Our History: 1910 to Present

In 1910, only 10 colleges in the country had enrollments of more than 5,000 students, two-year colleges were still in their infancy, and statewide systems were not even in existence. There were no accredited institutions and standards and practices for higher education institutions varied greatly. Institutions could, and often did, call themselves colleges when, in fact, they lacked the necessary facilities for college work.

It was in this setting that 24 professionals (15 college registrars and nine college accountants) met to talk about how they were performing their duties. Out of that meeting, two national associations emerged: the American Association of Collegiate Registrars (AACR) and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).

The most important topics and questions discussed at that first meeting are familiar to the profession today. Topics such as the duties and functions of a college registrar, the form and the content of an academic transfer from one college to another, the best and fairest method of reckoning the relative standing of students when the letter system of grading is used, and how to get in touch with prospective students were all issues of great concern to the early AACR members.

For its first 30 years, AACR was primarily a convention tool that enabled members to meet. Its first publication, the Bulletin, which each quarter reported on the activities in regional associations and committees, became the Journal in 1937. The successful Journal was followed by other successful publications. Very early in the life of the association, members began querying each other regarding the credit to be allowed from various institutions. The Guide to Credit Given, now known asTransfer Credit Practices of Designated Educational Institutions, grew out of this exchange of information.

With the increased importance of the admissions officer in recruiting, evaluating, and admitting students, the association voted in 1949 to change its name from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO).

Later, in 1964, AACRAO entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide evaluations of foreign education. In the late 1980s, usaid decided to move their entire evaluation efforts to AACRAO and the AACRAO-AID Office was established in 1990. Within a few years, AACRAO became a widely recognized source for information on foreign education issues. The AACRAO-AID Office was transformed into the Office of International Education Services, which now provides a wide range of services to AACRAO members and the public, including a foreign credential evaluation service.

Since its founding, the association has grown from an organization of 15 members to a large international organization representing 10,000 professionals and approximately 2,500 accredited institutions of higher education. AACRAO represents institutions in every part of the higher education community, from large public institutions to small private liberal arts colleges. The association currently publishes more than 100 different titles and attendance at its 2005 annual meeting in New York reached a record 3,380.