The College Background Check on Incoming Students

It has been a long-time standard practice to conduct a background check on potential employees, especially when it involves colleges and universities, is this process enough anymore? Consider the benefits and the reasons to also perform a college background check on the student applicants. More and more higher education institutions are taking the opportunity to have a background check conducted on the students wishing to attend their programs. While 66% of all colleges and universities do conduct some form of college background check on at least some of the students potentially attending the school, only 20% of those selected students receive a full college background check. The only way to conduct a proper college background check, is to have a professional third-party vendor like Background Check Central do it for you.

Safer Overall School Environment

With the world we live in now, isn’t it important to have the peace of mind that you’re doing all you can to make sure the learning and living environment at your school is as safe as it can be? The “Common Application” process utilized in most colleges and universities, entails more of an “honor system” where students are asked to state felonies and misdemeanors on the application. Many schools are too busy and don’t have the personnel to take the time to verify this information. A possible problem student could potentially slip through the cracks very easily. For example, obtaining a thorough college background check on students living on campus could find potential problem applicants. A student who may have had sexual misconduct violations or have been convicted of certain types of assault would bring up a red flag. Obtaining this information beforehand gives your school the advantage on how to handle this situation before any possible problems arise.

Everyone is aware of the violence that has been happening on school campuses. Unfortunately, this seems to be a growing trend, but a thorough check will keep you ahead of potential problems. One advantage to utilizing Background Check Central is not just being supplied the pure data that is found. There is also the access to having a personal conversation with references and people associated with the students past. This type of information can be very useful when learning about a person’s past behavior that pure data would not find. This is one of the important aspects of our background investigation that separates us from others.

What Kind of Program Will the Student be Enrolling in at Your School?

There are many types of internships and academic programs that students will be participating in through the course of their college career.  In many instances there are already local, state, and federal laws that dictate how a college background check may be conducted on students or applicants.  Anyone that will be around children (teachers, day care workers, volunteers, etc.) should have a full background check done, as well as potential students working with the elderly.  Having a third-party vendor like Background Check Central take care of this process gives you the confidence that no stone will be unturned, and the potential candidate will be investigated thoroughly.

Could you be Liable for Neglecting to conduct a College Background Check?

In 2004, a student at the University North of Carolina at Wilmington was murdered on campus. The offender in the case was a male student who had a history of violence against women. The school did not know of the history because they did not conduct a background check on the student. The family of the victim blamed the school and eventually filed a lawsuit against UNC Wilmington. After the incident other higher learning facilities in the state started to then conduct background checks on their potential students; this is a practice that is still used in the state today. Regardless of what the outcome, a lawsuit of that magnitude can place a “black eye” on the school and its reputation; this can take a long time to recover from publicly.

The reputation of your university is of the utmost importance. Your school owes it to the public and local community to make sure all students have a positive and safe experience while on the grounds of your institution. Conducting college background checks on potential students is just one of the ways you can ensure that the right steps are being taken to accomplish this goal.