Law School Electronic Transcript Ordering Pilot Underway at UVA

Law School Admission Council Uses National Student Clearinghouse® to Enable Secure Electronic Exchanges

HERNDON, Va., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Virginia (UVA), which participates in the National Student Clearinghouse's Transcript Ordering(SM) service, is piloting a new option to submit PDF transcripts to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). With the help of PDF transcripts, it is now easier and faster for applicants to submit transcripts from UVA as part of the law school admission process. Until now, the transcript-submission process from the institution to LSAC has been a time-consuming, paper-based process.

LSAC is a nonprofit organization comprised of 218 U.S., Canadian and Australian law schools, providing services and tools to ease the law school admission process, which include collecting transcripts from each applicant's former institution. In 2012, LSAC processed an estimated 150,000 paper transcripts. The Clearinghouse is the nation's trusted source for and leading provider of education verification and electronic education record exchanges, including transcripts. Currently, the Clearinghouse receives transcript requests for more than 1 million recipients each year via their Transcript Ordering(SM) service.

Before applying to law school, applicants must create an account with LSAC, which generates their individual LSAC account number. As part of the application process, the applicant is required to submit an official transcript that must include the student's LSAC account number.

Now, through the use of the Clearinghouse's electronic exchange platform, the process has been simplified. When law school applicants place a transcript order from UVA, they indicate that the order is part of a law school application, and they are then prompted to enter their LSAC account number. After UVA uploads the transcript PDF, the Clearinghouse adds the LSAC account number and sends the transcript directly to LSAC via its secure electronic exchange platform.

"The pilot with UVA has been seamless, demonstrating that this option has the potential to substantially streamline the transcript-collection phase of the LSAC process," said Adriene Doray-Franklin, director, Transcript Services.

"We are happy to provide this simple way for prospective law students from UVA to submit their transcripts," stated Bruce Bachman, CIO, LSAC. "Partnering with the National Student Clearinghouse has made it possible for us to further simplify the law school admission process. We look forward to working with other institutions as they come on board. "

Six to 10 other institutions are slated to use the Clearinghouse's electronic exchange platform with LSAC. The program will be rolled out this fall.

About the National Student Clearinghouse
The National Student Clearinghouse (a nonprofit formed in 1993) is the trusted source for and leading provider of higher education verifications and electronic education record exchanges, handling more than 700 million verification requests and 200 million education record exchanges annually. The Clearinghouse serves as a single point of contact for the collection and timely exchange of accurate and comprehensive enrollment, degree, and certificate records on behalf of its more than 3,300 participating higher education institutions, which represent 96 percent of all students in public and private U.S. institutions. The Clearinghouse also provides thousands of high schools and districts with continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics on their alumni.

Through its verification, electronic exchange, and reporting services, the Clearinghouse saves the education community cumulatively nearly four hundred million dollars annually. Most Clearinghouse services are provided to colleges and universities at little or no charge, including enhanced transcript and research services, enabling institutions to redistribute limited staff and budget resources to more important student service efforts. Clearinghouse services are designed to facilitate an institution's compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, The Higher Education Act, and other applicable laws.

In addition, the Clearinghouse provides accurate, timely enrollment and degree verifications to student loan providers, employers, student credit issuers, the U.S. Department of Education, and others who access its registry more than half a billion times annually. For more information, visit www.studentclearinghouse.org.

SOURCE National Student Clearinghouse