The Year In Parchment – Our 2017 Recap

Every year, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and employers seek new ways to assist the learners within their walls. From service transcripts to employee development certificates, these organizations work to provide learners everywhere with the tools to succeed in their educational goals.

Parchment understands that process, and we want to help. Since 2003, we’ve provided the tools learners need to access and send their credentials, as well as the platform receivers need to accept them. Our entire business is focused on helping people turn credentials into opportunities: new careers, entry into continuing education programs and similar circumstances. Parchment’s network has grown bigger every year, and we aim to help every student and professional access the documents they need to support their future.

A major thank you to all of our members. Thanks to you and our hard-working Parchies we had an amazing year in 2017 filled with higher production, new tools, and strong insights.  Here’s how we did (and we hope you’ll be part of our success in 2018!):

Reach

In 2016, the Parchment network had 9,000 active members sending and receiving credentials to and from various institutions or employers. Last year, we added 610 new members. Over 5,000 credential-issuing institutions – including K-12 schools, community colleges, four-year universities and businesses – relied on Parchment to securely and efficiently send digital academic credentials.

Growth

Parchment continues to be the industry leading credential management system on the market, which is why we’ve seen so many learners and issuers adopt our platforms over the years. In the decade and a half since our inception, we’ve handled 32.7 million credential transactions, sending diplomas, transcripts and other records in order to help people succeed in their personal or professional dreams.

This year, nearly 850,000 new learners registered with Parchment in order to send their diplomas, transcripts, certificates and other records to schools and employers around the world. These individuals spanned both high school and collegiate levels. For the last 12-month period ending Dec. 31, 2017, Parchment saw nearly 3 million registered individuals. Overall, we fulfilled more than 10 million requests from learners looking to turn their credentials into opportunities.

Expansion

Parchment is committed to providing the best for both learners and institutions. As such, we’re increasingly creating new offers and services to better meet the needs of new and potential partners.

Last year, we launched the Parchment Member Status Program for K-12 senders, which rewards counselors and registrars for the work they do every day. There are four separate tiers – bronze, silver, gold and platinum – and each correlate to how well the institution utilizes the Parchment system.

The Parchment Member Status program is similar to a frequent-flyer system. Members are rewarded each time they gain a tier, and those at the silver, gold and platinum levels are entered into our year-end drawings.

2017 also saw our fifth annual user conference, Parchment Connect National. This two-day event, held March 2 and 3 in Washington D.C., saw more than 150 Parchment member universities and secondary schools in attendance, with participants eager to discover new ways to help learners create opportunities. The presentations were focused on helping institutions achieve their goals of supporting learners (by using best practices to develop a co-curricular transcript that helps students boost their education, for example) and additions to Parchment services (such as tracking via FedEx and USPS on all credentials printed and mailed by Parchment. This way, students applying for schools or job positions where digital credentials are not accepted are still assured that their documents are sent and received in a timely manner.)

Future

We at Parchment are very excited to continue our 2017 momentum into the new year! In 2018, you can expect to see the following developments:

• Expansion of Parchment Award (which includes print diplomas!)
• Expanded partnerships
• New features in our core platforms
• Much, much more!

About Parchment

Parchment is the most widely-adopted academic credential management system available, allowing learners, academic institutions and employers to request, verify and share credentials in simple and secure ways. The platform has helped millions of people and thousands of schools and universities exchange more than 40 million transcripts and other credentials globally. Founded in 2003, Parchment Inc. is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, with offices in Roseville, CA, Denver, CO, Grand Rapids, MI, Toronto, ON and Washington, DC. Follow Parchment on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.