Electronic Transcript Acceptance Policy

Policy Statement

The Electronic Transcript Acceptance Policy sets a standard for acceptable delivery of transcripts in the electronic format. The policy dictates minimum levels of security that are required for electronic transcripts to be considered official when received by the institution.

Rationale

SUNY Oneonta is adopting this policy to ensure all offices are adhering to best practices when accepting electronic transcripts as official documents. The goal is to foster and expedite the secure and effective transition from paper to electronic sharing of education records in the higher education community.

Applicability of the Policy

This policy will apply to all offices which receive official college transcripts for the purpose of transfer credit, admission/readmission, and/or for employment.

Definition

PDF Transcripts: These are official academic records (transcripts) that are exchanged in an electronic portable document format.

Sending Institution: The credit-granting institution from which the academic record originates.

Receiving Office: The SUNY Oneonta office that is receiving the electronic transcripts and is responsible for verifying the authenticity of the record.

Procedures

The following procedures have been established by following the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) and American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) guidelines and best practices for PDF transcript exchange. Receiving offices will accept PDF transcripts as official under the following conditions:

1. The PDF transcript was delivered from a verified/secured source (i.e. Credentials Inc., National Student Clearinghouse, JST)
2. The PDF transcript was encrypted/digitally certified
3. The issuing institution has marked the transcript as “official”
4. A secure email method was used for transcripts that were pushed from the sending institution (or their third-party provider), and the document has NOT already been opened/accessed

Documents will not be accepted as official if the document is not encrypted; is delivered directly or forwarded from students via email; and/or the document has been opened or accessed first by another party.

Related Documents

AACRAO Best Practices for PDF Transcript Exchange

Approved PESC standards