FERPA

If your job involves working with students and/or their educational records, you must be familiar with FERPA and the guidelines provided in this web site. Penalties may result in noncompliance of FERPA laws.

What is FERPA?

FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is the Federal law that provides four specific rights to students regarding their educational records:

Privacy – student’s right to (or not to) the disclosure of his/her educational records.
Access - student’s right to see the educational information that the institution has recorded.
Appeal – student’s right to seek amendment to those records if determined incorrect or false.
Complaint -the right to file a comlaint to the Dept of Education concerning an alleged failure by the institution to comply with FERPA.

Examples of educational records include:

Student’s personal information (social security number, student id, birth date)
Enrollment records (class rosters, grade rosters, admission application)
Grades (transcripts, test scores)
Forms (withdrawal, degree application, change of grade)

Some information may be released to an appropriate third party under specific conditions. This is considered directory information.

Directory information is defined as only the following:

Whether or not the student is currently enrolled;
The school or division in which the student is or was enrolled and his/her class/year;
Dates of enrollment including full-time or part-time status;
Degree or degrees earned (if any), date of degree, major area of concentration and academic honors received;
Awards of merit and participation in officially recognized activities and sports;
Address and telephone number; and
Electronic mail address.

If you do not want to be included in the campus directory, what do I do?

Each student has the option of choosing 1) to be included in the online student directory or 2) to be excluded from the online student directory. The University default is that directory information may be included in these media. Click here to print a Campus Directory Suppression Form on which you can indicate your preference. Return this completed form to the Office of the Registrar, 100 Boisfeuillet Jones Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.

Additional information regarding the Student’s right to Access and Appeal may be found at the following link: Disclosure and Hearing.

If you are required to sign a Request for Data Access form please use the FERPA tutorial and take the self assessment to ensure your knowledge before signing the form. The University Policy Statement on Confidentiality and Release of Information provides additional information and details of the FERPA regulations. Any information released must be done in compliance with these policies and guidelines.

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