While still others will use a mix of both techniques. It is also common for a student to have more that one advisor. Students taking double majors may have an advisor for each, and students in special programs like athletics, pre-professional, and honors may also have special advisors. In addition to assigned advisors, departments and colleges always have a number of administrators who may advise any student within their unit. Knowing who may advise each student is very useful but not enough for auditing purposes.
Advisors do more than just recommend courses.
It is imperative that the specific capability of an advisor be established for any given relationship with a student. An advisor's basic security is established for each track within a major. This basic security then may be restricted further with a number of attributes. For example some advisors may be restricted from viewing advising records to only students directly assigned to them, while others may be able to access any student in a track but only make exceptions to assigned advisees. Some advisors may be allowed to make exceptions to major requirements but may be restricted from making changes to core requirements.