Removing surname on degree

[Kai Vanuffelen]

I had a customer who brought in a degree of Victoria University in Wellington with an unusual request.
If I could scrape away her surname on the degree, since she just got divorced from her husband. She wanted to have her maiden surname put in place. My initial thought was, why not contact the university, pay some money and have a new degree issued.
It turns out, that this university can only re-issue degrees in the name of when the person registered for the final exam.
Has anyone ever encountered this minor problem before?

 

[Ellen Collins MCPF]

I would be tempted to put an overlay of her new name. I think it would be less obtrusive than scraping off and attempting to re-letter.

 

[Mike Labbe]

Could something like this be done digitally? Scan it in at high res, edit in photoshop, re-print.

This would preserve the original, but some things (such as a seal of foil) would be troublesome. It depends on the piece, I suppose.

Mike

 

[Gregory K. Norris CPF]

I would opt for doing it digitally, and keep the original in the package. In the US, altering a degree, particularly a professional degree could have serious consequences.

Unless the institution that granted the degree has changed all of their records, it can create real problems with credentialing, etc.

 

[Jerry Feig CPF]

As Greg has commented as to it being a "legal document", I would not digitally alter this "modern" degree of a working professional.

I would recommend a "cover over" name on the face of the glass to avoid any implication of altering this document. Vanity is one thing.... changing a document is something else.