FERPA: Inside Out (DO’S and DONT’S)

1. FERPA: Inside Out(DO’S and DONT’S) Felicia L. McMillan Acting Registrar

2. What is FERPA? • It stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Also known as the Buckley Amendment.

3. Primary Rights under FERPA • It gives the student the: • Right to inspect and review education records. • Right to seek to amend education records. • Right to have some control over the disclosure of information from education records.

4. Who Needs to Be Aware of FERPA? • Those create and maintain educational records. • Those who utilize educational records in performing their jobs. • Those who disclose information from educational records. • Those who are custodians of educational records. • You.

5. What about parents? • FERPA rights transfer to the student at age 18 or once he or she attends a post-secondary institution, regardless of age. • Parents or legal guardian may obtain directory information at the institution’s discretion. • Parents or legal guardian may obtain non-directory information at the discretion of the institution, if • they can establish the student as a financial dependent or • by obtaining the student’s written consent

6. TheDON'Ts for Faculty & Staff related to FERPA • DO NOT display student scores or grades publicly in association with names, SSN, Campus IDs or other personal identifiers. • DO NOT put papers, graded exam books or lab reports containing student names and grades in publicly accessible places. Students are not to have access to the scores and grades of others in the class in ways that allow other students to be identified. • DO NOT request information from the educational record custodian without a legitimate educational interest and the appropriate authority to do so.

7. The DON'Ts for Faculty & Staff related to FERPA cont. • DO NOT share student educational record information, including grades or GPAs with other faculty or staff members unless their official responsibilities identify their "legitimate educational interest" in that information for that student. • DO NOT share information from student educational records, including grades or GPA's with parents or others outside the institution, including letters of recommendation, without written permission from the student. • DO NOT allow students to grade each other's work when the score will be recorded. • DO NOT leave confidential information displayed on an unattended computer.

8. The DON'Ts for Faculty & Staff related to FERPA cont. • DO NOT circulate a printed class list with the Student Name and SSN/Student ID. • DO NOT provide anyone with student schedules. • DO NOT provide anyone with lists of students enrolled in your classes. • DO NOT discuss the progress of any student with anyone other than the student (including parents) without the consent of the student • DO NOTprovide anyone with lists of students enrolled in your classes for any commercial purpose • DO NOTprovide anyone with student schedules or assist anyone other than university employees in finding a student on campus

9. The DOs for Faculty & Staff related to FERPA • DOrefer requests for information from the educational record of a student to the proper education record custodian: The Registrar's Office. WHEN IN DOUBT, DON’T GIVE OUT!!! • DO keep only those individual student records necessary for the fulfillment of your teaching and advising responsibilities. • DO keep any personal professional records relating to individual students separate from their educational records. Private notes of a faculty/staff member concerning a student intended for the member's own use are not a part of the student's educational records. • DOkeep any personal professional records relating to individual students separate from their educational records. Private notes of a faculty/staff member concerning a student intended for the member's own use are not a part of the student's educational records.

10. The End Felicia L. McMillan, Acting Registrar 803-536-7185 E-mail: FMcmilla@scsu.edu To return to the FERPA webpage Click here.