To Share Or Not To Share? FERPA Compliance Training For Front Line Staff

1. To Share Or Not To Share?FERPA Compliance Training For Front Line Staff Helen B. Garrett Dean of Enrollment Systems Management/Registrar Lane Community College Eugene, Oregon

2. What you can expect from this webinar • Review of FERPA basic concepts and terms • Sample scenarios most commonly faced by front line staff • FERPA concepts and regulations that arise in these scenarios and what every staff person needs to know before releasing student protected information • Ask the presenter FERPA questions to be answered during the webinar • Where to go for help with FERPA challenges; a resource review

3. Who is on the front lines of FERPA?

4. The First Ones Approached… • Enrollment Services/Registrar’s Office • Financial Aid • President’s Office • Public Safety • Testing/Assessment • Advising • Disability Resources • Dept Office Admins • Veterans Office

5. How can front line staff be prepared to respond to FERPA challenges? • Provide FERPA training every quarter/semester, both in formal trainings and when resolving actual challenges. • Have everyone remember: “When in Doubt, Don’t Give it Out!” • Focus on FERPA basics and make sure everyone knows who on your campus will handle the tough issues that arise.

6. The Most Important FERPA Basics Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 • Students must be permitted to inspect and seek amendment to their own records • School officials may not release personallyidentifiable information • Students have the right to consent to disclosure • Students have the right to complain

7. Who has FERPA rights? • All students attending an institution of higher education receiving Federal Title IV funds, regardless of age • Attendance is defined by each institution • Any student for whom an educational institution maintains educational records

8. Important FERPA Terms • Student • Anyone attending an institution, regardless of age, during the attendance period defined by the school, for whom records are maintained • Student Record • Any information or data recorded in any medium • Educational Record • Directly related to a student • Maintained by an educational agency or institution

9. More Important FERPA Terms • School Official • Members of an institution acting in the student’s educational interest within the limitations of their “need to know” • You, as a front line employee! • Directory Information • What the institution has defined as information that can be released without permission from students. • Confidentiality Indicator/Opt Out When a student asks for no directory information to be given out

10. What cannot be given out? Ever!* • Student’s Social Security Number • Citizenship • Gender • Ethnicity • Religious preference • Grades • GPA • Daily class schedule *This means parents, too! Even if they are paying your bills.

11. What Exactly is Directory Information? • Information not generally considered harmful • Includes, but not limited to: • Name, address, telephone, email, data and place of birth, photographs, participation in sports, major, weight/height of athletes, enrollment status, degrees and awards received, dates of attendance, most recent previous school attended, grade level • Schools must post their directory information and make this available to students annually

12. Requests for Non-Disclosure • Applies only to directory information. All other information is always confidential and cannot be released. • Does not apply to restrict information from particular individuals (can’t say that just one specific person cannot have your information) • Must be made a currently enrolled student • If a directory restriction exists you must say: There is no information available on that person!

13. When in doubt, don’t give it out! • As a front line employee you are never obligated to give out FERPA protected information. • FERPA law states that schools have up to 45 days to provide students with access to their information and this does not require the information to be copied and released, but just to make the information visible to review. • The more pressure you are receiving to release information, the more you want to assume that the person asking does not have the right to access the student’s information.

14. As a front line staff member, do you know…? • Where to find your institution’s FERPA policy? • Your institution’s Directory Information? • How your school defines “attendance”? • Does your school allow parents of dependent students to present Section 125 tax records to have access to their records? • Has your institution defined in writing who your “school officials” are? Does this include student employees? • How are students being notified annually of their FERPA rights? • Where you can see in the system that a student has a confidentiality indicator?

15. Let’s Get Real! Case scenarios for you to consider

16. Scenario #1 A frantic woman approaches you in person saying that her daughter is 9 months pregnant and on medication and that she hasn’t seen her in 6 days and needs you to give her the student’s schedule so the mother can find her. Can you provide her with the student’s schedule?

17. Answer to Scenario #1 The answer is no. • You may not release a student’s location, time or class schedule to anyone without written permission from the student or in response to a subpoena which has been approved by your college attorney. • If this occurs, tell the person that you may not release that information. If they press you, refer them to your supervisor for backup help. • The Registrar could make a decision to notify the student that there is a concern and ask her to contact her mother.

18. FERPA Issues? • Directory Information: A student’s class schedule is not a permissible item to put into Directory Information and cannot be released without a student’s written release • Health and Safety Emergency: This student’s situation, as represented by the parent, does not constitute a reason to invoke the Imminent Threat to Self or Others

19. Scenario #2 You work in the Registrar’s Office and receive a call from an instructor who says that an international student, living off campus, emailed her earlier this morning thanking her for teaching her and giving her the impression that she was going to complete suicide. She wants you to call the police. How should you respond? A. Tell her you want to help, but you can’t release information she gave to an instructor in confidence. B. Refer the call to your supervisor to work with campus public safety or the local police to check on her. C. Since she is an international student, she is not covered by FERPA, so you can refer her situation to the local police.

20. Answer to Scenario #2 The answer is B. • In this circumstance, campus authorities can partner with local police to do a wellness check and site the Health and Emergency aspect of FERPA. • It is a common misperception that since FERPA is a U.S. federal law, that it does not apply to International students. This would be similar to saying that speed limits do not apply to International students.

21. FERPA Issues? • Health and Safety Emergency: If you are presented with facts surrounding a situation where the student could be at risk of hurting themselves or others, you must report it to your supervisor. If FERPA protected information is released to authorities, a record of this release must be in the student’s educational record. • Definition of a student: According to your school’s FERPA policy definition of a student. International students are protected under FERPA.

22. Scenario #3 You work on the front line for financial aid and an advisor from your campus TRiO program wants you to provide her with information on a student’s financial aid status. Should you provide her with this information? A. No, if she had a right to know this information, she would have been given access in your computer system B. Yes, she works at your school and can know this information. C. No, not without a release from the student.

23. Answer to Scenario #3 The answer is A: No • As a front line person, you are always going to be safer in answering no to a request like this, with the assumption that if this person is allowed access to this information they would have it available in the system. • Technically, as a person working at your institution, you could release this and be safe with FERPA, but in this case it is better to err on the side of no.

24. FERPA Issues? • School Official: You want to determine first if the person is a school official. In this case a TRiO advisor is a school official, however... • Need to Know: Does this school official have a need to know the information? If students can see this information, the advisor could work with the student logging in to find this information. • Access to information in the system: 2011 FERPA updates mandate that precautions should be in place to limit access to information in the system to those who have a need to know.

25. Scenario #4 You are opening the mail and come across a form from the faculty advisor to the campus Table Tennis Club who wants you to provide the GPA’s and enrollment for the team to be able to compete in an upcoming tournament. The form will be given to the National Table Tennis Association. Can you complete this form for him? A. No, because the students did not provide a written release. B. Yes, since he works for the school and is the advisor. C.Yes, but only by providing the enrollment levels and not the individual GPA’s.

26. Answer to Scenario #4 The answer is C: Yes • If your school has defined enrollment level as directory information, you could provide that information for students without a confidentiality hold. GPA cannot be directory information, so this cannot be released. • Since the form is going to be given to a third party, you either need a signed release for all of the information to be released or you can only release directory information.

27. FERPA Issues? • Directory Information: You may release or confirm directory information as defined by your institution for students without an opt out confidentiality hold. • Confidentiality Hold/Opt Out: If a student has filed this you may not release any directory information on that student and need to say, “There is no information available on this person.” • Non-redisclosure: If you were to release this to the faculty advisor alone it could technically be allowable under FERPA, but that advisor could not release it to a third party without written permission from the student.

28. Scenario #5 You are an admin in the President’s Office and she walks out and asks you to obtain the transcript for the grandson of a very wealthy campus donor. You have access to print out an unofficial transcript, but what should you do? A. Print out the transcript since it is the president who is asking. B. Tell her that you cannot provide that to her for the grandfather without written permission from the student. C. Contact the student and ask if it is ok.

29. Answer to Scenario #5 The answer is, gulp, B. • While it can be scary to tell those in high authority no, in this circumstance it is not appropriate to release the transcript to be given to the grandfather without the student’s written permission. • Given the delicacy of this situation, you might want to refer her request to the Registrar to respond instead.

30. FERPA Issues? • School Official: While your President is a school official and can have the transcript, the grandfather/donor is not. • Non-redisclosure: You should not knowingly release FERPA protected information to a school official knowing that it is going to be disclosed to a third party without the student’s written permission.

31. Scenario #6 It is the week before the term begins and you have volunteered as a receptionist in Counseling and Advising to help students who are trying to register and pay for classes using the lobby open lab. A student asks for help with registration and you notice that the name of the student on the screen is clearly a male name and this is a female who is asking you a question. Should you assist her? A. Yes B. No C. Maybe

32. Answer to Scenario #6 The answer is C: Maybe • You cannot assume that a student with a male name is not the same student who appears female. If you are concerned, ask for photo ID to verify if this is the same student as on the screen. • If it is, you may assist. • If not, you will have to decline letting them know you cannot endorse someone other than the student accessing FERPA protected information using the PIN from another student.

33. FERPA Issues? • Release of Information: Unless you can verify that the student is the same as the name on the screen, you cannot assist and therefore endorse a person other than the student accessing FERPA protected information. • Protection of system maintained student records: Under FERPA only students who have created a PIN/Passphrase known only to them should be accessing system records.

34. Scenario #7 You call for the next person in line waiting to come to the front counter of Enrollment and Student Financial Services. It is a man in a military uniform with a paper signed by a student. He says that you need to release a transcript to him, but the student has a financial hold on his account. You tell him you cannot because of the hold and he claims you must under the Solomon Amendment to FERPA. Are you bound to release the transcript? A. Yes B. No C. Maybe

35. Answer to Scenario #7 The answer is B: No • Just because the military recruiter has a signed release and is claiming the Solomon Amendment you are not bound to release the transcript without the debt being paid. If the recruiter wants to pay the debt and you have a signed release, you may do so. • The Solomon Amendment does not apply to this situation. • Individuals working for the government are not allowed to have FERPA protected information any more than any other individual asking to access a student’s record.

36. FERPA Issues? • Solomon Amendment: This allows each of the branches of the U.S. Military to have access to student data once a term for students enrolled in at least one credit. They cannot choose for which students they receive the information & will not receive information on students with an opt out and the school can charge for this release. This is not related to an individual request for a release. The data is released by your institutional research department. • Signed Release: A student can provide a signed release for a transcript and this release should be archived to the student’s record for future reference if a release is made.

37. Scenario #8 As a phone receptionist in Disability Resources you receive a call from a nervous faculty member who has been providing information on the class assignments and progress of a student with Asperger’s to his mother. They want to know if they can do this since they have a release from Disability Resources. Is it ok to talk to the mom? A. Yes, because there is a signed form in Disability Resources allowing the instructor to provide information to that office. B. No, not unless the student is in attendance or provides a written release.

38. Answer to Scenario #8 The answer is B: No • There is a difference between the release in place for the instructor to provide information to Disability Resources and the instructor providing information to the mom. • When advising faculty on whether they need to release information to anyone outside of the student is always the most safe advice to have them not release without the student in attendance, as well.

39. FERPA Issues? • School Official: The faculty member is a school official and can release information with a release to an office, such as Disability Resources. In this instance the mother is a third party, non-school official and therefore should not have access without the student present or their written and maintained written permission. • Documentation of release: A release to have a parent speak to a faculty member is for a one-time release. Each new conversation needs a new written release.

40. More Scenarios to Ponder… • An attorney calls and asks for a student’s transcript or any information on the student. • A parent calls asking for FERPA protected information, stating that his child is a dependent. • An instructor asks an employee for a list of students in her class. • A person calls asking for help regarding student protected information and you do not believe this is the student on the phone.

41. Top Ten FERPA Tips The Lane Community CollegeTop Ten“Most Important Things to Remember About FERPA”http://www.lanecc.edu/cops/release.htm 10. The purpose of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is to afford certain rights to students concerning their educational records. The primary rights afforded are the right to inspect and review educational records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over disclosure of information from the records. 9. If asked where one can read Lane’s policies on FERPA, the release of directory information, or how to restrict one’s directory information, direct them to the following references: Lane’s COPPS website, specifically listing our FERPA policies, the Policies and Student Code section in the Aspire Magazine, and in the Procedures section of the 2011-2012 catalog, page 57.

42. Top Ten FERPA Tips 8. Because a student’s “L” identification number listed in alphabetical order by the student's last name can easily be traced to a student’s identity by referencing the alpha name list, grades may not be posted by the “L” student identification number. Grades may be posted using the last four digits of the “L” student identification number, as long as the list is NOT in alphabetical order. 7. “School Officials” at Lane are defined as those members of the institution who act in the student’s educational interest within the limitations of their “need to know.” This may include faculty, administrators, classified employees, student employees and/or part-time employees who manage student education record information.

43. Top Ten FERPA Tips 6. Lane Community College has designated the following items as directory information. (This is information that can be given out to any requester, provided that a confidentiality restriction has not been placed on the individual’s record.) • Student name(s) • Degree program and major • Participation in officially recognized activities/sports • Weight and height of athletic team members • Dates of attendance (not daily, but whether they are enrolled currently or dates that student attended) • Degrees and awards received • Most recent previous school attended and photograph • Enrollment status (full-time/half-time only) • Date of graduation • Email address

44. Top Ten FERPA Tips 5. If a student has accessed myLane to update their Student Information Release information which allows them to add or remove the release of directory information and/or to provide a password that populates Native Banner, if restricted, it will be flagged on every student module form in Native Banner with the word *Confidential* in the upper left hand corner of the form/screen. Absolutely NO information can be released except to individuals presenting the current password or unless the student appears in person with a present photo ID. If the person is calling and there is a restriction on their record you must say: “THERE IS NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THAT PERSON.”

45. Top Ten FERPA Tips 4. SPECIAL “DON'TS” FOR FACULTY AND STAFF  To avoid violations of FERPA rules, DO NOT: • Require students to disclose personal information such as phone number and email address to another student. • Never ask a student for their myLane PIN or accept it if offered under any circumstance. • At any time use a student’s “L” student identification number in a public posting of grades, including an electronic environment or link the name with the “L” number. • Post grades in a web environment which does not require a secure password which might allow a student access to another student’s educational records (grades). • Leave graded tests in a stack for students to pick up by sorting through the papers of all students. • Circulate a printed class list with student names and “L” roster.

46. Top Ten FERPA Tips 3. As an employee of Lane Community College you have a responsibility to protect all educational records in your possession. These include any documents in the departmental office, computer printouts in your office, class lists on paper or on a computer desktop, computer display screens, and notes taken during any kind of advising session with a student. Do not allow any students to view, read, or record another student’s “L” student identification number while in your workspace. 2. Employees at Lane Community College who are parents, spouses, partners, friends or relatives of any kind, of a Lane Community College student, do not have access to information on these students beyond directory information. Employees may not access and/or amend their own records in Native Banner or those of any members of their families or household for any reason, at any time and must conduct all transactions related to their own records using myLane. If you are feeling pressure to comply with a request for information beyond that which can be given out, refer the requester to Helen B. Garrett, Dean of Enrollment Management Systems.

47. Top Ten FERPA Tips The Lane Community CollegeTop Ten“Most Important Things to Remember About FERPA”http://www.lanecc.edu/cops/release.htm And the number one Most Important Thing to Remember About FERPA is: 1.When in doubt, don’t give it out! Call Helen B. Garrett, Dean of Enrollment Management Systems, Enrollment and Student Financial Services, 541-463-5686, or email her at garretth@lanecc.edu to review with her the specifics of your individual question or scenario.

48. FERPA Basics for Employees • Begin with your campus FERPA policies. Do you know where to find them on your website? • Good Examples: • http://www.smc.edu/EnrollmentDevelopment/Admissions/Pages/FERPA.aspx(Santa Monica College) • http://www.lanecc.edu/cops/release.htm(Lane Community College) • http://registrar.indiana.edu/ferpainfo.shtml (Indiana University) • http://college.uchicago.edu/policies-regulations/student-privacy(The University of Chicago)

49. Additional Resources • Family Policy Compliance Office website: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html sample forms, library, recent updates, regulations • AACRAO website: http://www.aacrao.org/compliance/ferpa/index.htm • AACRAO Publications: www.aacrao.org/publications/ AACRAO FERPA Guide 2010 FERPA Quick Guide • Each other! Do a C.A.S.E. (Copy And Steal Everything) study by going to other websites and searching “FERPA”.

50. Thank you for your participation! Helen B. Garrett Dean of Enrollment Management Systems Lane Community College 4000 E. 30th Avenue Eugene, OR 97405 garretth@lanecc.edu (541) 463-5686