Ithaka S&R Launch Ohio College Comeback Compact To Reduce Transcript Holds

Imagine if you had your car repossessed for not paying the satellite radio bill. Students often have their transcripts withheld over everything from small, overdue debts like library fines and parking fees, charges that are largely unrelated to their educations.

For many students, transcript withholding is a barrier to re-enrolling in college, without access to them students cannot prove they have already completed credits towards a degree. Thirty-nine million Americans have completed some college but have no credential to show for their efforts. With enrollment down at many colleges, removing barriers to returning to higher education is vitally important, benefiting students and the colleges and universities that enroll them.

Ithaka S&R estimates that 6.6 million students in the U.S. have credits they cannot access because their former institution is holding their transcript to provide leverage in collecting unpaid balances. Some of these holds are related to large debts owed for tuition or housing, but many of them are for relatively small sums.

A new project from Ithaka S&R hopes to help students blocked from their transcripts reenroll at one of eight colleges in northeast Ohio. Called the Ohio College Comeback Compact, the program will help students reenroll even if they owe their former college money that led to their transcript being withheld. The work aims to support students and show colleges that creative solutions to debts owed to institutions benefit both the institution and the student.

Read the full article here