Understanding FERPA & Educational Records Disclosure

Something else to investigate locally: the percentage of students who typically give consent to the university to share educational records with their parents. You might find that this is something done almost as a matter of course so that a high percentage of students (maybe 80%) have signed the necessary forms so that their parents *can* get their grade information.Of course, just because *most* students have signed those forms doesn’t mean that *your* student has, so you’ll need to check with your registrar.

I’m confused about what is meant by “student records.” If you use, say, Google Docs, to keep your grades the information has, in effect, left the campus. Do schools interpret FERPA so strictly that these data cannot be entrusted to non-university vendors?

The key point here is that the axis for release of information (ROI) of student identifyable records is not based on the student’s age, but on the student’s tax status: dependent – mom & dad can look, not declared by anyone else – student records are sealed to parents. Although you didn’t mention this, the FERPA ROI loophole extends to campus based health clinics. In this case, parents wanting to see if their daugther had visited the school clinic to be prescribed birth control pills – because they claim her as a dependent, the records are (reluctantly) shared even against the student’s wishes. This is a case of one federal law: FERPA in direct conflict with another: HIPAA.

Regarding release of health records — shouldn’t the duties of a health professional to protect the confidentiality of his/her relationship with the patient override strict adherance to FERPA ROI? Other reproductive health services refuse to release information to parents, or even require parental consent. Why should student health services be any different?

Regarding #3: Some time ago, our administration was talking about dispatching our email to gmail; they started talking a different tune when I pointed out that some of our email is FERPA sensitive.Incidentally, here, the orders are NO ONE gets information; in particular, “helicopter parents” are quoted the law.

Athletes at our institution must sign a document waiving their FERPA rights, or something to that effect. I have had coaches call me and ask about the performance of “their” athletes. It would be one thing if they were doing so for the educational benefit of the students, in which case the information could be shared without the students’ consent, but I doubt very much that the coaches are interested in helping the students academically. And while there is a fleet of peer mentors for athletes who sometimes inquire about students’ performance or course requirements, I suspect they are doing the athletes’ work rather than tutoring them. I too have received the phone calls from angry parents demanding to know why I would fail their child in my introductory course given that their child is so smart, on financial aid, not majoring in my field (philosophy), etc. I follow the advice of Professor Khan above and direct them to the administration. On several occasions I have asked the student in question, “Do you really want your parents to know you cheated/plagiarized in an *ethics* course?”

Very interesting and very useful. Confusing, indeed. As an instructor I have long used the advice given here to stand my ground and release no student information via phone, email, or in person and simply direct requests to the Registrar’s office. It’s dangerous to play lawyer even when I *think* I understand the rules. Above my pay grade.Prof Hacker and CHE editors: This and other pieces would be much easier to read and understand with correct grammar, i.e., agreement in number (singular-plural) or whatever the English folks call it. Examples: “…the student was extremely unhappy with the grade I had given them” and “…faculty aren’t legally required to disclose student records to parents if the student in question is under the age of 18 (as long as they are attending university).” As long as whom is attending–faculty? Parents? THE student? Having lost the meaning or references of ‘them’ and ‘their’ I stumbled over other subsequent sentences and became distracted. Good job overall, but please watch the small but important communications elements. [I probably misused "whom" above and butchered some other sentences. See, maybe we all have problems.] Many thanks.

I spent a good chunk of my day yesterday reading FERPA to decipher what information about a student could be transferred from one institution to another (in the case of a summer research program) and found that HIPPA and FERPA can both be overridden to ensure student safety. This was brought up in the context of the Virginia Tech shootings. We can apparently share privileged health information with the parents if the student appears to be a danger to her/himself or others on campus. As a program coordinator for summer research programs where students visit host institutions and work with mentors in labs, I found that as long as students sign a form acknowledging who will be receiving the information and that the information is being shared to better their educational experiences, it is permissible to share information, such as work that was done and evaluation reports. But, you also need to keep a record of who is receiving the information. In our case, its better to just let the students share what they will with their home institutions.

To the person who discussed keeping grades in Google Docs (pjsamson) realize that if Google gets hacked or releases your documents, YOU have violated FERPA. Our university classifies data types and protected data (type 1), cannot be transmitted electronically except by secure (encrypted) transmission. Your prior good luck does not mean continued good luck. Just my $0.02.

At the college level, the only person who ever has a *right* to see or hear about a student’s education records is the student him- or herself. You may, but are not required to, disclose information about a student to the student’s parents if (a) they claimed the student as a dependent on their most recent federal tax return (which you must verify, either by obtaining a copy of that portion of the return or asking the student), (b) there is a health or safety threat involving the student, (c) you have found the student in violation of your drug or alcohol rules, and the student is under 21 (both at the time of the violation *and* of the disclosure), (d) one of FERPA’s many other exceptions applies (most of which typically aren’t relevant in the parent context), (e) what you are disclosing is personal knowledge, not recorded information (FERPA is a records statute, not an information statute; it applies to records and information from records, not to information generally), or (f) the student consents. And, even with the student’s consent, you are not legally required to disclose information to parents; it is always entirely within your discretion and best judgment whether to do so, at least as far as FERPA is concerned.In my view, the best way to approach this is to rely on f, by informing both the parents and the students about FERPA, providing them with a consent form should they choose to use it (or, in the case of the parents, should they choose to trade signatures — one on a check for one on the form . . .), let them make whatever decision they think best for their family, and then follow their wishes. That way, you can get out of the middle of what can sometimes be awkward and messy family dynamics. (In emergencies, you’ll probably still want to inform parents regardless.) Boston University is one good example of this approach, and, in addition, it has created a web portal containing basic grade and financial account information to which students may grant their parents direct access, taking the institution completely out of the mix: http://www.bu.edu/reg/ferpa/index.htmlSteve McDonald

As a former student affairs administrator (specifically in residence life and student conduct), I found this article to provide a cogent summary of FERPA in relation to student grades. The various comments and clarifications have expanded on the original column to some degree. Yet, I caution anyone not intimately familiar with all of FERPA’s provisions against applying grading/teaching issues to *all* sorts of student records. FERPA, for example, permits sharing of information within the institution to those who have an educational need to know (e.g., student affairs to/from faculty, coaches to/from faculty. There is also a very important exception (as has been noted) regarding safety and well-being. I support advice previously given: check with your FERPA administrator (usually in the Registrar’s Office) before releasing information. (The statute is so complicated that at the annual convention of the Association for Student Conduct Administrators there are sessions *each year* with a rep from the US Family Compliance Office, which oversees FERPA compliance.)Finally, don’t let this statute paralyze you. There is no “private right of action” under FERPA, meaning that only institutions, not individuals, can be litigated for a violation.

FERPA came up at a recent meeting as something to be feared, as you point out Ethan, and I doodled this: http://www.twitpic.com/17rts7. It’s too bad that FERPA paralyzes so many faculty. Thanks for starting a great conversation here, Ethan, that should go a long way towards helping faculty better understand this landscape.

An excellent discussion…
Ferpa can be very confusing at times and to make it worse, amends are made every so often. The best thing to do is contact your local registrar’s office when in doubt. Put the burden on them to give you the correct answer. After all, your funding is on the line, not to mention possible personal lawsuits.