FERPA
The Buckley Amendment
What is FERPA?





Family
Educational
Rights and
Privacy
Act
What is FERPA?






Comprehensively regulates student records
Applicable to both public and private schools
Affects elementary, secondary, and higher education
Compliance is a condition of receiving federal funds
Provides rights to parents of minor pre-college
students, adults, and college students
Provides notification to parents and students
annually of their rights
What Rights?
1)
Access to school records
2)
Confidentiality of records
3)
Opportunity to challenge accuracy
What are School Records?
FERPA deals specifically with the education records of
students. Education records are:
1) directly related to a student
2) maintained by an institution or a party
acting for the institution
3) can be in any media: handwritten,
print, type, film, computer screen, etc.
What are Education Records?
Education Records are Not:
1) sole possession records (personal notes
which are not shared with others)
2) law enforcement unit records
3) employment records
4) medical records
5) post-attendance records
What do you think?
Joe Student is assigned to Annie Advisor. At one point
during the year, he asks if he may view his education
record, including everything Annie has written about
him. He is concerned about what personal
information Annie has included. Does FERPA allow
him to access his records?
A year later, Joe is assigned to Bill Advisor who
“inherited” Joe (and his record) from Annie. If Joe
asks to see his record again, would there be any
limitation?
What do you think - Resolution
As a general rule, Joe has access to all personally
identifiable information that a school official of an
institution maintains on him unless that information is
not subject to FERPA. This does not appear to be
the case here. Even advisor’s notes are education
records since they were made in conjunction with
another person (the student). Therefore, they are
not “sole possession” notes.
What does Sole Possession Mean?
What is an example of a “sole possession” note? Let’s
say that Annie has Joe in one of her classes. She
writes a note about his behavior in class and places
the note in her personal “Joe” folder that only she (or
a temporary substitute) has access to. That note,
since it was made as a “memory aid” and is
accessible only to herself and a temporary substitute
in a file that only they have access to, is an example
of a “sole possession” note.
What about confidentiality?
Information contained in an education record
that generally would not be considered
harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed
is called Directory Information.
Directory Information
Directory Information at Muhlenberg includes the following:







Name, college mail box and permanent address, telephone
number, e-mail address
Class year
Status (full-time/part-time)
Major field of study, dates of attendance
Degrees and/or awards received
Participation in officially recognized activities and sports
Weight and heights of members of athletic teams
Directory Information
Directory Information can NEVER be a student’s







Social security number
Berg ID
Citizenship
Gender
Religious preference
Grades
GPA
Public Notice
FERPA requires institutions to give public
notice to students of the categories of
personally identifiable information which the
institution has designated as directory
information.
Students must be given a specific period of
time within which they must inform
institutions, in writing, that directory
information is to be withheld.
What do you think?
Every semester the registrar prints a list of
students who have made Dean’s List and
forwards it to the academic dean. Only one
copy is printed, and the dean is the only one
who receives it.
Would the dean be allowed to publish all the
names in the local newspaper if there is no
written permission from the students to do
so?
What do you think - Resolution
The Institutional FERPA policy identifies what items of
information the institution considers directory
information. If the institution did not include “awards
received” (in this case, honors) in its list of items
considered “directory information”, the institution
would have to obtain each student’s written
permission before releasing the information to the
media.
What about Parents?
Parents have access to student records if their child is under the
age of 18 and not attending a postsecondary institution.
Parents of children 18 or over and/or attending a postsecondary
institution:
may obtain directory information
may obtain non-directory information only at the discretion
of the institution and after it has been determined that their
child is legally dependent (usually requires an Income Tax
Form).
may obtain non-directory information by obtaining a signed
consent from their child.
What do you think?
Mary Student is a junior in high school,
seventeen years old, and decides to take
advantage of the joint high school/college
enrollment option. She is using the
coursework for both high school and college
credit. Should the university release grade
information to Mary’s parents?
What do you think – Resolution
FERPA is clear that a student has rights to her
education records once she begins attending an
institution of higher education, regardless of her age.
Therefore, Mary’s parents should be treated like any
other parents of a typical college student. You may
release non-directory information to them by either
obtaining Mary’s written permission or by having
them show that she is legally their dependent.
What about professors and
confidentiality?
Legitimate Educational Interest
FERPA allows institutions to define. A common
definition is as follows:
“The demonstrated need to know by those officials of
an institution who act in the student’s educational
interest, including faculty, administration, clerical and
professional employees, and other persons,
including student employees or agents, who manage
student record information.”
What do you think?
While you are strolling around campus at the end of the
semester, after grades are processed, you come
across a group of graded term papers on the table
outside of one faculty member’s office. The
departmental secretary was told by the faculty
member before he left for his annual holiday cruise
in the Caribbean that some students may come by to
pick up their term papers. He told the secretary
where they were located and went on his way. Is
this a FERPA violation?
What do you think - Resolution
Leaving personally identifiable, graded papers
unattended for students to pick through is no
different from posting grades in the hallway.
If these papers contain “personally
identifiable” information (name), then leaving
them unattended for anyone to see is a
violation of FERPA if the instructor has not
obtained the written permission of each
student to do so.
What about records that are wrong?
Students have the right to request amendment
of records they consider to be wrong.
Institutions are not required to change the
record, but there must be a hearing. If a
record is not changed, a student may include
in the record a statement explaining the
situation.
Why should we comply with FERPA?
It’s the Law!
FERPA legislation has the power to revoke
federal funds to schools for proven FERPA
violations.
Do you know what to do?


Educational records are all around us. Each
of us needs to do his/her part to keep this
information secure and protect students’
rights.
If there is any question in your mind
regarding any request for education record
information, it is always better to err on the
conservative side and ask for guidance.
Ask someone




Office of the Registrar
(484) 664-3190
Family Policy Compliance Office
www.ed.gov/offices/OM/fpco