Verified Credentials is one of the more respectable names a program can land on: founded in 1984, healthcare-focused, and lately winning schools that are leaving the former CastleBranch platform — Mercy College of Health Sciences, for example, tells students plainly: those who began Spring 2026 or earlier use CastleBranch, and those beginning Summer 2026 or later use Verified Credentials. If you are evaluating them, you are already ahead of programs sleepwalking through the DISA consolidation. But before you sign, get a second quote — because the published numbers leave room underneath.
The published price picture
Stack the rest of the compliance bill and the gap widens: our compliance tracking portal runs $30 per student with unlimited free admin and faculty seats, drug screens are from $25/student at on-site campus events, depending on cohort size, or $40 anywhere in the Quest network, and N95 fit testing is $25–$35 per student on-site. No enterprise implementation fee, no long-term contract.
Where the models genuinely differ
- Focus. Verified Credentials is a background screening company that also serves students; its catalog spans corporate hiring, contractor vetting, and volunteer checks. Drug Free Schools has done one thing since 1995: clinical compliance for health science programs. Our review process is built to know why a titer is not the same as a vaccine dose — because that is all we do.
- Hands on campus. We physically show up. On-site drug screening and N95 fit-testing events collect an entire cohort in one visit — strongest across the Southeast and Midwest, with the nationwide Quest network covering everyone else. A screening portal cannot rent a conference room and test a whole cohort in one visit.
- Review with a clock on it. Every uploaded document is reviewed within 24 hours, with specific rejection notes (“dose 2 date missing — upload page 2”), not a generic red X.
- Owner-level accountability. Family-owned means escalation is one phone call deep. The person who configured your portal answers your call.
Questions to ask any screening vendor before fall
Ask both of us these, in writing: What is the all-in per-student cost for our exact package? Who reviews immunization documents, and what is their turnaround commitment? Can you run an on-site collection event on our campus? What happens to our data and our students mid-cohort if we leave? If a vendor hedges on any of them, that is your answer.
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Set up in about 5 minutes with your program’s requirements. No meeting needed.
Support 7 days a week by phone, text or email, for students and school staff: call or text (901) 517-7450 · josh.smith@drugfreeschools.net
Why programs switch to Drug Free Schools (1:51)
A short video recorded in the live portal: every upload reviewed within 24 hours, rejections that say exactly what to fix, phone scanning, secure links for clinical sites, and $30 per student, one time.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Verified Credentials?
A Minnesota-based background screening company founded in 1984 that also offers student requirement management for nursing and health science programs. Several schools have adopted it, including some moving off the former CastleBranch platform.
What do students pay with Verified Credentials?
It varies by school package. As one published example, Arkansas State University's College of Nursing and Health Professions lists background check costs between $50 and $100 per student.
How is Drug Free Schools different?
Employment screening is a side of Verified Credentials' house; health science programs are our whole house. We combine $30/student compliance tracking, $35–$70 Checkr background checks, drug testing (from $25 on campus, $40–$55 at Quest), and N95 fit testing — with every document reviewed within 24 hours and no long-term contracts.
Can we run background checks and drug tests through one vendor?
Yes — that's the point. One portal, one invoice, one support line for tracking, background checks, drug testing, and fit testing.
How fast is setup?
Portals go live 24–48 hours after we receive your requirements; most programs complete a switch within a single break between terms.
CastleBranch, DISA, DISA Healthcare, Complio, American DataBank, Bridges, Verified Credentials, Viewpoint Screening, Med+Proctor, Magnus Health, Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, and Checkr are trademarks of their respective owners. Drug Free Schools is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by these companies. Third-party prices, policies, and events referenced on this page come from public announcements and published school and vendor materials as of July 2026 and may have changed; verify current terms with the vendor. Nothing on this page is legal or medical advice.