Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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FERPA and Parents
by Clifford A. Ramirez,
Author, Managing the Privacy of Student Records
Graduation from high school is an important milestone in life for children and families. The young graduate is suddenly faced with several options, among which are continuing with school or entering the workplace. Regardless of the choice, the individual is no longer a child in the eyes of society and the law. The young person has become a fully responsible adult, with all of the rights due any citizen of these United States.
In the postsecondary environment, the transition is sometimes something of a shock for those of us who are parents. We have become accustomed to dealing closely with schools in all matters regarding our children. But now, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a set of federal regulations, applies to our children and to most of the colleges and universities they attend.
FERPA was established in 1974 as part of a larger body of legislation dealing with the privacy of our citizens. Introduced by Senator James Buckley of New York, FERPA sought to make certain guarantees to students about the privacy of their education records. In the context of those regulations, the guarantees are made specifically to postsecondary students, whom FERPA acknowledges as fully responsible adults. After all, these young people, most of whom are already 18 years of age, are considered responsible adults in other arenas (such as the workplace) and where other laws and regulations are concerned.
FERPA makes four guarantees to postsecondary students. They are:
- the right to inspect and review education records
- the right to seek to amend education records
- the right to have some control over the disclosure of information from those education records
- the right to file a complaint against any institution for the alleged violation of these FERPA rights
Please note that these guarantees are made direct to the student, not to the parents nor to any guardians of the students. For the most part, the student is the only individual who can authorize access to her student records. As parents, we no longer have a right to access the student records of our adult children without their signed, written consent to do so.
Colleges and universities comply with these regulations by dealing exclusively with the student. Bills for tuition are an exception. Since student bills are financial records, involving yet another set of regulations, institutions are allowed to communicate with parents about financial records if the student authorizes the school to do so. Such authorization, however, applies only to financial records and may never include academic or other student records.
The realization, then, that parents need to make is that their children are no longer children. They must act for themselves and take responsibility for themselves. Our influence is suddenly limited to the quality of our relationships with our children, because we cannot force schools or the law to do anything about our children. All the more reason for strengthening our relationships with our children.
Under the regulations, it is the student who can inspect and review his records or seek to make changes to those records. Within certain parameters, students can instruct institutions to withhold information about them. That means that information may be withheld from any and all inquiries if the student so wishes. And it is the student who must file the complaint for alleged violations of these FERPA rights.
Institutions are required to advise students of their rights under FERPA. Such notification defines how the institution complies with FERPA and with other local regulations regarding the privacy of student records. Students and parents can locate this notification in the privacy policies of colleges and universities. Typically, these policies are included in college catalogs and on institutional websites.
FERPA is administered by the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO), part of the US Department of Education in Washington, DC. It is the FPCO which interprets and resolves complaints regarding FERPA and the FERPA rights of students. The Department of Education provides more information for students, institutions, and even parents on its website – www.ed.gov.
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