What Does a Credentials Evaluator Do?
Transcripts from abroad arrive graded on scales an admissions office may never have seen. Credentials evaluators sort that out in college admissions and registrar's offices and at private evaluation services, matching each diploma to a US degree level, converting grades to a US grade point average and checking documents for signs of fraud.
Also known as: Senior Credentials Evaluator
Credentials Evaluator Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a credentials evaluator include:
- Evaluate foreign transcripts and diplomas to find the US degree level each one matches.
- Convert grades from other national grading scales into a US grade point average.
- Match transfer courses to the college's own catalog and post credit to the student record.
- Check documents for signs of fraud, such as altered seals, mismatched fonts or impossible dates.
- Request official records directly from issuing schools when copies look questionable.
- Consult reference sources such as AACRAO EDGE for profiles of each country's education system.
- Keep equivalency tables current so repeat cases from the same school are handled consistently.
- Write short evaluation notes explaining each decision for admissions reviewers and appeal files.
- Accept reports from outside evaluation services that belong to NACES, after confirming they match the originals.
- Explain to applicants why particular credits did or did not transfer.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a credentials evaluator, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Knowledge of world education systems and degree levels
- AACRAO EDGE and other credential reference tools
- Careful reading of transcripts in unfamiliar formats
- Reading knowledge of a second language, such as Spanish or Chinese
- Fraud awareness with documents and seals
- Banner, Slate or a similar student records system
- Consistent, well-documented judgment calls
- Clear written explanations for applicants
Education and Training
Most evaluators learn how other countries' school systems work through on-the-job training, but some start out at a private credential evaluation service. Experience processing applications could lead to an evaluator post. A degree in international studies or a second language is common among senior evaluators, who handle the hardest files.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: varies widely for this role, and BLS does not publish pay for it separately. In the wider BLS group it belongs to (Information and Record Clerks, All Other), the middle half of earners made $40,910 to $59,970 a year, and the median was $49,500.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Information and Record Clerks, All Other.
BLS groups credentials evaluators with other information and record clerks, and it expects that group to grow about 1 percent from 2025 to 2035. Across the group, openings come to roughly 15,000 a year. Evaluator hiring tends to follow international enrollment, since colleges add evaluators when more students apply from abroad.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Information and record clerks, all other.