Home / Learn / Checking a degree / Did they go to university?
Checking someone's story
Your date says they went to university. Can you check?
Yes, a little on your own, and properly with their yes, which is easier to get than it sounds. Three doors, one rule for each, and the exact words to say.
The small voice on the way home
It came up lightly, somewhere between the starters and the bill: a flatmate in halls, a master's they nearly didn't finish. You laughed in the right places.
Then, on the way home, a small voice asks: did they really go to university?
Wanting to know is normal, and it isn't only a dating question. The same voice pipes up when a new contact's advice starts to matter, or a would-be business partner's pitch leans on an engineering degree.
The short answer: can you check if someone went to university?
A university's record of a student is personal data, and universities guard it. That is why the UK's official route, Hedd, asks for proof of the graduate's consent: it was built for employers, not curious individuals.
Try to check if someone has a degree without them and, in the UK at least, you get fragments at best.
The US is the exception, because its federal student privacy law, FERPA, lets colleges name degrees as "directory information". A college that has publicly done so may confirm one to anyone, unless the graduate opted out. If they opted out, that is their choice to respect.
For everything else, picture three doors, each with a sign on it.
Open
What they chose to show, and whether their university is real.
Rule: would you tell them you looked?
Door one →Knock
Their official record, shared with their yes.
Rule: you knock, they open.
Door two →Private
Their record, by any route that skips their yes.
Rule: if you'd have to pretend, don't.
Door three →Door one says Open: what they chose to show
Behind this door is what people publish, or agree to have published. Reading is fine; building a file on someone is a different thing.
Their own profile or company bio is their claim rather than proof, but it should match what they told you. Beyond that, these checks need nobody's permission:
| To check | Where |
|---|---|
| A UK university can award degrees | GOV.UK's degree-awarding check, or Hedd's institution search |
| A US college is accredited | The Department of Education's DAPIP database |
| A place isn't on an official warning list | Our warning lists search of places listed as fake or unrecognised |
| A UK doctoral thesis | The British Library's EThOS, or the university's own repository |
| A UK nurse or midwife | The NMC register |
| Many UK health and care professions | The HCPC register |
| A solicitor in England and Wales | The Solicitors Register |
| A health practitioner in Australia | Ahpra's registers |
A real university proves nothing about them, but a mill settles it. And a licence to practise says more than a degree.
An empty search is not a verdict. People opt out of lists and change their names, and older records may never have gone online. Finding nothing means you don't know yet.
Door two says Knock: they hold the key
Outside that US exception, real answers go through the graduate: the record is about them, so they decide who sees it.
- UK. Hedd, the official verification service, is for organisations such as employers, with the graduate's consent. For you, the proof should come from the university, not from them: a verified digital certificate link, if their university issues one (some use Gradintel), or confirmation in writing if it offers that.
- US. The National Student Clearinghouse serves organisations such as employers, but not the media or private investigators. A graduate can have an official transcript sent to you instead, through a service such as Parchment.
- Australia and New Zealand. Graduates share their official records through My eQuals.
Door three says Private: leave it shut
- Posing as them, or as their employer, to get the record. In the UK, that can be a crime: section 170 of the Data Protection Act 2018 makes it an offence to knowingly or recklessly obtain personal data without the consent of the organisation responsible for it.
- Trusting a "verification" link they send you. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that some diploma mills run their own "verification service". Find the university yourself, or test the link with the verification trap check.
- People-search sites that promise anyone's education history. The Clearinghouse turns away private investigators and Hedd needs consent, so whatever these sites sell is unlikely to come from either. Often it's public scraps, and sometimes it's about someone else with the same name.
How to knock: words for a date, a contact or a partner
Before you knock, three quick questions:
- Will the answer change a decision you're about to make?
- Would you be happy to tell them you checked?
- Can you offer your own proof first? It turns a test into something you do together.
Three yeses, and you're ready. Asking someone about their degree is the respectful way in, and usually the quickest. Start with the first knock; most conversations end there. Knock again only if it matters, and say why.
| When | Try saying |
|---|---|
| A date. You need honesty, not grades. | |
| First knock | "You mentioned your master's. What was it in? What did a normal week look like?" |
| Second knock | "Honesty matters a lot to me, so I'd rather ask than wonder: which university was it?" |
| A contact whose advice you'll act on. You need real expertise. | |
| First knock | "Where did you train? I like knowing the story behind someone's expertise." |
| Second knock | "Could you send me your registration number? I'd like to look you up on the register before I act on this." |
| A business partner. You need verified facts before money moves. | |
| First knock | "Before we sign, shall we both do the standard checks?" |
| Second knock | "I'll share proof of my degree straight from my university. Could you do the same, or sign a consent form so a screening firm can confirm it?" |
| Anyone who bristles at being asked. | |
| Calm reply | "That's fair. It isn't an accusation. Honesty matters to me, and I'm happy to answer the same question." |
On a date, the real check is time: does the story stay the same over weeks, and fit the friends you meet?
Reading their reply
| They say | What it means, and your move |
|---|---|
| "Of course, here you go." | A good sign. Check what they hand you is real, then relax |
| "Actually, I didn't finish." | A brave correction. Thank them: people leave courses for good reasons |
| Details that shift each time | Nerves, embarrassment or a stretched story. Ask once more, kindly |
| Offence at a business check | Privacy, or a problem. Sign nothing until it's settled |
| "Here's the link to verify it." | Real, or a mill's own site. Find the university yourself |
A refused check doesn't prove a lie. If you're handed a certificate, how to check if a degree is real takes it from there.
Never met, and now there's money? Stop here
If you've never met in person and money comes up, the degree no longer matters. A grand degree can be part of a fraudster's costume.
The UK government's Stop! Think Fraud campaign says never to send money, vouchers or cryptocurrency included, to someone you haven't met in person. It flags someone who asks a lot about you but reveals little, and suggests a reverse image search of their profile photos.
The FTC adds that romance scammers make excuses not to meet, and may claim to work far away, on an oil rig, say. If a message feels wrong, read is this a scam? before you reply.
Back on the walk home
So, that small voice. Door one can tell you tonight whether the place they named is real. Door two is one honest question away. Door three stays shut, and you won't need it.
And if the answer is "I didn't finish", you've learned they'll tell you the truth when it's awkward, which matters more than any grade.
Sources
- ICO: What is personal data?
- British Library: EThOS: UK doctoral theses
- NMC: Search the register
- HCPC: Check the Register
- SRA: Solicitors Register
- GOV.UK: Check if your university or college can award a degree
- US Department of Education: DAPIP: accredited US institutions
- Ahpra: Registers of practitioners
- US Department of Education: FERPA regulations: directory information, notice and opt-out (34 CFR 99.3, 99.37)
- Hedd: UK degree verification for organisations, with proof of consent; institution search
- National Student Clearinghouse: Verify Now: permitted users, transcripts
- My eQuals
- Parchment and Gradintel: digital academic documents and verified credentials that graduates share
- Data Protection Act 2018, section 170: unlawful obtaining of personal data
- FTC: Avoid Fake-Degree Burns by Researching Academic Credentials: diploma mills' own "verification services"
- Stop! Think Fraud (UK government): Protect yourself from romance fraud
- FTC: What to know about romance scams
Check it before you trust it. The free tools in the Fake Degree Lab look at a CV, a school's website, a message or a "verification" service and show the warning signs, with links to the official registers.