One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 530 ∙ Washington, DC 20036 ∙ 202-463-6930 tel ∙ 202-785-8320 fax ∙ www.aacn.nche.edu

May 25, 2015

specialty tracks; including RN diploma, associate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral

programs. Since NursingCAS processes the transcripts on behalf of schools, AACN wanted to

ensure that this processing aligns with the best practices of the American Association of

Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). AACN has worked with

AACRAO and its Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange

(SPEEDE) Committee to develop the following statement:

AACRAO and AACN approve the use of secured and verified PDF transcripts as

official documents for the purpose of making admissions decisions provided the

following guidelines are observed:

Please share this information with your registrar and admissions office. AACN recommends

that schools participating in NursingCAS use the transcripts processed and provided by

NursingCAS as official for use in admissions decisions. Further, we recommend that schools

do not require applicants to send a set of official transcripts directly to your school in addition

to NursingCAS, if at all possible. The PDF transcripts NursingCAS provides are distributed

only to schools designated by the applicant via a secure, web-based software portal. The

processing and archiving of the PDF transcripts by NursingCAS does adhere to FERPA and

student privacy regulations.

For more information regarding the use of PDF transcripts, please refer to the “AACRAO

Sincerely,

Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN

Chief Executive Officer