Students needing to obtain an official transcript can request a copy faster than ever with the registrar's new system. The Southeast Missouri State University Registrar's Office has added a new extension to their partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse to offer a way for students to receive an official transcript as a PDF.

With the new process, students will need to log onto the student portal and request a transcript as they normally would. However, the link available on the website will direct students to the National Student Clearinghouse order page. Students can then submit their information and confirm if they would like to receive the file as a PDF through your email or printed in the registrar's office and later mailed to their home address.

The process to receive the PDF should take no longer than 30 minutes to receive in a personal or employer email. The transcript will contain the signature of the registrar, the university seal and a blue ribbon security confirming that it is an official transcript.

Sandy Hinkle, the Southeast Missouri State University registrar, believes that offering transcripts as a PDF is something that will be beneficial to not only students but alumni as well.

"More and more students and companies want the PDF or some type of electronic exchange," Hinkle said. "It's easier because now we can provide that, which is what students have been wanting. We've always had to request at least two working days to process because of all the manual processing. Now average processing time is at 28 minutes."

National Student Clearinghouse is an agency that handles schools' data exchange, financial aid, research and verification services. Southeast has been using the company for enrollment verification, helping students for insurance purposes, graduation and more. Transcript processing is one of the newer processes done by the company but was chosen by Southeast because the company already has student's files in its system.

Alandra St. Clair, a senior of the psychology department, is relieved by the new process and the handiness of it as she plans to graduate in December.

"I believe this new process is phenomenal because as a graduating senior who is also searching for a job, it makes it a little less difficult to have a transcript right away," St. Clair said. "A lot of employers want to know your GPA or want to know what classes you took, and it speeds up the process."

A soft release of the new process started mid-September but now the registrar's office is ready for students and alumni to start using it.

For more information about obtaining an official transcript contact the Registrar's Office at 573-651-2250 or registar@semo.edu.