Situation
Edison High School boasts a 100% AP test pass rate with over 2,000 students, but its transcript process was anything but impressive.
For Dr. Diane Braungard-Galayda, Supervisor of Guidance, it landed squarely on her desk. Every transcript and verification request meant cash, checks, or money orders changing hands in person, and updating a manual Excel spreadsheet to prove where the money went.
The paperwork wasn’t the only thing piling up. “For verifications, we were inundated with phone calls and faxes from third-party companies,” Braungard-Galayda said. “For alumni transcript requests, we were processing them in three to five business days via the mail. That’s too slow for a lot of our alumni.”
Three problems stood in the way:
- Collecting fees by cash, check, or money order made it hard to track every transaction.
- Third-party companies called and faxed the office, eating into staff time.
- Mailed transcript requests took three to five business days, but some alumni needed records quickly.
Insights
Braungard-Galayda wanted a faster process that would also pay for itself. The fix had to do three things at once: collect fees automatically, track every dollar, and get alumni their records fast.
Parchment turned out to be the match Edison High School didn’t know it was looking for.
Parchment is free for us to use for our alumni and verification requests; they help us collect the money we charge, and it’s the most efficient tool out there. It’s a win-win-win.
Dr. Diane Braungard-Galayda,
Supervisor of Guidance, Edison High School
Solution
Edison High School rolled out Parchment Award K-12 to handle current student and alumni transcripts, along with verification services. The shift changed BraungardGalayda’s day-to-day almost immediately.
“For verifications, I have totally stopped taking phone calls and faxes,” Braungard-Galayda said. “I charge $25 per verification, but the companies have never complained. All they care about is speed, and we are getting them what they need through Parchment much faster.”
Outcomes
Student scholarships totaling $10,000 showcase the success of the switch, funded by transcript and verification fees that Edison High School now collects and tracks with ease. Other big wins?
- A single digital platform handles both currentstudent and alumni transcript requests.
- Requests that used to take three to five days by mail now take minutes.
- Every fee is tracked and reported automatically, eliminating spreadsheets.
- Parchment costs the school nothing to use, so every dollar collected goes further
Operational pay-offs help, but the bigger and better story belongs to students continuing their education with the scholarships.
We don’t just collect the money for office expenses, we turn it right back to the students. This year alone, we gave out $10,000 in scholarships to students through the money we’ve collected through Parchment. To be able to put those dollars back into the hands of students is incredible.
Dr. Diane Braungard-Galayda,
Supervisor of Guidance, Edison High School
Turn your records into revenue
