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Student/Staff Questions:
FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which gives students the right to: 1) inspect and review their records; 2) seek to amend inaccurate records; 3) have some control over disclosures from their education records; and 4) file a complaint if their FERPA rights have been violated. (Back) FERPA protects personally identifiable information in student education records. Education records may take various forms, including but not limited to printed documents, handwriting, email, video/audio tape, or microfilm. (Back) Directory information can be released without written consent unless the student has submitted a request to restrict the release of such information with the appropriate Registrar. Directory information includes the student's name; address; telephone number; Alliant e-mail address; date and place of birth; major field of study; dates of attendance; degrees and awards received; most recent previous school attended and participation in officially recognized sports or activities. Non-directory information includes all other education records and cannot be disclosed without written consent except where specifically permitted under FERPA (e.g. to school officials with a legitimate educational interest). (Back) Telephone inquiries should be referred to your campus registrar's office, which will make the determination whether or not student information can be released. (Back) Students may request to block release of directory information in several ways. They may submit a signed and dated written request to the Registrar's Office, or they may check the appropriate box on their registration form, or on the change of address form. The block will remain in place until the student submits a signed and dated request to have it lifted. (Back) For those who have appropriate access to Alliant's student database, if you see their directory information items (name, address, degree, and major) highlighted when looking up a student record, that means an active block is in place and you may disclose nothing about the student, including the fact that the student attends the university. If you do not have access to the student database, or are not sure where to look, always check with your campus registrar. (Back) If a student has placed a block on release of directory information, the institution will not be able to confirm any information from the student's academic record, including degrees earned to prospective employers, except upon receipt of a signed release from the student. (Back) No, FERPA does not stipulate how long education records must be maintained. However, it does mandate that education records may not be destroyed while there is a pending request from a student to inspect/review or amend the records. (Back) No, the institution may release directory information at its discretion as long as the student has not requested non-disclosure, however the institution is not required to release the information. (Back) No. While FERPA gives students the right to inspect and review their education records, the statute allows for specific exceptions to the definition of an education record: sole possession records, law enforcement records, employment records, medical records, and alumni records. (Back) At the university level, FERPA rights transfer from parents to students, so the parents no longer have any inherent rights to access or inspect their children's education records, even if they pay the bills. However, FERPA does state that although it is not required, institutions are permitted to allow parents access to the records if they can prove the child is a dependent as defined in section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code. If the student is not a dependent, records may be released to parents only if they have been given a written release by the student or in compliance with a subpoena. (Back) Students may grant their parents (or others) permission to access their educational records by filing an Authorization to Release Records form with the appropriate Registrar's Office. (Back) No, a spouse has no right to access student records under FERPA without written consent from the student. (Back) No, if the student brings a third party (friend, spouse, parent) to a meeting to discuss information in the student's record, the third party should be excluded from the meeting. If the student insists that the third party be present, the student must execute a written consent to allow full disclosure to the third party. (Back) The privacy rights of an individual do not survive that individual's death. Records held by an institution for a deceased person is not a FERPA issue but a matter of institutional policy. Alliant International University will exercise its own discretion in deciding whether, and under what conditions, information should be disclosed to survivors or third parties. (Back) FERPA does not preclude an institution from identifying students as "school officials" with a "legitimate educational interest" for specific purposes. The same requirements and responsibilities for a full time school official exist for student workers. The student workers should be trained on FERPA just as if they were faculty or staff. (Back) Many student organizations maintain scholarship committees, academic excellence awards and related types of activities that are based upon personally identifiable information. However, the students in charge of these activities are not "university officials" and may not have access to student record information unless the student has provided written authorization. (Back) Students have the right to inspect the contents of their education record, regardless of their financial status with the institution. However, an institution is not required to release transcripts if the student has a past due account. (Back) FERPA only applies to the education records of students who are or have been in attendance at the institution. Attendance includes not just physical presence in a classroom, but also participation via correspondence, telecommunication, internet, etc. If a student applies for admission but is not accepted, or is accepted but chooses not to attend, their admission records need not be maintained and are not subject to the FERPA requirements. (Back) Yes, if the student is designated a school official and has a legitimate educational interest. Two typical situations where this applies is when the student is employed by the institution to assist another employee who is a school official, or when they are serving on an official disciplinary or grievance committee. However, they are only permitted to access those records pertinent to their assigned responsibility. (Back) No, FERPA gives students the right to inspect their records, but does not require institutions to allow students to make copies of the contents of their education record unless doing so would effectively prevent them from inspecting their records (for example, when geographic distance prevents a student or alumnus from inspecting the records in person). (Back) If a school official receives a report containing personally identifiable student information, this information should not be shared with another party, except under certain conditions (e.g. when the other person is a school official with legitimate educational interest). (Back) No, FERPA does not require education records to be maintained in one place. This would not be practical in that many institutions have a distributed structure in which education records are created and need to be accessed within various units of the institution. However, regardless of where the records are maintained, the appropriate policies and safeguards must be in place to ensure the privacy and integrity of the records. (Back) If release of non-directory information is needed to appropriately respond to a crisis or emergency situation, an education institution may release that information if the institution determines that the information is "necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals." Factors to be considered or questions to be asked in making a decision to release such information in these situations are: (1) the severity of the threat to the health or safety of those involved; (2) the need for the information; (3) the time required to deal with the emergency; (4) the ability of the parties to whom the information is to be given to deal with the emergency. (Back) Faculty Questions: Such things as progress in a course, deficiencies in a subject area, scores and grades on papers, exams, etc. are all examples of personally identifiable information that make up part of the student's education record. This information is protected by FERPA. Students may grant their parents (or others) permission to access their educational records by filing a written consent with the appropriate Registrar's Office. (Back) The public posting of grades, either by the student's name, institutional student identification number or social security number, without the student's written permission, is a violation of FERPA. Even with names obscured, numeric student identifiers can be considered personally identifiable information and therefore violate FERPA. Instructors are permitted to assign students unique numbers or codes that can be used to post grades. However, the codes cannot be derived from information in the student record, and the order of the posting must not be alphabetic. Posting of aggregate data that does not specifically identify any students, such as a grade distribution chart for a class, is permissible. (Back) Leaving personally identifiable, graded papers or examinations unattended for students to view is no different from posting grades in the hallway. If these papers contain personally identifiable information, then leaving them unattended for anyone to see is a violation of FERPA if the instructor has not obtained the written permission of each student to do so. Possible solutions would be either to leave the graded papers (exams, quizzes, and homework) with an assistant or secretary who would ask students for proper identification prior to distributing them or to leave them in a sealed envelope with only the student's name on it, to be released to the student with proper identification. (Back) Sending final grades to students' Alliant email account is not a violation of FERPA, however it is generally not recommended as emails are not the most secure means of communication. Once grades are posted in university's student database system (Jenzabar CX), students can view their grades securely online by logging in to the Student Information System after the grade submission deadline. (Back) Written permission of the student is required for a letter of recommendation if any information included in the recommendation is part of the "education records" (grades, GPA and other non-directory information). The instructor should maintain the authorization in their permanent records. (Back) Faculty members are normally considered "school officials" but the faculty member will have to demonstrate "a legitimate educational interest" in their request to access student records, e.g. advising students, retention study, etc. Faculty do not have right of access to student academic records unless their normal job duties specifically require access. (Back) No, course outlines and syllabi contain no personally identifiable student information so would not be considered an education record as defined by FERPA. (Back) No, grades on peer-grade papers are not considered part of an education record until they are collected and recorded by the instructor. (Back) No, although FERPA grants students the right to request non-disclosure of directory information (which includes student names), this does not allow students to be anonymous in the classroom, as this would be disruptive to the normal course of instruction. Therefore, instructors may continue to refer to students by name in the classroom or in an online forum. (Back) Although students aren't likely to object to such recognition, individual results of exams or assignments are protected and should not be shared with the whole class. (Back) |
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