Verification Services FAQs

> How and When Do We Report Student Degree Data?

When you implement DegreeVerify, a Clearinghouse implementation services representative will work with you to establish a reporting schedule based on your degree award periods. We suggest submitting a degree file after each term, once the majority of degrees have posted, and again as soon as all degrees have posted. You will send your degree data file to us via your Clearinghouse secure FTP account following the schedule established based on your award periods. If you submit degree files, you do not have to report graduated statuses on your Enrollment Reporting files. Simply let your implementation services representative know you would like to use your degree files to generate Graduated (G) statuses for your degree recipients.

Your initial degree file contains historic reports of all degrees awarded by your institution that are in an electronic format (you can submit multiple reports, if necessary). Subsequent reports reflect all of your most recent degrees awarded.

> Not All Of Our Degree Records Are Electronic, What Do We Do?

When an exact match to a degree or attendance record provided by your school cannot be found by the Clearinghouse, the request is placed in pending status and posted to your school’s area of our school secure site.

Outstanding pending requests requiring research by your school are listed on the Verification Services tab of our secure site. You should review and respond to pending requests daily by completing the online form by following the instructions in this guide. As soon as you submit the data, the Clearinghouse will email it to the requestor. The student’s degree record will also be available for immediate verification when future requests are submitted. You can also securely add individual degree records online at any time.

> What Information Is Provided To Requestors?

Only degree, attendance, or current enrollment information that you designate as directory information is provided.

> How Do We Forward Degree and Enrollment Inquiries?

You can maximize the benefits of Verification Services, save time, and reduce incoming calls by establishing a policy to refer all requestors to the Verification Services Web site, degreeverify.org External Link or enrollmentverify.org External Link. We recommend that you educate all of your staff on your referral policy, use phone scripts and voicemail messages that refer requestors to the Verification Services Web site, and place a link to Verification Services and the Clearinghouse’s contact information in a visible location on your school Web site.

> Why Are Some Degrees Not Instantly Verified?

Most degree requests are confirmed instantly. When a degree isn’t verified, it’s due to one of the following:

  • Student has a privacy block on the record
  • School has placed a hold on the record
  • School did not send us the record
  • Student did not attend and/or graduate from the school

Unable to Respond (privacy block or hold): If a record has a FERPA privacy block on it, we require that the requestor certify the subject’s signed/dated consent before we will release the data. If a record has a financial or other hold, the requestor is advised to have the student contact the school directly to request the verification. You should notify the Clearinghouse whenever a hold is removed, so we can release the record in our system and enable the student’s degree and attendance to be verified.

No Record Found: Neither the Clearinghouse nor the school found a degree or enrollment record for the subject (we never state that a subject does not have a degree). If the subject still claims that he or she received a degree, the requestor is then instructed to fax a copy of it to us. We will work with your school to determine whether or not the degree is genuine.

> What Happens When Enrollment Can’t Be Verified?

Most enrollment verification requests are confirmed instantly. When enrollment isn’t verified, it’s due to one of the following reasons:

  • Student has a privacy block on the record
  • Your school has not sent us the record or has placed a hold on it
  • Requestor wants to verify information that you have not designated as directory information or that schools do not provide to us (e.g., GPA)
  • Student is not currently enrolled
  • We cannot identify the requested record (often because the requestor has entered incorrect information)

Whenever enrollment cannot be confirmed, the requestor is instructed to contact the student to obtain additional or corrected information or to request that the student provide alternate enrollment verification.

> Why Can’t I View the Reports?

You must enable popup windows in your Web browser in order to fully access the Reports feature in Verification Services.

Internet Explorer

  1. When you click on a link that will open a popup window, you’ll see the following popup notification message.image32_(2).gif
  2. Click Allow Once to enable the popup window. If you want Internet Explorer to remember to enable popups for this site, click Options for this site, and then Always Allow.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. You’ll see a similar popup notification in Firefox, notifying you that the browser has blocked a popup window.Firefox_popup_msg.jpg
  2. Click Options in the information bar, and choose “Allow popups.”

Google Chrome

  1. To always see popups for the site, select “Always show pop-ups from [site].” The site will be added to the exceptions list, which you can manage in the Content Settings dialog.
  2. If popups have been blocked, you’ll see the image49.gif icon in the address bar. Click the icon to see a list of the blocked popups.
  3. Click the link for the popup window that you’d like to see.

Safari

  1. To allow popup windows in Safari, select the Safari tab from the main toolbar.safari-popup_blocker.jpg
  2. If the “Block Pop-Up Windows” option is checked, select it to uncheck it and unblock all popup windows for your Web session. (To enable your popup blocker again, select the same option again.)

> Why Is the Clearinghouse Charging Sales Tax for Verifications?

Verification Services transactions are classified by state and local tax authorities as Information Services, which are subject to sales tax if the customer’s billing address is in any of the following states: New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia. If a requestor is exempt from sales tax, he or she will NOT be charged sales tax for the order. In order to do so, the requestor is required to complete a resale or tax exemption certificate and submit it to the Clearinghouse.

Under the Verification Services tab, you will see a new column in the Billing Reports, which indicates the sales tax amounts charged for the selected transactions. Also, if you view previously confirmed verifications, you will see the sales tax included in the certificate PDF.

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