FERPA

Parents often call the university to check in with the faculty, staff, and administrators that interact with their students on a daily basis. To your surprise, you may be greeted with a quick reference to something called FERPA before being told that the information you seek cannot be released. To avoid such frustration and confusion, it is important for parents to familiarize themselves with this Federal law so that they can discuss it with their student if there is a need to release academic, conduct, or other relevant information from the university.

From the Office of the Registrar website:

FERPA (Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act) is

• a federal law designed to protect the privacy of education records,
• to establish the right of students to inspect and review their education records, and
• to provide guidelines for the protection of inaccurate and misleading data through informal and formal hearings.
• Be sure to look over the confidentality of student records section so you know what rights students have under FERPA.

Office of the Registrar follows FERPA guidlines, which limits the information that parents can access without consent of their student.

• Be aware when a student reaches the age of 18 or begins attending a post secondary institution regardless of age, FERPA rights transfer to the student.
• Students can give a parent(s), Spouse, other family member(s), or any third party of their choosing access to their non-directory information (grades, GPA, etc.) by filling out the student permission form.