Where to place the burden of degree verification.

November 29, 2014 10:04 AM

Employers verify a degree or get a transcript by contacting the prospective employee's school. Why isn't this procedure used in colleges and universities (instead of the onus being placed on the student to provide the information)?
posted by Ik ben afgesneden to Education (12 answers total)

Because that would be informing not "verifying." I can inform an employer that I have degrees from all the ivies, oxford, cambridge and the University of South Atlantis, with 4.0 grade point averages and multiple merit-based scholarships at each, but only the universities can verify that. I wouldn't think a motivated person would have much trouble forging any degree or transcript.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:08 AM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Because it costs them money if they have to do it and it's free to have you do it.

Employers get something out of getting this verification in a CYA type of move, it's partly their job to make sure you are who you say you are, so they do the work. In the college setting, you're really the one who wants something (higher education) and so you are the one who needs to do the work.

There are some big middleman companies that will do this sort of verification and colleges can subscribe to them in a database sort of way and do the checking but ultimately why should they do the work if they can get you to do it?
posted by jessamyn at 10:09 AM on November 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

Oh, I see you meant the opposite: why don't employers call instead of requesting degrees or transcripts: Well I can see two reasons for that: First, it's more trouble for the employers. They have the power so they get to demand that someone else take the trouble. Second, it's more efficient for the student to obtain this informaton once and provide it than for each employer to request it again and again. If the employer is happy enough with unverified information, then getting degrees or transcripts from students is the easier route for all parties. It is still unverified, but that's the trade-off between certainty and hassle.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:12 AM on November 29, 2014

Every place I've ever worked I had to send a request to the college to have them send an official copy in a sealed envelope to my employer. This is in the education field in the US.
posted by tamitang at 10:41 AM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'll second jessamyn. In addition, it takes a lot of time. Not every school in the US uses the National Student Clearinghouse and really no international schools do and the information isn't always correct there anyway. That means follow-up. That is a LOT of work, keeping track of thousands of students and where in the process of getting transcripts each of them is? That is a nightmare.

My full-time job used to be just doing this for a company and their numbers weren't anywhere near the applicant numbers for even a small university. I would have LOVED a system where the person was responsible for submitting everything by a particular deadline or they were just SOL.
posted by magnetsphere at 11:43 AM on November 29, 2014

I'm not clear on what you're asking. The way your question reads to me is that employers don't require their employees to verify their education. But every employer I've ever had has definitely required me to contact my university and have transcripts sent directly to the employer. As a matter of fact, my university won't actually release any information to anyone unless I request it; an employer could not, in fact, get my transcripts without me doing it.
posted by cooker girl at 11:48 AM on November 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

I may be off base here, but I think this is mostly due to a difference in detail between a degree verification and a transcript. I think universities treat "Jane Doe was a student here from 1999-2003, and received a BA in Anthropology" as public information that doesn't require a student's consent to share, whereas transcript levels of detail (grades on individual classes) are private and need explicit consent from the student to share with third parties like employers or other universities.
posted by kickingtheground at 11:53 AM on November 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

Most employers are just verifying that you did graduate from a particular school with a particular degree as stated on your resume. Also, most online applications require applicants to agree to background searches. Employers contract with firms that validate the information. This is basic due diligence. However, there are some professions where they want to see transcripts and those have to come from the institution directly, which have to be requested the earner of that degree.

Schools are not going to spend the funds to pay for transcripts from other schools. Why would they? If you want to attend a school and get credit for previous work or show proof of a degree, the onus is on you to have the info sent to the school.
posted by shoesietart at 12:20 PM on November 29, 2014

My full-time job used to be just doing this for a company and their numbers weren't anywhere near the applicant numbers for even a small university.

Seconding this. My impression is that most employers don't verify your personal information until you've made the first cut out of the applicant pool, and maybe not even until they're considering hiring you (when there are only a few candidates still in contention.) In contrast, even a small university will have thousands of applications submitted, and each and every one needs to have a transcript attached, since your past performance in those programs will have a direct bearing on whether or not you're admitted.

I think universities treat "Jane Doe was a student here from 1999-2003, and received a BA in Anthropology" as public information that doesn't require a student's consent to share, whereas transcript levels of detail (grades on individual classes) are private and need explicit consent from the student to share with third parties like employers or other universities.

This is actually US federal law: under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, schools can only release so-called directory information to a third party without the student's written consent.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:36 PM on November 29, 2014

Employers may be verifying a degree but it's unlikely that they're getting a transcript, at least not without the prospective employee's consent. In addition to avoiding financial costs and labor mentioned by others above, universities require prospective students to supply their own transcripts because by law (FERPA) such information (i.e grades) can only be shared with the student's consent. So the university saves time and labor by cutting to the chase and having the student/applicant supply that info on their own.
posted by Ms. Toad at 3:23 PM on November 29, 2014

Can you please clarify your question? The second part states, "Why isn't this procedure used in colleges and universities (instead of the onus being placed on the student to provide the information)?"

That second part makes me think that you are asking about applying to college or to a graduate program, and wondering why admissions offices (for college) or department admissions committees (for grad school) don't do the same. In these cases, it's because part of the screening procedure involves looking for the kind of courses that you've already taken, and your grades in them, and you are requesting an opportunity (admissions), rather than being hired because you have something to offer your employer in exchange for a salary. Many non-academic employers really don't care that much about your grades, as long as they were good enough to earn the degree.

Or maybe you're asking about applying for academic jobs, and are wondering why you have to shell out for a transcript? In that case, it's because your grades, and the range of courses you took, do matter for your qualifications, and because search committees can't request transcript-level information; you have to release it. Even if they could, though, a typical faculty position might have 50-500 applications depending on the field and the prestige of the institution, and a typical $5K-10K search budget couldn't bear that. Some searches do allow applicants to submit unofficial transcripts and ask for official ones only after the first cut has been made.
posted by brianogilvie at 3:37 PM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

In some places this IS directly handled by colleges and universities... University admissions in Australia gets their information directly from highschools and other universities, and you only need to send in anything unusual e.g. international transcripts.

Unlike the US, we have a single admissions process in each state that handles every university in that state, at least for standard undergraduate entry, which helps make this work.
posted by Ashlyth at 2:16 AM on November 30, 2014