Career services
Recently, institutions have begun to think about transcripts as bridging documents between diplomas and e-portfolios. Many colleges and universities are reimagining traditional transcripts in both form and substance—and at a lower cost—from paper sent through mail to electronic images or standardized data exchanged securely online and extended to document a lifetime of learning.
But the first benefits of electronic transcripts for any institution are efficiency and cost. By implementing Parchment eTranscripts, Furman University says it was able to decrease processing time from 4 to 6 hours daily to only 30 minutes, a time savings of 87 percent.
Taking transcript requests is now 100 percent automated at Furman, which saves data entry time. Plus, Parchment allows Furman to collect a small $5 processing fee from students, which takes the cost burden off the university and also provides a deterrent to students ordering transcripts frivolously.
“Furman has paid nothing out of pocket for our Parchment Send solution,” explained Brad Barron, associate dean and registrar at Furman. “From implementation to sending 20,000 transcripts, it hasn’t cost us a cent. Our CFO has not been disappointed with me when I say that this Parchment solution only makes us money. It doesn’t cost us anything.”
According to Barron, the University fully integrated Parchment’s solutionin less than 4 months. “If you are familiar with how IT integrations work, that’s amazing,” he emphasized. “Parchment has been a fantastic solution for Furman, including how the solution interfaces effectively with our enterprise-wide administrative system, Ellucian Colleague.”
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