1. Wallace Community College FERPA Workshop Presentation
There is interplay amongst the laws

2. What is FERPA and to whom does it apply?
Federal law enacted in 1974 called “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act”
Purpose is to protect the privacy rights of student educational records and to ensure the accuracy of those records
Applies to currently enrolled or formerly enrolled students (regardless of age or parental dependency status)
Applies to all institutions that receive Department of Education funds

3. What is directory/public information at WCC?
NAME
ADDRESS
TELEPHONE NUMBER
DATE OF BIRTH
MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY
PARTICIPATION IN OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED ACTIVITIES AND SPORTS
WEIGHT AND HEIGHT OF MEMBERS OF ATHLETIC TEAMS
DATES OF ATTENDANCE
DEGREES AND AWARDS RECEIVED AND DATES
MOST RECENT PREVIOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION ATTENDED
PHOTOGRAPHS
ADDRESS
ENROLLMENT STATUS

4. What cannot be directory information?
Grades
GPA
Race
Gender
Social Security Number
Student ID number
Country of citizenship
Religion

5. Case Studies

6. Access by Divorced Parents
Frank’s parents are divorced. By agreement, his mother claims him as dependent, but his father is required to pay his way through college. Frank and his mother have both refused to tell Frank’s father anything about his academic progress at State College. Frank’s father turns to the institution for help. Can the institution give him the information?

7. Access by Divorced Parents - Answer
The regulations allow release of information to either parent if the student is claimed as a dependent on either parent’s taxes. The institution should obtain a copy of the tax return validating dependency prior to disclosing the information. The father may need to resort to court action to gain access to the education records information.

8. Class Web-Based Discussion Sites
Fred Faculty teaches a course that has a Web-based discussion component. Class members can see each other’s addresses and name. It is not open to the public for view or use. Are there any FERPA issues?

9. Class Web-Based Discussion Sites - Answer
Since the discussion site is only accessible to students in the class, there is no FERPA issue. It is advisable for the faculty member to remind class members that the discussion threads should not be shared with others outside the class without permission from the author to do so. No non-directory information should be displayed on the site. The 2009 FERPA regulations specifically state that student usernames can be displayed to others in a class, even if the students in question have chosen “no release” for their directory information.

10. Faculty Access to Admissions Records
Fred faculty member wants to review the admissions files, including transcripts for students currently in his program. Is this permissible?

11. Access by Divorced Parents
In general, faculty members do not have a legitimate need-to-know to access admissions files once an admissions decision has been made.

12. Questions?