The City University of New York is temporarily suspending a long-standing policy of withholding transcripts from former students with unpaid bills, university officials announced Wednesday.
Students often require transcripts to apply for jobs or other college or graduate programs.
The public university system will also remove fall 2021 registration holds from the accounts of roughly 74,000 current students enrolled during the pandemic who have outstanding balances, CUNY officials said.
The moves are part of a broader effort to extend additional flexibility to students harmed by the pandemic, school officials said. CUNY announced last month they would use federal stimulus funds to forgive roughly $125 million in student debt incurred during the pandemic.
“These policy changes …make it significantly easier for tens of thousands of students to continue their educational goals or enter the workplace and assist in the City’s ongoing economic recovery,” said CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.
The policy of withholding transcripts from students with unpaid bills has drawn increasing scrutiny during the pandemic for its role in stifling students’ educational and professional prospects.
A bill currently awaiting a vote in the New York State Assembly proposes to ban withholding transcripts altogether in the state.
CUNY’s Wednesday announcement offers a one-time suspension of the transcript withholding rule so that any former student with an outstanding balance can access their CUNY records. CUNY officials said the change will impact tens of thousands of people, but didn’t provide an exact figure.
The pandemic debt forgiveness program CUNY announced last month clears away all unpaid tuition bills and fees that piled up during the pandemic for students with limited financial means. Officials estimated it will reach roughly 50,000 students.
