As post-secondary application season approaches, families in British Columbia are being reminded of the importance of securing official transcripts from the StudentTranscripts Service (STS) — the provincial system responsible for issuing high school transcripts and certificates.
Unlike report cards provided by local schools, official transcripts and graduation certificates are provincial documents and must be ordered directly through the Government of British Columbia’s online service. These official records are required by most colleges and universities as part of the admissions process.
A critical first step in the transcript request process is ensuring your child knows their Personal Education Number (PEN) — a unique nine-digit identifier assigned to students in the BC education system. This number is required to set up an account on the STS platform and is essential for ordering and sending official transcripts.
Parents and students can find the PEN in several places, including:
The MyEdBC student or Family Portal, if available,
Report cards or previous official documents, or
By contacting the student’s school office before breaks when offices are open.
If you are a Grade 12 student or the parent of one, please make sure the student’s Personal Education Number (PEN) is written down and safely stored before the end of the school year in June.
Once registered in the STS using a Basic BCeID account, students and former students can view and order their transcripts online, and authorize them to be sent electronically to post-secondary institutions.
Schools and district offices do not issue official transcripts. For more details on ordering transcripts and certificates, visit the Province of BC’s Transcripts and Certificates page: Order transcripts and certificates.
For questions, please contact studenttranscripts@gov.bc.ca