Universities' Student Data Clearinghouse: Who's Outsourcing And Why?

The National Student Clearinghouse is a non-profit organisation founded in 1993 by the higher education community. It provides data and tools to connect K-12, higher education, and the workforce, empowering leaders and innovators to drive positive outcomes and shape the future of learning. Over 3,500 colleges, representing 96% of the nation's enrollment, participate in the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse offers a range of services to educational institutions, including transcript services, data exchange, verification services, and learner insights. These services help institutions maximise time, resources, and knowledge, while also protecting student privacy and compliance.

Student Clearinghouse's role in student record verification

The National Student Clearinghouse is a nonprofit organisation founded by the higher education community in 1993. It streamlines the student record verification process for colleges and universities, students and alumni, lending institutions, employers, and other organisations.

The Clearinghouse maintains a comprehensive electronic registry of student records, providing a single, automated point of contact for those requiring timely, accurate verification of student enrollment, degree, and loan data. This includes the Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP), which centralises enrollment reporting and acts as a single and reliable source for student enrollment information.

The Clearinghouse's services are used by over 3,300 colleges, representing 96% of the nation's enrollment. It offers a range of services to educational institutions, including:

• Enrollment Reporting: Outsourcing financial aid student enrollment verifications and deferments to lending organisations and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
• Transcript Services: Simplifying transcript ordering and delivery, and allowing the transfer of transcripts and other data quickly and securely.
• Verification Services: 24/7 automated verifications of enrollment and degree data, helping students and graduates get jobs faster and meet graduate school deadlines.

The Clearinghouse is committed to protecting student data privacy and compliance, which is why it has gained the trust of institutions, organisations, and learners nationwide.

Student Clearinghouse's data exchange systems

The National Student Clearinghouse is a nonprofit organisation that has been serving the education community since 1993. It provides data and tools to connect K-12, higher education, and the workforce, with the aim of empowering leaders and innovators to drive positive outcomes and shape the future of learning.

The Clearinghouse offers a range of data exchange systems to facilitate the transfer of student data between educational institutions. One of these systems is the Electronic Transcript Exchange (ETX), which automates transcript exchanges for colleges and universities, high schools, school districts, school systems, states, and educational organisations. ETX enables the near-immediate delivery of transcripts in all file formats, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is free to sign up for ETX, and there is no charge for sending or receiving transcripts. The system complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and uses secure file transfer protocols to ensure the protection of student data.

In addition to ETX, the Clearinghouse also offers other data exchange services such as Reverse Transfer and SPEEDE Server. Reverse Transfer allows four- and two-year institutions to securely send course and grade information to participating two-year institutions when a student has transferred. This helps improve transfer student retention and graduation rates and alleviates the reverse transfer workload for community colleges and universities. The SPEEDE Server is an electronic data exchange server that facilitates the free, open, and secure exchange of student data and documents, including transcripts, between participating institutions nationwide.

The Clearinghouse is committed to protecting the privacy and security of student data. It complies with relevant laws and regulations, such as FERPA and The Higher Education Act, and respects the policies of participating institutions concerning the release of student data to third parties.

Student Clearinghouse's learner insights services

The National Student Clearinghouse offers learner insights services to help educational institutions and organizations gain deeper insights into learner progress and outcomes. The Clearinghouse's learner insights services include StudentTracker, Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP), and Custom Research.

StudentTracker is a tool that allows educational institutions and organizations to track and study the enrollment and credential attainment of students at postsecondary institutions across the United States. It helps high schools explore the paths their graduates take through higher education, enabling them to gauge the college success of their alumni more accurately.

The Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) provides institutions with more comprehensive data, easier analysis, and better visual representations to understand, improve, and communicate student momentum, outcomes, and equity. The PDP's deep and accurate data enables better collaboration between educational institutions and education organizations to advance student success and equity and synthesize the outcomes of network institutions.

Custom Research is also available for organizations with unique research needs. The Clearinghouse's team of custom research experts can help develop custom research projects that leverage the Clearinghouse's extensive data resources and analytical capabilities.

The Clearinghouse's learner insights services are designed to empower educational institutions and organizations to make data-driven, student-centered decisions to improve learner outcomes. The insights provided by the Clearinghouse help educators understand learner pathways and outcomes, ultimately helping learners succeed.

The National Student Clearinghouse is committed to protecting the privacy and security of student data. All Clearinghouse services comply with applicable laws, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and The Higher Education Act. The Clearinghouse also respects the policies of participating institutions regarding the release of student data to third parties.

Student Clearinghouse's verification services for businesses

The National Student Clearinghouse is a trusted source for education verification, offering a nationwide collection of enrollment and degree data. The Clearinghouse provides immediate, up-to-date verifications to save your business time and money. With Clearinghouse services, you can eliminate the costs and delays associated with manual processing through individual schools.

The Clearinghouse is the go-to source for businesses that need quick and reliable verification of education credentials. Their verification services are used by thousands of organizations to take the guesswork out of confirming high school diplomas, postsecondary enrollment, and degrees. The Clearinghouse is the nation's trusted source for education verification, with unparalleled national coverage. Their unique and extensive partnerships with educational institutions nationwide have made them the most trusted source for educational verifications by employers, background screeners, and others.

The Clearinghouse offers three main verification services for businesses: DiplomaVerify, EnrollmentVerify, and DegreeVerify. DiplomaVerify is the only service that offers immediate high school diploma verifications. This service is useful for performing quick verifications on individuals who have applied for employment, military service, or acceptance into an educational program. EnrollmentVerify provides on-demand proof of enrollment, allowing businesses to transform a labor-intensive and costly paper-based process into an efficient electronic data exchange. DegreeVerify provides instant access to a large number of degree and attendance records, enabling businesses to obtain nationwide verifications and eliminate the inconvenience and human error caused by manual verifications.

Through its verification services, the National Student Clearinghouse helps businesses safeguard against credentials fraud by ensuring the authenticity of diplomas, enrollment, and degrees. By instantly authenticating enrollment and graduation information through a convenient and trusted source, businesses can cut expenses, reduce financial risk, and combat fraud.

Student Clearinghouse's commitment to student privacy and compliance

The National Student Clearinghouse is a nonprofit organisation that has been serving the education community since 1993. It is the trusted source for and leading provider of higher education verifications and electronic education record exchanges. The Clearinghouse is committed to protecting the data privacy of its users and has signed the Student Privacy Pledge, agreeing to a set of commitments related to the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information.

The Clearinghouse's services facilitate compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects students' privacy rights in their education records. They also adhere to the Student Data Principles, a set of guidelines designed to guide the use and protection of student information. The Clearinghouse has earned Internet Keep Safe Coalition (iKeepSafe) certifications, including the iKeepSafe.org FERPA badge, which was awarded to their StudentTracker for High Schools service and the National Student Clearinghouse Transcript Center.

The Clearinghouse's commitment to student privacy is further demonstrated by their compliance with the Gramm‐Leach Bliley Act, which prohibits the redisclosure of any nonpublic personal information received from lenders, holders, or servicers of student loans. They also adhere to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR), which protects the privacy and security of personal data collected from individuals within the European Union.

The Clearinghouse's privacy policy outlines their practices for collecting, using, and disclosing personally identifiable information (PII). They collect PII directly from individuals when they use their services or websites, such as their name, date of birth, address, phone number, and email address. The Clearinghouse also collects education records, including directory and non-directory information, from participating institutions, education agencies, and other education authorities under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

The Clearinghouse is transparent about how they use PII, outlining specific purposes such as fulfilling orders, contacting individuals regarding their requests, authenticating the identity of individuals, and improving their services. They do not sell, rent, or trade PII and only share it with third-party service providers who are bound by contractual obligations to maintain confidentiality and only use the information for the intended purposes.

The Clearinghouse prioritises the security of PII, maintaining a comprehensive information security program based on ISO 27001/27002 standards. They store all information on secure servers in the contiguous United States and have security policies in place to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy of user data. Their employees undergo background checks and annual security and privacy training to further ensure the protection of user information.

The National Student Clearinghouse's commitment to student privacy and compliance is evident through their adherence to relevant laws and regulations, industry standards, and their own comprehensive privacy policies and practices. They strive to protect the data privacy of students and users, earning the trust of educational institutions and individuals alike.

Frequently asked questions