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Dunno how long ago that was, but these days universities tell you that they're prohibited by law to disclose such information. In the US the applicable law is
by nullc 4y ago
Dunno how long ago that was, but these days universities tell you that they're prohibited by law to disclose such information. In the US the applicable law is FERPA-- which was passed in 1974-- but there are similar rules in other countries. You might well have been witnessing a violation, it certainly happens.
The general difficulty in checking such things is part of why that form of fraud is so ubiquitous.
- snthd 4y agoFERPA - https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html >Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them.
- nullc 4y agoI'm aware as I've argued it with a number of institutions. In my experience most do not and will not, and instead demand that that they receive consent specifically from the "student"... even for parties that were never students there and by the letter of the law ought be afforded no protection.
- jedberg 4y agoFERPA doesn’t apply when the person has a signed agreement to allow disclosure. Same way you can request that one college send your grades to another (for grad school apps for example). Doing a background check is the same thing. It’s authorized by the student.
- shaftway 4y agoI had an employee who lied about a diploma in ~2015. It was pretty bold, he even included a student ID number. Eventually we just called the school's registrar's office and asked if we could verify a diploma. They asked for the name and then told us they had no record of a student by that name. I asked if they could tell us if the student ID number was realistic and was told that it wasn't even close to what their ID numbers looked like. So it looks like your mileage may vary. IIRC, providing false information about a diploma in California is a felony.