Education Verifications: FAQ’s
Ann Beecher
Published Date
Rant incoming.
It’s about education, and I guess, specifically, education verifications. Ain’t nothing new, just a reminder about some important notes.
Dig in:
What’s it worth: Global fake degree industry: $22 billion dollars as of 2022.
How often does it happen: According to LinkedIn, 44% of respondents to a survey have “stretched the truth” regarding their education.
If you read the intro to my newsletter, you know this, but it bears repeating for the blog.
We had an applicant last week, my assistant called the high school to verify her education (yes, that still happens). The registrar couldn’t find her—they went through all the aliases, all the spellings, no dice.
I called the registrar back, determined to find something. Loaded for bear to have her pull out the yearbook from 2022, check the graduation program for that year… “OH! I found her.” Yes, you did.
A more difficult situation from last week: the school sent us a transcript for an applicant who said she graduated, but the transcript only shows that she attended 9th grade. We’ve got that school searching as well. It kind of looks like when the documents were scanned, they may have only caught the first page.
This is a tough one—she can’t find her diploma, and I hope the school has deeper records and didn’t destroy everything after it was scanned. Again, find the yearbook from 2006 and see if she’s in it. That would at least show she didn’t withdraw in 2002 after her freshman year.
What we need to be efficient in education verifications:
- Name at the time of graduation
- Year of graduation
- School, with city and state
And remember—schools close in the summer and usually records are still at the schools, not the districts.
It will take universities up to a month after graduation to post degrees. If your applicant graduated in December 2025, it would take until January 30, 2026, for us to be able to verify the degree.
If your applicant went to a private school that went out of business, there’s usually nothing we can do. Not that we won’t try to find someone who worked at that school and call or email them.
If you ever want to know more—whether you’re a client or would just like a consult, we are here for you. Ann@CEVerify.com, 612-743-0240.
