How Long Does Degree Verification Take?

Degree verification

Degree verification is usually the fastest part of a background check. If the school reports to the National Student Clearinghouse, the answer comes back online in seconds, and the Clearinghouse states that most degree requests are confirmed instantly. When a screening company has to reach a registrar instead, First Advantage puts education verification at 1 to 3 business days, and HireRight puts an average employment background check at two to four business days.

Education verification runs past that window for a short list of reasons. The degree may not be posted yet, the school may answer by hand instead of through an online service, the record may be old or overseas, or the name and dates on the application may not match the ones on file. The table below collects the timelines that the Clearinghouse, three university registrars, three screening companies and WES publish themselves.

What an education check actually reports, and what it leaves out, is covered separately in the guide to the education background check. This page is about timing.

How long degree verification takes, by situation

SituationTime the organization publishesSource
School reports degrees to the National Student ClearinghouseInstant, 24 hours a day. Most degree requests are confirmed instantlyNational Student Clearinghouse
The exact record is already in the screener’s systemA few minutesCheckr
Education verification that needs a school contacted1 to 3 business daysFirst Advantage
A full employment background check, education includedTwo to four business days on averageHireRight
A verification letter a registrar writes itselfMaximum three business days from receipt to mailing (Penn State)Penn State registrar
A degree earned in the term that just endedVerifiable roughly eight weeks after the term ends (UCLA)UCLA registrar
International credentials sent to WESDocument verification typically two weeks, then one to two weeks to evaluateWorld Education Services
A verification worked by hand, outside an online serviceDays or weeksNational Student Clearinghouse

Two things explain most of the spread. An instant lookup and a request that a human has to work are different jobs, and a degree that has not been posted to the student record cannot be confirmed at any speed.

What degree verification confirms and who runs it

Degree verification, also called education verification, confirms three things against the school’s own record.

  • That the applicant attended the school listed
  • That the degree, diploma or certificate claimed was awarded
  • That the dates of attendance and the graduation date match the record

Employers usually order it after a conditional offer, through a screening company rather than in house, as one line item in a report that also covers work history. Some check only the highest degree. Others check every degree that matters to the role, which matters for timing, because each additional school is a separate request. How often employers run the check at all is covered in do employers verify degrees.

Why the Clearinghouse makes most checks instant

Most U.S. colleges hand third-party verification to one agent. The National Student Clearinghouse says its online services cover 97 percent of currently enrolled U.S. postsecondary students and 96 percent of U.S. four-year postsecondary degrees, and that a verifier gets an immediate online response at any hour.

Registrars say the same thing from their side. UCLA states that it has authorized the Clearinghouse to act as its agent for all third-party verification of student enrollment and degrees. Penn State authorizes the Clearinghouse as its agent for all verification requests from third parties. The University of Arizona has authorized the Clearinghouse to provide enrollment and degree verifications to third-party agencies for a small charge. When a screener contacts one of these schools directly, the school sends the screener to the Clearinghouse, and that detour costs a day or more.

Instant does not mean automatic in every case. Checkr, which runs its education checks through the Clearinghouse, says a verification takes only a few minutes when the information requested is already in the system, and that the Clearinghouse contacts a participating school directly when the request asks for something the record does not hold. The Clearinghouse itself describes the alternative bluntly, writing that manual verifications can take days or weeks. High school records follow the same pattern through a separate diploma service, covered in high school diploma verification.

Why education verification gets delayed

1. The degree has not been posted yet

This is the delay that catches new graduates, and no amount of chasing fixes it. A degree is verifiable only after the registrar posts it to the student record, which happens weeks after the last exam. UCLA tells verifiers that degree verification for the most recent term is available approximately eight weeks after the term ends.

Anyone starting a job straight out of school should expect the check to come back as attendance confirmed and degree pending, and should tell the employer the posting date the registrar gives. Waiting on the paper copy is a separate clock again, described in how long it takes to get a college diploma after graduation.

2. The school answers by hand

Schools outside an online verification service answer by phone, email, fax or mail, on their own schedule. The Clearinghouse puts manual verifications at days or weeks. Even a school that answers promptly is working to its own published service level. Penn State, for requests it handles itself, promises a maximum three business day response from receipt of the request to mailing by first-class mail, and the mail adds days on top.

3. The time of year

First Advantage names two seasonal causes directly, saying education verifications can be delayed during summer months or holidays, and when the school’s verification process requires the use of mail. Registrar offices also run thin during winter break and heavy during the opening and closing weeks of a term, so a check that would take two days in October can take a week in late December.

4. The record is old, or the school has changed

Checkr lists the age of the record and how recently the person was enrolled among the factors that affect how long an education check takes. Older records are more likely to sit outside the systems that answer instantly, and a school that merged, renamed itself or closed adds a step while the screener finds who holds the file now. Where those records end up is covered in how to get a diploma from a closed school and how long colleges keep transcripts.

5. The degree is from outside the United States

An international degree can need a credential evaluation on top of the verification, and the evaluator publishes its own clock. World Education Services lists document verification at typically two weeks, plus roughly one week to evaluate a document-by-document report and two weeks for a course-by-course report, with complex cases running longer. WES notes those times are approximate and move with volume and staffing. HireRight adds that international background history can require extra releases and documentation before the work even starts. Several weeks is a realistic plan, and the detail sits in international degree verification.

6. The details do not match the record

Checkr names incomplete or incorrect information in the request, and the volume of pending requests at the school, as causes of delay. HireRight says checks slow down when it has difficulty establishing contact with former employers or educational institutions. A married name that never reached the registrar, a graduation year off by one, a campus nickname instead of the legal institution name, or a degree listed as finished when the credits ran short all send the request back for another round.

How to speed up degree verification

The registrar’s pace is fixed. The half of the process an applicant controls is the accuracy of what the screener is handed.

  • Use the legal name of the institution as it appears on the transcript, with the campus, and skip abbreviations and nicknames.
  • Give the degree title exactly as awarded, and the graduation month and year from the record instead of memory.
  • List any former name that the school still has on file. If the school record is out of date, updating it is its own process, set out in how to change a name on a transcript.
  • Order a copy of the transcript before applying, so the dates handed over match the file. The steps are in how to request official transcripts.
  • For a degree earned this year, ask the registrar when it posts, and give the employer that date up front.
  • If the coursework was never finished, say so as coursework completed. A verification that comes back as attended without a degree after the application claimed one is slower and worse than an accurate entry.

What to do when verification is taking too long

  • Ask the recruiter or the screening company which item is still open. Education and criminal records run on separate clocks, and the education line may already be closed.
  • Re-read the school names, degree titles and dates that were submitted, and correct anything that differs from the transcript.
  • Call the registrar and ask whether a verification request arrived, and whether anything is blocking the record.
  • Explain a school closure, merger or name change before it becomes a mystery for the screener to solve.

If a report comes back wrong, the screening company runs a dispute process and the employer’s background check paperwork explains it. What a report can and cannot say, and how a disputed entry is handled, is covered in the education background check guide.

Frequently asked questions about degree verification

How long does education verification take?

Instantly when the school reports to the National Student Clearinghouse and the record holds what was asked for. First Advantage publishes 1 to 3 business days for an education verification that needs a school contacted. Weeks is possible when the degree is unposted, the school works by hand, or the credential is foreign.

How long does degree verification take through the Clearinghouse?

The Clearinghouse states that most degree requests are confirmed instantly and that its verifications are available around the clock. When the request asks for something the stored record does not hold, the Clearinghouse contacts the school, and the answer waits on the registrar.

How long does a background check take for a job?

HireRight says an average employment background check typically takes between two and four business days, and lists backlogged or closed courts, hard-to-reach employers and schools, drug testing and international history as the reasons a check runs longer.

Why is education verification taking so long?

The three published causes are a school that has to be contacted by hand, a request that does not match the record, and a season when registrar offices are closed or busy. A degree from the term that just finished is a fourth, because it may not be posted yet.

Can a degree be verified right after graduation?

Not immediately at most schools. UCLA tells verifiers to expect degree verification for the most recent term about eight weeks after the term ends. Until the degree posts, a check can confirm attendance and dates but cannot confirm the award.

How long does verifying an international degree take?

Longer, and in weeks. WES lists roughly two weeks to verify submitted documents and one to two more weeks to produce the evaluation, with complex cases beyond that, and its clock starts only once the required documents arrive and are accepted.

Is enrollment verification the same as degree verification?

No. Enrollment verification confirms that someone is currently a student, which is what lenders, insurers and student discount programs check. The Clearinghouse states that most enrollment verification requests are also confirmed instantly. A degree check confirms a completed award, and a request for one will not answer the other.

Keeping your own education record straight

An applicant who can read off exact dates, degree titles and institution names from a copy of the transcript gives the screener a clean request on the first pass. Official transcripts come from the school. ValidGrad sells replica diplomas and transcripts as novelty items for display, and a display item is not a school record and cannot answer a verification request from an employer or a screening company. The terms of use forbid using one to claim a credential.

The main points

  • At a Clearinghouse school the answer is instant, and the Clearinghouse covers 97 percent of currently enrolled U.S. postsecondary students.
  • When a school has to be contacted, First Advantage publishes 1 to 3 business days, and HireRight publishes two to four business days for the whole background check.
  • A degree from the term that just ended may not be verifiable for about eight weeks, which is a posting delay and not a screening delay.
  • Manual verifications take days or weeks by the Clearinghouse’s own account, and summer, holidays and postal replies stretch them further.
  • International credentials run in weeks once an evaluator such as WES is involved.
  • Matching names, dates and institution names to the transcript removes the one delay an applicant can actually remove.

Sources