Registrars and other university offices are integral to students' full life cycle, from prospective students to alumni. In this more encompassing definition of enrollment management, registrars perform a number of duties that overlap with the objectives of enrollment management. This perspective paper analyzes the changes in the historic…

Stranded credit is credit that students have earned at a postsecondary institution, but cannot use or transfer because they have unpaid debts at the institution. Institutions will usually not issue official transcripts to students with debt, which results in the student being unable to formally document the credits they have acquired. This can…

To stand out in a crowded marketplace, every organization must find or create a competitive edge. Companies without a unique advantage get lost in a tide of rivals. In the context of higher education, the registrar's office rarely commands the resources to achieve dramatic overhauls. Rather, incremental innovation offers a far more efficient use…

Learners of all types must be able to represent their achievements to prospective employers and education institutions to prove that they have the requisite knowledge and skills for success. The most recognized means by which students represent themselves is the credential. As in many other industries that engage with customers, partners, and…

Jack Maguire proclaimed in his classic article, detailing Boston College's enrollment management (EM) design, that "to the organized go the students." Since the inception of EM in the 1970s, college and university leaders have perpetuated structuralist approaches to EM, which are often reflected in persistent debates about the ideal…

This report explores how to make educational systems more inclusive and responsive to transgender, non-binary, and Two Spirit (TNB2S) applicants and students. This is achieved through two broad means, namely using systems to: (1) collect and store relevant personal information (including name and pronouns) to inform and support respectful…

U.S. colleges and universities are sites where cultural norms such as genderism and transphobia are reified through institutional policies and practices. Any place on the college campus that segregates students by sex and gender can serve to limit access and success of trans* students. In order to gain insight into how key institutional agents…

Phillip Henry is a semi-retired former U.K. Registrar and Secretary with almost 40 years' experience in higher education. He has been active in staff development in the United Kingdom (Association of University Administrators, Academic Registrars Council, and Association of Heads of University Administration), in the United States (AACRAO and a…

A visiting student is a student who moves from their home institution where he or she is registered usually in a degree program, to take a specified number of courses or credits at another institution. Students may or may not hold a letter of permission. Most of these students later return to the home institution and request transfer credit for…

Universities are one of the most important institutions that offer online services. It is observed that one of the most used web pages by university students is the registrar's office website, since students can access a great deal of information they need through this page. In this study, the usability of the registrar's office website, which can…

More than 25% of new college students begin their higher education careers outside of the traditional fall start date (National Student Clearinghouse, 2012). This study examines the social, personal, and academic experiences of spring admits at a large, private research institution in the western United States. In this study, a spring admit is…

This article from the "Journal of College Admission's" Special Diversity Issue (which in its entirety won the 1997 Muir Award), presents a compilation of three speeches, given at the 51st National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The preface, by Mary Lee Hoganson, serves to bind the three speeches together under the cohesive question, "Are…

Provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that affect the right of colleges to withhold transcripts as a means of collecting student debts are considered. Automatic stay provisions state that the filing of a petition for bankruptcy relief prohibits actions to collect obligations of the debtor. The discharge injunction provides that once a discharge…

The role of the college registrar is neither universally understood nor professionally established, and the historical development of academic administration through five periods in the United States reflects an ambivalence and lack of consensus toward full-time administration. Each period characterizes a different approach to or set of registrar…

Services offered by the college registrar are largely unseen by the student when all goes well. However, the registration system should be viewed as a means of preventing student dissatisfaction. Registrars are important members of an enrollment management team and should share responsibility for their successes or failures. (Author/MSE)