If your college already has a page on Shalyam, your admission office can claim it with one official document, and your office's own data submissions then carry a stronger label than an outside contributor's. This post explains exactly what proof is accepted, what a reviewer checks, and what changes once your claim is approved.
Every college on Shalyam gets a public registry page, built from government records and from facts that students, parents and contributors submit with proof. An admission office that has not claimed its page can only watch that page from the outside. Claiming it gives your office a direct, documented way to confirm or correct what's shown — and the confirmations you submit are treated differently from an anonymous contributor's.
Summary
- Claiming is done from your own college's page, at
/colleges/, and is reviewed by a human before it's approved — it is not instant. It costs nothing — unlike paid "claim your school" listing products elsewhere, there is no fee or subscription./claim/ - You can verify in five ways: an official institutional e-mail address, your institution's domain, a government document, an accreditation certificate, or an affiliation letter.
- Proof documents are uploaded as files: PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPG, JPEG or PNG, up to 10 MB each, up to 5 files per claim.
- Once a reviewer approves your claim, your college gets a linked account with management access to its registry record, and data your office submits afterward can be approved with the College-confirmed label — a stronger label than what an anonymous contributor's submission can get on its own.
- An unclaimed college's page can still carry accurate data, but only after two independent contributors agree, or a reviewer personally checks a contributor's proof document.
Why claim the page at all
Shalyam already shows your college's government-registry facts (ownership, affiliation, district, state) and crowd-sourced facts about fees, admissions, scholarships, hostel and placements that students and parents have submitted with proof. If your office has never claimed the page, you have no direct way to tell Shalyam "this fee figure is out of date" or "here is this year's placement report" other than going through the same public contribution form everyone else uses. Claiming the page is what gives your office a recognised, documented identity on the platform, instead of being just one more anonymous visitor.
Step 1 — Find your college's claim page
Every published college page has a claim link at /colleges/ (for example, https://www.shalyam.com/colleges/your-college-slug/claim/). If the college is already verified, the claim page itself tells you so and sends you back to the public page — so check the page first if you're not sure whether someone in your office already claimed it.
Step 2 — Pick one of the five verification methods
The claim form asks you to choose how you'll prove you represent the institution. There are exactly five accepted methods:
| Method | What it proves |
|---|---|
| Official email verification | You hold an address on the institution's own official e-mail domain |
| Domain verification | You control the institution's own website domain |
| Government document upload | A government-issued document naming the institution |
| Accreditation certificate | Your institution's accreditation certificate (e.g. NAAC, NBA) |
| Affiliation letter | A letter from your affiliating university confirming the institution |
Alongside the method, the form also collects a contact name, designation, department and phone number for the person claiming the page, plus any additional context you want a reviewer to see.
Step 3 — Upload your proof document the right way
If your chosen method needs a file (government document, accreditation certificate or affiliation letter), the upload has fixed rules, enforced by the same code on every claim:
- Accepted file types: PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPG, JPEG, PNG.
- Maximum file size: 10 MB per file.
- Maximum files per claim: 5.
A file outside these types or over the size limit is rejected before it's even attached to your claim, so it's worth checking your scan or photo against this list before you start the form, rather than partway through.
Step 4 — Wait for a reviewer to check your claim
Submitting the form does not verify your college instantly. Your claim goes into a review queue, and a reviewer checks the method and document you provided before approving or rejecting it. Only after a reviewer approves the claim does your college's registry record move to verified status.
What changes once your claim is approved
This is the part that matters most for an admission office deciding whether claiming is worth the effort. Two things happen the moment a reviewer approves your claim:
- Your office gets a linked account with management access to the college's registry record — if nobody in your office already had one, Shalyam provisions one for the person who filed the claim, tied to your institution.
- Your office's own future data submissions can carry the College-confirmed label. Shalyam's reviewer queue has three possible labels for a confirmed fact on a college page:
| Who submitted the proof, and what a reviewer did | Label shown on the page |
|---|---|
| A reviewer personally checked a contributor's proof document | Verified with source (links to the proof, or shows "Document on file") |
| Your claimed college's own admission office submitted it, and a reviewer checked it | College-confirmed |
| Two different independent contributors reported the same fact, with no document | Contributor-reported |
The College-confirmed label is only available to submissions that come through a claimed college's own dashboard account — a reviewer cannot apply it to a submission from an unclaimed college or an outside contributor, whatever the content says. In other words, claiming your page is what unlocks the stronger label for your own office's data; without it, the same fact submitted by your staff is treated the same as any other unverified contributor's and still needs either a reviewer's personal document check or a second independent contributor agreeing before it's shown as confirmed at all.
What an unclaimed college's page looks like by comparison
If your college has not claimed its page, that does not mean the page is empty or wrong — government-registry facts (ownership, affiliation, district, state) are already shown, sourced from the public registry import, and students or parents can still submit fee, admission, scholarship, hostel or placement facts with their own proof. But none of that data can carry the College-confirmed label, because that label is reserved for submissions that a reviewer can trace back to your office specifically, through the claim. Everything else either needs a reviewer to personally check a document, or two independent contributors to agree before it counts.
A one-page checklist for your office
| Step | What to do | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Open the claim page | Go to /colleges/ for your college | Your college's slug (from its existing Shalyam URL) |
| 2. Choose a verification method | Official email, domain, government document, accreditation certificate, or affiliation letter | Whichever one your office can prove fastest |
| 3. Fill in a contact person | Name, designation, department, phone | One named staff member, not a shared inbox |
| 4. Upload proof (if the method needs a file) | PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPG, JPEG or PNG; 10 MB max per file; 5 files max | A scan or clear photo of the document |
| 5. Submit and wait | A reviewer checks the claim before it's approved | Patience — this is a human review step, not instant |
| 6. After approval | Submit fee, admission, scholarship, hostel or placement facts through your college's dashboard | Your office's own current disclosures or notices as proof |
Browse colleges on Shalyam to see this in practice.
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