Tuition changes yearly. Entry requirements change by intake. Programs get closed, opened, renamed. A school profile without a source and verification date becomes, within six months, something nobody can confirm is still accurate — not even whoever wrote it.
Two data fields that change everything
Source shows where the information came from: the school’s official website, the education regulator, or materials provided by an intermediary. These three sources carry different levels of reliability, and readers have the right to know which one they are relying on.
Verification date shows the last time someone actually opened the source to check it. Not the publication date — the verification date.
Missing either of the two, a profile can still be read but cannot be used to make a decision.
Three situations that show why this matters
A family plans their finances around a tuition figure they read. If that figure is two years old, the plan is wrong from the start — and they only find out after submitting the application.
A consulting agency recommends a program to a student. If the program has stopped admitting students, the agency’s credibility takes the hit first, even though the fault lies with the source.
A Vietnamese school selects a partner for a joint program based on accreditation status. Accreditation has an expiry; outdated information can lead to a long-term commitment with a partner that no longer qualifies.
How to record it well enough to be usable
Every important piece of information — tuition, intakes, entry requirements, accreditation status — should come with a source link and the most recent check date. It does not need to be long; one line is enough.
For information with no official source available, the honest approach is to state that clearly rather than leave it blank. “Not yet verified against an official source” is a valid answer, and far more useful than a figure of unknown origin.
A reasonable re-check cadence
Tuition and intakes should be checked once a year, ahead of the admissions season. Accreditation status and international enrollment authorization should be checked whenever a change is announced, or at least every two years.
More important than the cadence is recording that it was checked. A profile with an old verification date is still better than one with no date at all, because the reader knows how cautious to be.
What this says about the data provider
A school profile that records its source and date is a sign the provider accepts being held to scrutiny. A profile with nothing but attractive numbers, no source, no date, leaves the reader no way to tell information apart from advertising.
This is the difference between data and sales material.
Next Steps
If your organization keeps school profiles its own way, a thirty-minute session can review whether every entry has a source and verification date, and identify where additions are most needed.
