FERPA and what it means to students

When students come to Muskingum, they are required to sign a document entitled Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

When students sign this form they are either giving consent to the university to release personal school information, such as grades, to anyone designated on the form, or they are barring the university from releasing this information.

There are some things that every student might want to know about the FERPA before signing the paper.

The US Congress enacted the FERPA, in 1974. It was specifically created to help keep students’ educational information private from others.

There are three rights that fall under FERPA: the right for a student to review his or her records, the right to appeal records the student thinks are erroneous, and the right to attach notes if an appeal is denied. FERPA divides a student’s records into two categories: Directory Information and Non-Directory.

“Directory information is available to any person requesting information about a student by name,” said Dan Wilson, the university’s registrar.
Directory information includes a student’s e-mail address, city and state, major, degrees, honors, and enrollment status.

“There are certain circumstances under which a student may wish to restrict Directory information from being released,” said Wilson. “While this is somewhat uncommon, students can fill out a directory information hold form that will prohibit the university from releasing ANY information regarding a specific individual.”

Wilson also said this is usually only requested by people who need privacy for safety reasons.

Non-directory information includes grades, social security number, street address and other personally-identifiable information.

This information is only released under special circumstances, like if the student is an athlete. Otherwise, the non-directory information is not released without student permission.

Even though, in most cases, a student needs to give consent before their personal information is released, there are some exceptions: a student who is employed by the university, or who is serving on a committee.

Another exception is if the student is listed as a dependent on someone’s taxes. For example, if a student’s parents still list him or her as a dependant, the University is allowed to release the student’s educational information. Students are not required to fill out the form more than once.

This is usually done with freshman in their first-year seminar class. However, a student can change their preferences later on.

“All they need to do is come to the Registrar’s Office, and fill out the necessary paperwork in person, or mail or fax us an updated request regarding their privacy status,” said Wilson.

“I really don’t have anything to hide in regards to my grades,” sophomore Jeanna Gosser said. “If an employer calls and wants the information, I think they should be able to access it.”