Pay-to-Play System: Why Do Academic Transcripts Cost Money?

DAN MOSKOVITZ (HE/HIM)

There are two things worth their weight in gold when applying for graduate roles: your academic transcript, and your GPA. The institution with this information is the university. It charges you for your transcript, and won’t provide you your GPA. 

You get one academic transcript for free upon graduation, but before then it costs $20.38. Considering the fees you already pay Vic, it's a lot. Also, graduate positions are roles you can apply for before graduation. 

And there’s no GPA in there, either. 

“​​Information about Grade Point Average (GPA) has never been shown on Te Herenga Waka’s academic transcript, as the University does not have a universal way to calculate GPAs,” said a university spokesperson in a statement. 

“GPAs can be provided from the relevant Faculty if a student needs that information.” 

Google “GPA Vic” and you’ll be taken to a webpage which tells you how to calculate your GPA. This raises questions about the universality of the webpage’s calculator, and is confusing communication. 

As for the cost of transcripts, the university said the reasoning for the cost of the transcript was to cover the fees involved in producing a legal document. 

“Students can provide external organizations and individuals with a link to their MyeQuals which enables them to see their academic records, and there is no cost associated with this,” said the same spokesperson. 

Two things on this. First, job applications don’t have an “insert link here” box for your MyeQuals, they have a button to upload your academic transcript (which is what they ask for). 

Second, if anyone can figure out how to attain this link from their MyeQuals, please let me know. Neither myself nor other Salient staff could figure it out.