By: Kathy Elders
There’s a lot to understand about verifying an individual’s education and to keep it from being too dry and boring, we have broken it up into mini subjects. Each subject will include something we at MBI Worldwide have learned over the years that will help process education verification requests quicker.
Third Party Vendors
MBI Worldwide utilizes multiple Third Party Vendors to help supply accurate, timely information:
One example of a third party vendor would be The National Student Clearinghouse. This organization offers access to enrollment and degree records from more than 3,500 colleges and universities. Participating institutions provide access to them for verifying enrollment and degree information on each of their students. A growing number of institutions have outsourced their enrollment and graduation information to third-party organizations. In these cases, the institution will not accept any requests for verifications and will refer all such requests to the third-party source. MBI will then obtain the verification through the third party vendor. If you are requesting an Education Verification from a college or university you might see a fee for this type of search added to your invoice.
Maiden Name/ Former Name
When requesting MBI Worldwide to conduct an Education Verification for a potential applicant, be sure they supplied their former and/or maiden names for Education Verification. If they have their diploma/certificate handy, it would be great if they could supply the name used when they received the degree or graduated. This is especially important if you are requesting verification of a High School Diploma or are requesting a verification from 10+ years ago. Dates attended, graduation date, and indicating whether a GED, diploma or degree is also very helpful. Name of institution, including city and state is also a must.
GED Verifications
General Educational Development or GED are tests which, when passed, certify that the test-taker has a high school graduate’s level of knowledge.
Official GED Testing Centers are controlled environments and all testing sessions take place in person where security measures are enforced. Testing centers are most often in adult-education centers, community colleges and public schools.
Even though the student took the GED at their local community college, that college will not be able to verify that the individual took the test or received their certification. Every state in the U.S. has official GED records of everyone who earned a GED in that state. For MBI Worldwide to verify a GED we will need to know the State where the tests were taken, the year and the name used when they took the tests. GED certifications usually take a minimum of two (2) weeks to verify.
Internships and Residency Programs
Even though Internships and Residency programs are required in order for a student to graduate, the Institution where they received their degree will not be able to verify their Internship and/or Residency. In order for MBI Worldwide to verify, please enter the request under Employment Verification, list the Employer as the organization where they completed the program, the job title will be “Intern” or “Resident” and provide the approximate dates (or at least the years).
International Education Verifications
MBI Worldwide can conduct Education Verifications from many countries, as searches are requested through our International vendors. Their verifiers speak all major languages and understand the cultures and customs needed to get the required information. Each verification is charged based on the country and difficulty. In order to request an education verification, MBI Worldwide would need your permission to charge the additional fees and would need the following items from the applicant: a signed consent form and a copy of their Diploma and Statement of Marks (Transcript). Each search will take a minimum of four (4) weeks to complete after all documents are received.