NUMBER:   ACAF 3.06



SECTION:  Academic Affairs    



SUBJECT:  Establishing and Changing a Student's                   

          Official Name 



DATE:     February 1, 1995



LATEST REVISION:   August 27, 1997

                     

Policy for:     All Campuses

Procedure for:  All Campuses

Authorized by:  Jerome D. Odom

Issued by:      University Registrar



________________________________________________________________





 I.  Policy 



A.   When an individual applies for admission to the University,

the admitting office must determine the applicant's complete

LEGAL name.  Once the legal name has been identified, that

becomes the official name of record and will remain unchanged

unless documentation is provided to justify altering the original

name on the student's official record, electronic or otherwise.  



B.   Any discrepancy between the name given on the application

and the name appearing on other documents in the admissions file

must be clarified before the individual actually enrolls in

classes for the first time.  



C.   Students who have previously attended the University and are

on the data base cannot have the name there changed upon

readmission without proper documentation.  



D.   Prior to the initial registration for classes, a student's

name may be changed by the responsible admissions office; after

registration, the name may be changed only by the Office of the

University Registrar.  





II.  Procedure





A.   Determining and Documenting the LEGAL Name



     1.   Each admissions office in the University System

     determines the LEGAL name of each applicant at the time of

     initial application to the University.  That may be done in

     any appropriate fashion, up to and including requesting a

     birth certificate.  The admissions application used by each

     admissions office must ask for the applicant's LEGAL name.  



     2.   The LEGAL name is entered on the data base in its

     entirety if space permits.  The OFFICIAL name will include

     the first name, one middle or the maiden name and the last

     name.  



     a.   Students may not drop the first name and use a middle

     name as the first name.  



     b.   Married women may use their first, middle and married

     name or first, maiden and married name.  



     c.   Hyphenated last names are permissible if the last name

     field on the data base will accommodate all the characters.  



     d.   Students may use two names (first and last) or initials

     only when legal documents show that no other names exist or

     that only initials have been assigned.  



     e.   If the entire name exceeds the space available on the

     data base, what is appropriate will be used for the official

     name.  However, documents in the student's file will

     indicate clearly the entire name.  



     3.   When a former student applies for readmission, an

     'official' name already exists on his or her record in the

     Office of the University Registrar. 



     a.   Students who attended previously but do not appear on

     the data base must not be entered until the official name

     has been obtained from the Office of the University

     Registrar.  



     b.   If the student's name on the application differs from

     that on the data base, then the data base name is the

     'official' name.  The data base name will not be changed by

     the Office of the University Registrar until documentation

     is received to justify a change.  The responsible office

     will be notified when such action is taken by the Office of

     the University Registrar.





B.   Official Name Changes for Applicants to the University 



     1.   An applicant for readmission whose name differs from

     that on the existing record must provide legal documentation

     (see 3 below) to support the change.  



     2.   A new applicant for admission who requests a name

     change from the name originally provided on application

     documents and/or determined by the admissions office to be

     the LEGAL name must provide legal documentation (see 3

     below) to support the change.  



     3.   Acceptable documents for making a name change are birth

     certificate, marriage certificate/license, divorce decree

     (upon divorce a woman may legally resume use of her maiden

     name), court order for legal name change, adoption documents,

     or a valid passport.  Any other documents (i.e. driver's 

     license, Social Security card, notarized statements) are not 

     acceptable. 

 

     4.   When legal documentation is needed, the admissions

     officer will 



     a.   send the applicant a letter explaining the requirement

     (sample letters from the Office of the University Registrar

     are available on request) and include the Student Name

     Change Affidavit form (AS-1A); 



     b.   place a hold on the student's registration to prevent

     enrollment until the name discrepancy is resolved or

     use/leave the existing name on the data base until the

     problem is resolved.

  

     5.   When documentation is received, the admissions officer

     will 



     a.   make the appropriate changes on the student's file

     label and, if necessary, send copies of the documentation to

     the Office of the University Registrar with a request to

     change the data base; 



     b.   if the student has an existing record, send a copy of

     the documentation to the Office of the University Registrar

     with a request that the data base and the existing record be

     corrected; 



     c.   file the original documentation and name change request

     in the student's current admissions folder.  



     6.   If a hold has been placed on the student's

     registration, the office making the change to the data base

     will release it.  





C.   Official Name Changes for Degrees



A degree application which includes a name not on the data base

requires research of existing documents to determine whether the

name may be included on the diploma.  



     a.   The Commencement Coordinator sends a copy of the degree

     application and the data base name from the DEGRLOOK screen

     to the Office of the University Registrar for verification.  



     b.   The Office of the University Registrar researches the

     case, notes on the materials whether documentation of the

     degree names has been found (OK/NO) and returns them to the

     coordinator.  



     c.   The coordinator sends the degree applicant a letter of

     explanation and a request for documentation along with a

     Student Name Change Affidavit (AS-1A).  



     d.   When documentation is returned, the coordinator

     indicates such on the application and sends the

     documentation to the Office of the University Registrar

     where the data base and other records will be changed

     immediately.  



D.   Questionable or doubtful situations which cannot be

reconciled otherwise will be referred to the University Registrar

on the Columbia Campus, who will obtain a ruling from the System

Legal Department. 





III.  Reason For Latest Revision



To clarify the documentation required to certify a change of name. 

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URL http://www.sc.edu/policies/acaf306.html