Press Release

Los Angeles Community College District Signs DegreeVerify Agreement With National Student Clearinghouse

Clearinghouse to Provide Degree Verifications for One of the Largest Community College Districts in the US

HERNDON, VA, November 6, 2003 - The National Student Clearinghouse, the nation's most comprehensive source for post-secondary student degree and enrollment verification services, announced today that the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has signed an agreement to participate in its online degree verification service, DegreeVerify. The LACCD is one of the nation's largest community college districts, and consists of nine campuses that educate more than 130,000 students a year. 

Through DegreeVerify, the Clearinghouse provides degree verification services at no charge to nearly 600 participating colleges and universities. Launched two years ago, DegreeVerify is the largest single source of degree data, and contains information on 40% of all degrees awarded in the US. The Clearinghouse expects the service to provide accessibility to half of all degrees ever issued by next summer. DegreeVerify is modeled after the Clearinghouse's original student loan-based enrollment reporting service, which represents 91% of the students enrolled in the nation's colleges and universities. 

"Millions of students have graduated from Los Angeles Community College District campuses, requiring substantial administrative resources to fulfill degree verifications. Participating in DegreeVerify enables us to streamline our verification process and better serve our alumni," said John Clerx, Associate Vice Chancellor of Instructional and Student Support Services. 

On average, schools complete 1,000 degree verifications per year for every 5,000 enrolled students. Participating in DegreeVerify enables registrar staff to work on more critical tasks instead of handling degree verification requests by fax, phone and e-mail from employers, background search firms and recruiters. Schools that participate in DegreeVerify appoint the Clearinghouse as their agent to disseminate degree information, regularly provide it with updated degree data, and refer all degree verification requests to the Clearinghouse. 

Through DegreeVerify, recruiters, employers, background search firms, and others can confirm degrees for a nominal fee online at www.degreeverify.org. 

A list of participating DegreeVerify schools, as well as more information on the service, is available at www.degreeverify.org.

About The National Student Clearinghouse

The National Student Clearinghouse is the largest enrollment and degree verification service 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 2,700 colleges, representing 91% of the nation's enrollment, participate in the Clearinghouse. Student loan providers, employers, student credit issuers, student health insurance providers, the federal government and others access the Clearinghouse's registry over 100 million times annually to conduct electronic student record verifications.

For more information, visit www.studentclearinghouse.org.

National Student Clearinghouse Contact:
Kathleen Dugan
Marketing Director
703-742-4208
dugan@studentclearinghouse.org