Students will see the cost of official transcripts take a hike in cost beginning July 1, when the registrar's office will raise the price from $1 to $6.
ASU currently charges $1 for enrolled students to request official transcripts and $5 for former students. ASU does not, however, charge for unofficial transcripts.
According to Kathy McBride, an assistant registrar, a team conducted a survey from the UA, NAU, PAC-10 schools, Big Ten schools and other peer institutions and found that the cost for official transcripts ranged from $0 to $10.
"Based on the information we received, we decided to go on a median range," McBride said.
Bonnie Wilcox, associate registrar, said that even though the cost for official transcripts will increase, unofficial transcripts will remain free of charge.
"We were surprised that other institutions did charge for unofficial transcripts," Wilcox said. "We work very hard to keep costs very low for students."
Wilcox said that the registrar's office at ASU is developing a Web application that will allow students to order official transcripts online.
"Students will be able to pay with a credit card for their transcripts and do the whole transaction online," Wilcox said.
Currently, students who need to request official transcripts must go to Student Services and fill out a request form or send their request by mail.
With the incorporation of the new program, students will be able to request their transcripts to be sent to specific addresses online. For example, seniors who are applying to graduate school can have their transcripts sent to the schools they want through ASUs website.
"Our expectation is that the transcripts will be sent out the following day," Wilcox said.
Kurt Johnson, an English senior, said he would not use the new Web application to order transcripts.
"It is not fair that the cost for official transcripts is going to increase for everyone," Johnson said. "Everyone is not going to use the Internet to order transcripts."
According to Wilcox, the fees to develop the new Web application are costly, and the registrar's office needed to increase the cost of official transcripts in order to fund it.
"We have taken a look at what our own costs are - our costs are going up with the new Web site," Wilcox said.
Charisse Mackenzie, a psychology senior who plans to apply to graduate schools next year, said that she doesn't think students should not have to pay for the cost increase.
"The registrar's office should not charge already poor college students," she said.
Reach the reporter at erin.hawksworth@asu.edu.
