Schools already paying CARS or MMI for placement verification know the invoice. What is worth asking before the next one arrives is what that invoice actually covers, what ACCSC requires versus what a vendor adds on top, and whether every graduate on the list genuinely needs a phone call. Here is how third-party verification works, an honest look at where CARS, MMI, Auxicent, and Prentus each fit, and when you still need a vendor that calls employers directly.
What does ACCSC's third-party verification rule require Under ACCSC's Guidelines for Independent Third-Party Employment Verification, initial and renewal applicants must engage an independent third party to verify the employment data used in the on-site evaluation. That third party must select at least a 50 percent sample of graduates classified Employed in the Field on each program's Graduation and Employment chart, cannot alter the sample once it is drawn, and must obtain verification from the employer or the graduate, verbally or in writing, working independently of the school.
What third-party verification actually requires
The rule is more specific than most schools realize. Per the same ACCSC guidelines, the vendor a school hires has to sign an attestation confirming it has no ownership or other service relationship with the school, and it has to describe its own methodology for both selecting the sample and running the verification. Results get sorted into four categories, verified as correct, verified but different, unable to verify, and verified as not correct, each with its own specific definition tied to employer match, start date within 45 days, and job title alignment. That level of documentation is exactly what a phone-verification vendor is built to produce, and it is a different job from simply finding out where a graduate works in the first place.
According to ACCSC's Independent Third-Party Employment Verification FAQ, this verification is only required once per renewal cycle, at the Application for Renewal or Initial Accreditation, though a school can choose to run it more often on its own.
CARS, MMI, Auxicent, and Prentus, side by side
| Criterion | CARS | MMI | Auxicent | Prentus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How contact is made | Phone, email, and fax to employers and graduates | Telephone, email, fax, or direct mail to employers, telephone or email to graduates | Confirms records the school already submitted, directly with graduates and employers | An automatic monthly scan of public sources, plus built-in email and SMS surveys sent to the graduate |
| What evidence is produced | Recorded calls available to the school, time and date stamped email correspondence | Detailed reports through a password-protected portal, calls recorded with employer consent | Reports, a letter of attestation, and other documents as required by the accreditor | A source link for every graduate record, plus survey responses collected from the graduate |
| Accreditor recognition | Used by ACCSC for independent employment data verification, approved by ACCET | Serves schools accredited by ABHES, ACCET, COE, NACCAS, and ACCSC, plus regionally accredited institutions | Not mandated by ACCSC by their own description, positioned to meet ACCSC requirements | Not an ACCSC-recognized independent third-party verifier |
| Who does the work | CARS specialists conduct every employer and graduate contact | MMI staff conduct every call and manage the reporting cycle | Auxicent acts as the independent auditor once the school submits records | The scan and AI review run automatically, school staff confirm each result |
| Turnaround | Not stated on the vendor's site | Not stated on the vendor's site | Weekly, monthly, or quarterly, matching how often the school submits records | Monthly, ongoing |
| What it does not do | Their page does not describe an automated scan of public records, verification runs through direct employer and graduate outreach | Their page does not describe an automated scan of public records either, verification runs through direct calls and mail | Verifies records the school already found, their page does not describe Auxicent identifying new placements on its own | The scan finds and documents public employment records with a source link per graduate, it is not itself an accreditor-approved third-party verifier, and confirmations with the employer or graduate still happen through the built-in email and SMS surveys and staff follow-up |
When a school still needs a phone-verification vendor
ACCSC's rule is specific about who can do this work. Verification has to come from the employer or the graduate, obtained verbally or in writing, by a party that is independent from the school and signs an attestation to that effect. That is a fair requirement, and it is exactly what CARS, MMI, and vendors like Auxicent are built to deliver, with the recorded calls, timestamped correspondence, and formal disclosures ACCSC asks to see in the Self-Evaluation Report. If your school has an initial or renewal application coming up, that 50 percent sample of Employed in Field graduates still needs to go through one of these vendors, or one like them that meets ACCSC's independence tests. An automated scan does not substitute for that piece, and it should not be sold as if it does.
For Compliance and Career Services Teams
See what a scan documents before a vendor starts calling
Run a free outcomes scan on 25 graduates and see the source for every result, so you know how many placements are already documented before your next verification cycle starts.
How a scan narrows what a vendor has to call
The two jobs are not the same, but they feed each other. Finding out where a graduate works in the first place, and getting that placement onto the Graduation and Employment chart with a real employer name, title, and start date, is a separate task from the vendor's required sample verification. A monthly automatic scan handles the first task continuously, so fewer graduates end up as an unreachable name on a spreadsheet by the time your Annual Report is due. Prentus runs an automatic monthly LinkedIn scan plus dozens of third-party sources that verify employment, and AI reviews those sources and surfaces what it believes are legitimate outcomes for your staff to confirm, backed by customizable email and SMS surveys that collect follow-up from graduates automatically.
None of that replaces the vendor's independent 50 percent sample verification, which still has to happen through a party like CARS or MMI. What it does is give your own staff a documented source for more graduates before that sample gets pulled, so fewer entries on the chart are built on a guess, and whatever the vendor ends up calling to confirm already has a stronger paper trail behind it. See how this fits with alumni outcome tracking and gainful employment reporting.
If you want to see how many of your graduates already have a documented public source before your next verification cycle, run a free scan on 25 graduates.
