Transcript Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: An Introduction

FERPA:
An introduction to the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act
• Presented by
• Jennifer Thorpe – Assoc. Registrar
• Deanne Jackson - Registrar
Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act of 1974 (FERPA)
A Federal law designed to protect the
privacy of educational records, to
establish the rights of students to inspect
and review their education records, and
to provide guidelines for the correction of
inaccurate and misleading data through
informal and formal hearings.
Who is covered by FERPA?
• Any individual who is or has been in
attendance at an institution, in person or
by correspondence, regardless of their
age or status in regard to parental
dependency.
Primary Rights of Students Under
FERPA
• To inspect and review their educational
records.
• To seek to amend their educational
records.
• To have some control over the release of
information about their educational
records.
What if a student wants to inspect
a record?
• The institution must comply within 45
days.
• Generally required to give copies only if
failure to do so would effectively deny
access, such as if a student does not live
within commuting distance
• Do NOT destroy records if a request for
access is pending!
What can I release?
• Directory information may be shared,
unless a student has asked that it not be.
• We flag students in Joe’SS (the window
shade) who do not want their information
released to the public.
• If you encounter this flag, say, “I’m sorry,
but I have no information to release on
that individual.” Do NOT say anything
that indicates that this person is a
Missouri S&T student.
Missouri S&T’s Directory
Information is (Same for all UM system):
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Name
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Address
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Telephone listing
Email address
Major field of study
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Dates of attendance
Student Level
Degrees and awards
received
Enrollment status
(i.e. full/part time)
The most recent
education agency or
institution attended.
Participation in officially
recognized sports
What can I not release?
• Social security number
• Student number
• Race/ethnicity/nationality
• Gender
• Student Class Schedule
• Grades
• Other “personally identifiable” information
without written consent.
S&T’s policy regarding release of
information
• In accordance with S&T’s FERPA
policies, you may release directory
information if the student has not asked
that it be withheld.
Are there any exceptions to the
prior consent requirement?
Institutions may release information from
student records without prior consent to:
 School officials with legitimate
educational interest (as defined by
institution within FERPA guidelines)
 To Federal, State, and local authorities
involving an audit or evaluation of
compliance with education programs
Exceptions to prior consent
continued…
• In connection with financial aid
• To organizations conducting studies of or on
behalf of educational institutions (provided the
institutions research board has cleared the
research.)
• To accrediting agencies
• To comply with a judicial order or subpoena
• In health or safety emergencies
• Directory information (as described before)
• To the student
Is everyone at an institution a
“school official”?
• School officials are individuals employed by the
institution
• A person serving on an institutional governing
board
• A person employed by or under contract to the
institution to perform a specific task such as an
attorney or auditor
• Just because an individual is a school official
does NOT mean that he or she has access to
any student’s record at any time for any reason.
What is an “educational need to
know”?
• Educational need to know, or legitimate
educational interest, is when the official
needs the information to:
– Perform a task related to a student’s education
– Perform a task related to the discipline of a student
– Provide a service or benefit relating to the student or
student’s family, such as health care counseling, job
placement or financial aid
– Perform appropriate tasks that are specified in his/her
position description or by a contract agreement
What about subpoenas?
• Must be served in person.
• When a subpoena requests information about
a student, the institution must attempt to
contact the student.
• Usually prior notice to the student is needed.
• Prior notice is NOT required when responding
to:
 A federal grand jury subpoena, which specifies that the
student not be informed of the existence of the
subpoena
 A law enforcement subpoena which specifies the same
What is the penalty of violating FERPA
and how would anyone know?
• Students may file complaints with the U.S.
Department of Education
• The Family Policy Compliance Office
(FPCO) is authorized by the Secretary of
Education to investigate, process, and
review complaints and violations under
FERPA
• If a complaint is found to be valid, the
institution may lose Department of Education
funds, for instance federal financial aid.
• Generally this is done only if compliance can
not be secured with voluntary means.
Solomon Act and FERPA
• If requested by an arm of the military, the
institution must provide student recruitment
information, which is similar, but different
than directory information. It includes:
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Name
Address (determined to include email address)
Telephone number
Age and place of birth
Class level
Academic major
Degrees received
Most recent institution in which student was enrolled.
Solomon continued
• This information must be provided for
students who are 17 or older and
enrolled in at least 1 credit hour
• If the student has requested that the
information be withheld under FERPA,
then you do not have to release it under
Solomon.
FERPA bottom line for you
• Institutions may not disclose information
about a student without a student’s
written consent (with few exceptions.)
• You, as an advisor, are often the one
who is asked for information, so you
need to know what to release, about
whom, to whom and when.
• You need to know how to record
requests for release of information
Permission Letter to Write a
Letter of Recommendation
Strategies for dealing with upset
individuals and FERPA
• Listen. Make sure that you have heard the entire story before
you respond.
• Repeat. Show that you understand by repeating back to the
person the question they asked or recounting/summarizing the
story.
• Empathize. Acknowledge the feelings of the other person, for
example, “I can see how this situation is upsetting you.”
• Tell them what you can and can not do and WHY. (Use
knowledge of FERPA here.) Use the FERPA page in Joe’SS to
know what information you can and cannot share.
• Obtain the student’s signature on the Non-directory
information Release Form. Form is available on the web
• Try to speak directly to the student. Or get the students
name and have a supervisor call him/her.
AAA access
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4 campus project - Rolla/MU live
Gives visual access through Joe’SS
Student grants access
Sign in with email/password
Link on the Joe’SS sign on page
813 parental accounts created by
631 different students
• 536 have logged in
AAA – Additional Authorized Access
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Missouri S&T students can grant other users direct and authorized
online access to their student information in Joe’SS, which may
include:
Student Account Information
Grants access to view current and past charges.
Academic Information
Grants access to view Class Schedule, Grades, and Transfer
Credit information.
Directory Information
Grants access to view address, e-mail, and phone information.
Financial Aid
Grants access to view financial aid information. This includes
information about awards, loans, scholarships, fellowships
and work study jobs.
In authorizing Additional Authorized Access members, the student
acknowledges that the University is not responsible for any
unauthorized disclosure of student information by registered members.
Coming Soon
• Upgrade to v9.0 November 19
• Open forum training
Seminars/sessions
• New Advisement features
– New pages/functionality for Advising
Center
– Expanded menus- see the same pages
that students see currently
– Removing a hold changes
– More data available
Advisor Self Service v9.0
In Conclusion:
• Thank you for your time and questions
today.
• CSQA90R demo
• https://dats-tst03.umsystem.edu:8202/psp/CSQA9
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