Press Release
National Student Clearinghouse to Acquire Degree and Enrollment
Verification Services from Credentials Inc.
HERNDON, VA, May 30, 2008 - The National Student Clearinghouse and
Credentials Inc. today jointly announced the acquisition of Credentials'
online degree and enrollment verification services by the Clearinghouse.
Credentials, Inc., located in Northfield, Illinois, provides educational
verification to employers and others on behalf of colleges via its Web-based
services, DegreeChk and EnrollChk. The Clearinghouse, a non-profit
organization located in Herndon, Virginia, will work with institutions that
participate in these services to transition them to its online verification
services, DegreeVerify and EnrollmentVerify. Terms of the transaction, which
is effective May 31, 2008, were not disclosed.
"This is a milestone moment for the higher education community: an
opportunity to achieve nearly full national coverage for both educational
verification and research," said Ricardo D. Torres, president of the
Clearinghouse. Student record data provided to the Clearinghouse by
educational institutions for reporting and verification purposes facilitates
their ability to study student enrollment and success through the
Clearinghouse's StudentTracker service.
"Credentials is proud to help colleges create a national online
verification service just 10 years after we introduced Web-based degree
verification," said Thomas D. McKechney, CEO of Credentials,
"We're looking forward to focusing our resources on expanding our suite
of online services, which include our transcript ordering service,
TranscriptsPlus®, and our online parking permit service, ParkingPlus®. We
consider ourselves innovators and intend to continue developing new products
and services for the higher education community."
"Most of the colleges that use DegreeChk and EnrollChk also
participate in the Clearinghouse. We're excited to welcome them to the
growing national network of schools that use DegreeVerify and
EnrollmentVerify," added Torres. As with DegreeChk and EnrollChk, there
is no charge to colleges to participate in DegreeVerify and EnrollmentVerify.
The Clearinghouse and Credentials are developing a plan to ensure a
seamless transition for schools to DegreeVerify and EnrollmentVerify. At
that time, employers and others who verify degrees and enrollment using
DegreeChk and EnrollChk will be directed to the Clearinghouse sites, www.degreeverify.org
and www.enrollmentverify.org.
About The National Student Clearinghouse
The National Student Clearinghouse is the most trusted source for enrollment and degree
verification in the US. A non-profit organization established by the
higher education community in 1993, the Clearinghouse serves as a central
repository and single point of contact for the collection and timely exchange of
accurate, comprehensive enrollment, degree and certificate records on behalf of
participating institutions.
More than 3,100 colleges, enrolling 91% of US college students, participate
in the Clearinghouse. Student loan providers, employers, student credit issuers,
student health insurance providers, the U.S. Department of Education, and others
access the Clearinghouse's registry over 100 million times annually to conduct
electronic student record verifications.
About Credentials Inc.
Founded in 1997, Credentials Inc. is recognized as a leading innovator in
providing online student services for both two-year and four-year institutions
from coast to coast. Following the introduction of its online degree and
enrollment verification services, Credentials released the groundbreaking
TranscriptsPlus® order management system in 2001, the advanced automation tool
RoboRegistrar® in 2003, online diploma ordering and ParkingPlus®, an online
parking permit order management system, in 2005. As the originator of more than
one million transcript orders annually, Credentials Inc. is poised to continue
its pattern of innovation by introducing several significant innovations in the
creation, distribution and processing of digital transcripts.
NATIONAL STUDENT CLEARINGHOUSE CONTACT:
Kathleen Dugan
Marketing Director
703-742-4208
dugan@studentclearinghouse.org
CREDENTIALS INC. CONTACT:
Thomas D. McKechney
CEO
847-716-3033
