. As a bonus, you’ll see your day at a glance.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: College Year Calendar

Keep up with your homework, classes, and activities with a single tool. Add items to the calendar and then use the drop-down list to select its references like a lecture, quiz, or research paper. Then, check off your items due as you move along.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: Homework Schedule

Academic Calendars

Make sure you plan out the school year with important dates you know upfront. These academic calendar templates are just what you need to keep noteworthy events at your fingertips.

It’s not just about your daily schedule. This academic calendar is perfect when you want to view months throughout the school year. Just enter the month and year at the top and the calendar updates to show the correct dates. Enter conferences, spring and winter breaks, and other important dates.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: Illustrated Academic Calendar

If you prefer Word for your calendar, take a look at this helpful template. Enter any month and year for the calendar to update, include notes in a dedicated section, and review previous and next months at a glance.

Download or Use in Word for the web: Academic Calendar

Course and Credit Managers

Make sure you’re on track with the number of credits and courses you need for your degree. Use one of these Excel templates to plan and stay on top of your requirements.

Check out this college course manager for an all-inclusive tool that helps you manage your schedule, book list, credits, GPA, and budget. You have separate tabs for an easy way to add, review, and track your items. Plan your daily schedule, see your GPA and overall progress toward your degree, and log income and expenses to stay within your budget.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: College Course Manager

This template is ideal if you prefer a simple way to keep track of your course credits. List each course with the degree requirement, the number of credits, and the semester. View the semester summary that includes the number of credits and courses. And use the planner for your entire college career.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: College Credit Planner

APA and MLA Format Templates

Meeting all the requirements and following the guidelines for APA and MLA paper formats can be daunting. But with these Microsoft Word templates, you can get off to a great start.

APA Templates

This first APA template is a good option because it provides instructions and examples using the correct formatting. You’ll see how to use headings, add references, structure tables, and caption images.

Download or Use in Word for the web: APA Style Paper

Similar to the above, this APA template is available for download and includes plenty of instructions on its 10 pages. You’ll learn how to format your paper from the abstract, title, and headings to the appendix, references, and footnotes.

Download for Word: APA Paper Format

MLA Template

If it’s MLA style that you need for your paper or essay, check out this template. See how to format your name, course title, paper title, and subtitle. The template also explains how to use long quotations, tables, charts, and references.

Download or Use in Word for the web: MLA Style Paper

College Budget Templates

Staying within your budget during your college years can be tough. But a bit of planning and seeing exactly where your money is spent can help.

Keep your monthly budget on track with this first template. Add income and expenses, and then view helpful charts that include your cash flow. You can use the slider to see each month, review all details in the table, and look at sparklines for quick insight.

Download for Excel: Monthly College Budget

Another good budget tool from Microsoft shows your monthly income, monthly expenses, and semester expenses in one Excel workbook. With helpful color-coding, you can see at a glance money coming in and going out along with the amount over or under budget.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: College Budget

Student Loan Calculators

An unfortunate part of college for most is the financial side – the student loan. Check out one of these templates with tools that can help track loan amounts, payments, and the ultimate goal of paying it off.

Using this first loan calculator, simply enter the information for each student loan. Include the payment details and estimated salary after you graduate. Then see what percent of your estimated monthly income will go towards your loan. This tool lets you adjust to find a good financial balance.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: College Loan Calculator

For a unique look at paying on your student loan, this tool helps you decide if you should pay it off or invest your money instead. Enter both the loan information and investment details. Then review your options to make the best financial decision for you.

Download or Use in Excel for the web: Payoff Student Loans or Invest

Focus and Finish

School is tough enough. If you’re interested in tools that can help you focus on your academics rather than planning, schedules, and budgeting, this list is for you. Hopefully, there’s at least one template here that eases the burden of getting through your school year and earning that 4.0 GPA.

For more, take a look at these productivity tips and tricks for college students.

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