Beginning today, students will have a lot less trouble having University transcripts sent to other higher ed institutions and potential employers.
Robert Doolos, University registrar, said the Registrar’s Office will officially partner with Scrip-Safe International, a company that specializes in electronic documents, to change the way transcripts are delivered.
Doolos said the old system had Registrar’s Office employees mail transcripts to a third party of student’s choosing.
The new process will be handled electronically, sent via secure PDF online.
Doolos said under the old system, students would request a transcript, and it would be printed and mailed the next day.
The new system has a transcript sent out to its recipient almost immediately after the student submits his or her request, and both University employees and students will be notified when it has been received or viewed.
Doolos said the electronic system is an initiative of the Board of Regents, and several higher education institutions in Louisiana have adopted it in recent years.
Doolos said the University wasn’t able to begin using it until now.
“We had other things that we were implementing,” he said. “It had to be delayed.”
Doolos said the Board of Regents paid the up-front costs of the system and the University is responsible for a yearly maintenance fee and an individual transcript fee of 55 cents per document.
He said he expects the system, to cost about $500 each year to maintain, which he believes is reasonable.
Doolos said the amount of money it costs to send each document is about the same as what it would cost to mail it.
Doolos said he wanted to make clear the system change will not affect students financially — each student will still be able to request two transcripts per day for free.
Doolos said the main purpose for the change was to increase the Registrar’s Office’s efficiency.
“We’re very excited,” he said. “We’re just really pleased to be at this point.”
 
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