How do you send your teen's dual enrollment transcript?

Why doesn’t the high school transcript carry the credit?

The high school transcript is the high school’s record. It shows the course and the grade that counted toward graduation, and at a few colleges that is enough on its own. Cornell says that when the coursework fulfills a requirement for high school graduation and appears on the high school transcript, there is no need to have the college send a transcript as part of the application.

Most colleges want the college’s own record anyway, because the institution that taught the course is the one that can certify the units, the grade, and the term. The University of California requires every admitted student to submit an official college transcript for all college courses completed, including courses completed through a dual enrollment program, and its application will not let those courses be listed as high school coursework. The University of Central Florida asks for official final transcripts from every postsecondary institution once a student graduates from high school.

The workable rule is college by college. Read the transcript instructions on each college’s admissions page, and where the instructions are ambiguous, assume the college wants the college transcript.

How does your teen order the college transcript?

Which route to use depends on the college, and the registrar’s page will say which one it uses.

Parchment. Your teen finds the school, creates an account, places the order, and then waits for the school to validate it before anything is released. Parchment is explicit that the sending institution reviews every order first, so the account has to carry the same legal name, date of birth, and address the college has on file. Electronic delivery usually happens within one business day of the school processing the request.

The National Student Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse routes the order to the college and does nothing else with it. In its own words, it does not create, retain, or edit the transcript, and the school owns the transcript and determines delivery options and cost. Your teen can start the order on the Clearinghouse site or on the college’s own site.

The registrar’s portal. Plenty of colleges keep the request inside their student system. Florida Atlantic University, for instance, sends dual enrollment students through the FAU Self-Service menu in MyFAU rather than to an outside vendor.

One detail is worth checking before the order goes in. The account has to be your teen’s college account, under the name the college has on file, and a middle name added or a maiden name dropped is enough to stall a request while a deadline passes.

What does it cost?

The sending college sets the price, which is why the number moves around. Broward College charges five dollars for each official transcript and routes orders through Parchment. Florida Atlantic charges ten dollars a copy through its own portal. The Clearinghouse states plainly that the school determines delivery options and cost, so neither ordering service is where the fee comes from.

Electronic delivery is normally the cheapest option and the fastest, and it is what admissions offices prefer to receive. Paper copies mailed to a family’s home address cost the same or more and take longer to arrive.

When should the transcript be sent?

That depends on what the receiving college asked for, and three examples cover most of the variation. Cornell wants it with the application when the coursework is not on the high school transcript. UCF does not require it at the time of application and wants official final transcripts after high school graduation. The University of California asks for it from students who have been offered admission.

Whatever the deadline says, order early. Parchment notes that average school sending times run from two business days to eighteen, because the college has to review and release each request, and a request placed the week grades post lands in a queue with everyone else’s.

We have families order one copy addressed to themselves at the same time as the first college copy, because that is the cheapest way to see what the registrar is printing. A withdrawal that posted as a W, or a course sitting ungraded while a grade change works its way through, is much easier to sort out in April than in July.

Which colleges need a copy?

Send one to every college that asks for it during admission, which means reading each college’s instruction rather than assuming they match. Then, after your teen commits, send a final official copy to the college they will attend, since that is the copy the registrar there uses to award transfer credit.

Those are two separate orders, and the second one has to wait until the last semester’s grades have posted. A final transcript ordered in May, before spring grades are in, arrives incomplete and has to be ordered again.

What if your teen took courses at more than one college?

Each college releases only its own record, so a student who took courses at a community college one year and a state university the next needs an order from each. The University of California’s wording covers this case directly, asking for an official transcript for all college courses completed. If your teen took a summer course somewhere that felt incidental at the time, it still counts as a college attended, and leaving it out of an application is the kind of omission an admissions office treats seriously.

FAQ

Does the high school transcript show dual enrollment credit? It usually shows the course and the high school grade, and some colleges accept that. Cornell does not require a college transcript when the coursework appears on the high school transcript and fulfills a graduation requirement. The University of California requires an official college transcript from admitted students either way.

Do you order the transcript through Parchment or through the college? Through whichever one the college’s registrar page names. Parchment and the National Student Clearinghouse are both ordering services that pass the request to the college, and many colleges instead keep the request inside their own student portal.

How much does a dual enrollment transcript cost? The sending college decides. Broward College charges five dollars per official transcript and Florida Atlantic charges ten. The Clearinghouse states that the school owns the transcript and determines delivery options and cost.

Do we send the college transcript with the application or after? It depends on the college. Cornell asks for it with the application when the coursework is not on the high school transcript, UCF asks for final transcripts after high school graduation, and the University of California asks for them from students who have been offered admission.

Does your teen need a transcript from every college they attended? Yes. Each college releases only its own record, and the University of California asks for an official transcript for all college courses completed, which includes a single summer course taken somewhere else.

Sources

• Parchment, How it works for students · the ordering steps, the school’s review, and delivery timing
• National Student Clearinghouse, Students and learners · the school owns the transcript and sets delivery options and cost
• Cornell University admissions FAQ, dual enrollment and college transcripts
• University of California, Dual enrollment guidance · the transcript requirement for admitted students
• University of Central Florida admissions FAQ, dual enrollment college transcripts
• Florida Atlantic University Registrar, dual enrollment grades and transcripts · the ten dollar fee and the permanent college record
• Broward College, Office of the College Registrar · the five dollar fee and Parchment ordering