Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or "The Buckley Amendment"

One of the more difficult and somewhat awkward issues LTSC academic advisors face with students, especially "Millennial" students in more recent years, is involvement of parents in a student's academic life. This is going to be a theme this year, so I want to address issues of privacy as early as possible. As I've outlined in a previous blog entry, we are now working with a generation which has, on the whole, had terrific and close relationships with parents and/or guardians. When these students begin the process of becoming integrated into the world of Higher Education (read " become college students"), experiencing what it's like to live on their own and take care of their own schedules, academic advisors are often caught between assisting their caseload of students in the transitional process and parents who want to be sure their children are on the right path academically.

One sticking point does come up in terms of student privacy rights. In fact, a federal law passed in 1974 forbids higher education administrators from discussing anything in regard to a student's relationship with the University with parents.

We often hear a parent say, "I pay for my son's education. I am entitled to know what's going on."  Or, "This young lady is my daughter, I have a right to know her grades. I want to talk to her advisor about her plans."  In reality, a parent has no rights when it comes to a student who has become a part of a school "beyond the high school level." Note that the law is not specifically tied to age--it is a combination of age and  a student's place of higher learning by which this law applies.

From the government's website: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html:

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are "eligible students."

• Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student's education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.
  
• Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.
  
• Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):
  
  • School officials with legitimate educational interest;
  • Other schools to which a student is transferring;
  • Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
  • Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
  • Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
  • Accrediting organizations;
  • To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
  • Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
  • State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.
For additional information, you may call 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (voice). Individuals who use TDD may call 1-800-437-0833.
Or you may contact us at the following address:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-8520

NOTE: The law is also referred to as "The Buckley Amendment."

For academic advisors, the law is simple: we can't speak with anyone outside a student about their relationship to advising and/or grades without specific consent from that student. For our students in LTSC who do wish to give consent for a parent or guardian to speak with us about their relationship with our office, those students can complete a "Waiver to Privacy" or "Waiver to the Buckley Amendment" kept in our office. Students must fill these forms out in person when doing so. We do not accept faxed or emailed copies, and we do not allow anyone to pick up a form and take it to a student and return it. Students must fill out the sheet in person. Also, students can set a time limit as to when the waiver kicks in and ceases. We find that many students will fill out the form but only release the information for one day, or as long as it takes for outside involvement with advising to be completed.

We understand parents want to be involved. We're happy about that, and we're experimenting with this blog this semester to give parents more information about what's going on. In a perfect world, advisors also want students to make the transition of becoming responsible for themselves when it comes to academic planning and taking care of advising business in a timely fashion. (It's really not difficult or mysterious.) We want students to be responsible  for themselves. However, if it comes down to a time that parents and students decide they should both be directly involved, be sure your son or daughter understands they must sign over that privacy right before we can have any discussions with parents.  We're happy to assist everyone when that time comes.