Press Release

National Student Clearinghouse Selected As A 20th Annual Codie Awards Finalist

Online Service Suite Nominated in "Best Gradebook or Student Information System for K-12 or Postsecondary" Category

HERNDON, VA, February 3, 2005 - The National Student Clearinghouse, the nation's trusted source for post-secondary degree and enrollment verification, today announced that its suite of online academic verification and transcript ordering services has been selected as a 20th Annual Codie Awards finalist in the "Best Gradebook or Student Information System for K-12 or Postsecondary" category. More than 1,000 entries were submitted for the 2005 Codie Awards, a record high for the awards program.

The Codie Awards are the software and information industry's oldest and most prestigious awards program. Organized by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the Codie Awards recognize innovation in technology-based product and service through a combination of journalist and peer review. According to Ken Wasch, president of SIIA, "The 20th annual Codie Awards continue the tradition of honoring the best of the software, content, and education technology industries. When one considers the number of outstanding companies that competed this year, being named a Codie Awards finalist is a significant achievement."

The Clearinghouse online service suite includes:

• DegreeVerify: Allows employers, background screeners and others to instantly confirm degrees online, providing them with an easy, fast and inexpensive way to validate educational records and combat credentials fraud. DegreeVerify is the nation's largest single source of degree data, and contains information on more than half of all degrees awarded in the US.
  
• EnrollmentVerify: Enables students, parents, employers and student service providers to immediately verify a student's enrollment via the Web and obtain an official enrollment certificate authorized by the institution.
  
• Transcript Ordering: Provides participating colleges with a simple way to enable their students and alumni to order official transcripts via the Web. All ordering steps are automated, speeding delivery of transcripts to requestors and eliminating the cost and time involved in processing requests for institutions. The service also supports e-signatures.

The 2005 Codie Award winners will be announced in May 2005.

About The National Student Clearinghouse®

The National Student Clearinghouse (a non-profit formed in 1993) is the unique and trusted source for higher education enrollment and degree verifications. The Clearinghouse serves as a single point of contact for the collection and timely exchange of accurate and comprehensive enrollment, degree and certificate records on behalf of its more than 3,300 participating higher education institutions, which represent over 92% of the national enrollment.

Through its verification and reporting services, the Clearinghouse saves higher education institutions cumulatively more than a hundred million dollars annually. Most Clearinghouse services are provided to colleges and universities at little or no charge, including enhanced transcript and research services, enabling institutions to redistribute limited staff and budget resources to more important student service efforts. All Clearinghouse services are operated in full compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

In addition, the Clearinghouse provides accurate FERPA compliant verifications to student loan providers, employers, student credit issuers, student health insurance providers, the U.S. Department of Education, and others who access its registry more than 100 million times annually.

For more information, visit www.studentclearinghouse.org.

For Questions About This Press Release Only, Contact:
Kathleen Dugan
Marketing Director
703-742-4208
dugan@studentclearinghouse.org

For Help With or Questions About Any Clearinghouse Service, Contact:
703-742-4200
service@studentclearinghouse.org