State Documentation Release for Grads?
I hope that someone can help me. After reading this chapter, I couldnt help but think about graduates.
If a school remains open for over 10-20 years and does not close, is there ever a time when older records, like transcripts, can be released to the state to hold? Would a graduate's permission be needed to do this?
Kristen,
I have tried to research your question and I don't have a definitive answer. I recommend that you reach out to your state authority to see what options exist in your state.
Traci Lee
One thing that our school does is, after 5 years on site, we send all of our paper records to an off site storage site. It does cost to store the records but we always have them if we need them. We've also just recently gone to electronic storage as well.
Our school has been open for 45 years, and we have many, many graduates. After 7 years we purge the entire file and only keep the transcript. The transcript we then scan and archive electronically. We do keep the hard copy transcript, but it takes up less space then the entire student file. We then store the transcripts alphabetically by grad year in a file cabinet or binder. The electronic scanned copy of the transcript is then labeled with student name and SSN so that either can be searched.
As Traci mentioned, you should check with your State Authority. A different story would be if the institution will cease operations. As part of the institution’s closing process I had heard of State Authority’s specific requirements and procedures to hand-over students’ records that are permanently retained. However, I haven't heard before of handing-over students record to others by an operating institutions. I you would, it could be considered as part of the cost of doing business.
Hi, kristen
Saving all files indefinitely is not required. Guidelines recommend at least 5 years for admission documents and 3 years of retention for financial ai records. Besides eeping the hard copy of the academic and financial aid files for 5 years, our school scan all the documents to retain them permanently.
I hope this will help you.
