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Data Management
Michigan Embraces Electronic Transcripts
5/7/2008
One big advantage Cook sees with the ConnectEdu system is that it converts student data to XML format, rather than a PDF. Getting actual data points, Cook said, enables a receiving institution to manipulate the data. For Michigan State, this means it can recalculate a student's GPA automatically using its own internal codes. That's done manually now, by plucking the numbers from the scanned paper transcript. "With electronic data, as opposed to something on a piece of paper, we'll be able to run [software] macros to recalculate GPAs and run analyses on which courses the student has taken," Cook explained. "That could allow us to automate a large percentage of the work that we do here."
Michigan started with ConnectEdu about a year ago, as the company was first making inroads with state high schools and colleges. Cook said he hasn't seen a big surge in submissions that make use of electronic transcripts just yet, nor is he expecting to this early in the process. In fall 2007, he estimated receiving just 500 digital transcripts out of 25,000 undergraduate applications. "High schools are coming on board slowly but surely.... This is going to take a while to catch on," Cook said. That includes time for ConnectEdu to enlist high schools, train high school guidance counselors on using the product, and get students and parents on board. "They're changing the climate on how kids apply to college," Cook said.
Next year, he said, he expects the volume of electronic transcripts the university receives to double. Even with the low percentage of electronic transcripts received so far, Cook estimated that Michigan State is a leader in the move to digital, receiving more electronic transcripts last fall than any other university in the state.
He also pointed out that the state is looking at possibly endorsing a state-wide standard, perhaps with ConnectEdu, which would speed up the adoption process--and give Michigan State an obvious leg up in the adoption process.
Although it's too soon to estimate all of the cost savings that electronic transcripts will bring, Cook said, some of the savings are obvious. Simply eliminating a large portion of the paper flow--and the people it takes to deal with it--is one benefit. Electronic transcripts, by moving more quickly through the system, will allow the university to respond to students faster with admission decisions. The increased accuracy and efficiency of digital information is another big plus. "It makes sense," Cook said. "It's just not an overnight thing, and we have to have a lot of patience."
Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif.
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