Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

FERPA for Students

It’s important for students to know their rights under FERPA, because this federal law protects the privacy of your education record and has an impact on who has access to your information. Once you are in attendance at Carleton (officially registered for and attending a course that has begun), FERPA rights transfer to the student regardless of their age.

What are my rights under FERPA?

• The right to consent to the disclosure of your education record
• The right to inspect and review your educational record
• The right to request an amendment to your educational record
• The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Family Policy Compliance Office

What is an “education record?”

Your education record is any file, document, or other material that is related to you as a student that is maintained by Carleton or by anyone acting on behalf of the College. Education records come in many varieties, and can be on paper or maintained electronically. In order for protected information from your education record to be released to most third parties, the College must receive written consent from you. Some examples of what is included in your protected education record are:

• grades
• class enrollment history and class schedules
• disciplinary records
• financial records

Some examples of what is not considered to be part of your education record, and therefore are not subject to FERPA are:

• sole possession records (records made by faculty or staff that are not shared with others; often these are notes used for someone’s own later reference)
• College law enforcement records
• medical and mental health records used only for the student’s treatment
• alumni records generated after the student as graduated

The College also maintains “directory information,” which does not require your written approval to release as it is considered to be information that would not be generally harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. This information is detailed in the College’s Student Records policy. Although the College may release this information without your written approval, the College releases this information rarely and only with appropriate justification by the requester.

How do I control the release of my educational records?

Per FERPA, protected records can only be released with the student’s prior written consent. Consent must include the record to be released, the reason for the disclosure, the party to whom the record is being released, the date of the request, and the student’s signature.

However, there are circumstances where information from a student’s record may be released without the student’s consent. Some of these exceptions include:

• to College officials, or those working on behalf of the college, with legitimate educational interest
• to comply with a subpoena or judicial order
• a health or safety emergency
• to officials at an institution in which the student seeks or intends to enroll or is currently enrolled

College officials are Carleton employees, or those third parties contracted by the College, whose role is connected to a student’s education, providing services or benefits relating to the student’s education or their residence at the College, or other tasks related to the functions of the College. In order for those College officials to access student information, they must be able to demonstrate legitimate educational interest or, in other words, that they need the information in order to appropriately carry out the duties of their job at the College.

As mentioned previously, you do not need to consent to the release of your directory information. If you wish to prevent the release of all your directory information, including for enrollment or athletic verification, you may suppress your directory information by working with the Dean of Students Office. While this will prevent your information from being released in most cases, faculty and staff who need to see your information to do their jobs will continue to be able to access your educational records and directory information.

FERPA for Faculty & Staff

As a College official, it is imperative that you know and understand your role in safeguarding student information because you share responsibility for protecting our students’ records under FERPA. You have access to protected student record information due to your responsibilities at the College, which are considered confidential and cannot be released without the student’s written consent.

What are a student’s rights under FERPA?

• The right to consent to the disclosure of their education record
• The right to inspect and review their educational record
• The right to request an amendment to their educational record
• The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Family Policy Compliance Office

What is an “education record?”

An education record is any file, document, or other material that is related to a student that is maintained by Carleton or by anyone acting on behalf of the College. Education records come in many varieties, and can be on paper or maintained electronically. In order for protected information from a student’s education record to be released to most third parties, the College must receive written consent from the student. Some examples of what is included in a protected education record are:

• grades
• class enrollment history and class schedules
• disciplinary records
• financial records

Some examples of what is not considered to be part of an education record, and therefore are not subject to FERPA are:

• sole possession records (records made by faculty or staff that are not shared with others; often these are notes used for someone’s own later reference)
• College law enforcement records
• medical and mental health records used only for the student’s treatment
• alumni records generated after the student as graduated

The College also maintains “directory information,” which does not require a student’s written approval to release as it is considered to be information that would not be generally harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. This information is detailed in the College’s Student Records policy. Although the College may release this information without written approval, the College releases this information rarely and only with appropriate justification by the requester.

Rarely, if ever, would we expect a faculty member to release information about students outside the College. Most often, requests for information release should be handled through the Registrar’s Office or the Dean of Students Office. However, there may be times when you are asked for information about a student, and you may find yourself wondering if it’s appropriate for you to share.

There are circumstances where information from a student’s record may be released without the student’s consent. Some of these exceptions include:

• to College officials, or those working on behalf of the college, with legitimate educational interest
• to comply with a subpoena or judicial order
• a health or safety emergency
• to officials at an institution in which the student seeks or intends to enroll or is currently enrolled

Legitimate educational interest means you need this information to appropriately carry out the duties of your job at or with the College. For example, if a colleague in your department asks what grade you’d previously given a specific student because they’re not sure what grade to give them and they want to try to stay consistent. This is not a case of legitimate educational interest and you should not tell your colleague the grade you gave the student. On the other hand, an adviser having access to the academic record of their advisees does fall under legitimate educational interest because the adviser needs that information to do their job.

But if you have a student doing research with you, for example, or if your departmental newsletter or Facebook page includes photos of students in particular courses (including OCS programs), it’s in your best interest to get their permission in writing before distributing that information beyond the classroom.

Displaying grades is, in general, not a best practice. Since grades are protected information under FERPA, no one without legitimate educational interest has a right to know student grades. This means that publicly posting (or posting in Moodle) a list of grades earned by all students on an assignment or in a course violates FERPA unless students are given unique identifiers unrelated to their names or student ID numbers by the faculty member and grades are posted by that unique identifier only. 

Peer grading is a-ok! The Supreme Court ruled that, because grades are not official until they have been logged by the faculty member in a grading book (or something like it), peer-assigned grades are more suggestions to the faculty member than official grades.

Returning assignments can be a bit tricky under FERPA! Do not leave graded assignments out to be picked up by students, as this is no different than posting a grade list outside your office. If you aren’t handing back assignments in class, either leave them with your departmental administrative assistant to return to students (with proper identification) or use sealed envelopes, which can be put in student mailboxes or left for students to collect.

Letters of recommendation should have a release signed by the student if you are discussing courses taken, grades earned, GPA, or other protected information from the student’s academic record. See the last tab for more information.

Questions or concerns about FERPA should be directed to the Registrar.

FERPA for Parents

It’s important for parents to understand students’ rights under FERPA, because this federal law protects the privacy of your student’s education record and impacts who has access to their information. Once a student is in attendance at Carleton (officially registered for and attending a course that has begun), FERPA rights transfer to the student regardless of their age. However, most offices will let FERPA start guiding their interactions with parents even before students have registered for their classes in an effort to guard the student’s privacy. In other words, once students begin college in the US, parents have no inherent rights to access information regarding their student’s education records.

What are my student’s rights under FERPA?

• The right to consent to the disclosure of their education record
• The right to inspect and review their educational record
• The right to request an amendment to their educational record
• The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Family Policy Compliance Office

What is an “education record?”

An education record is any file, document, or other material that is related to a student and is maintained by Carleton or by anyone acting on behalf of the College. Education records come in many varieties, and can be on paper or maintained electronically. In order for protected information to be released to most third parties, the College must receive written consent from the student. Some examples of what is included in the protected education record are:

• grades
• class enrollment history and class schedules
• disciplinary records
• financial records

Some examples of what is not considered to be part of the education record, and therefore are not subject to FERPA are:

• sole possession records (records made by faculty or staff that are not shared with others; often these are notes used for someone’s own later reference)
• College law enforcement records
• medical and mental health records used only for the student’s treatment
• alumni records generated after the student as graduated

The College also maintains “directory information,” which does not require written approval to release as it is considered to be information that would not be generally harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. This information is detailed in the College’s Student Records policy. Although the College may release this information without the student’s consent, the College releases this information rarely and only with appropriate justification by the requester.

How do I see my student’s educational records?

Per FERPA, protected records can only be released with the student’s prior written consent. Therefore, parents may only have access to their student’s record information if the student has provided the College with a specific, signed release allowing you to have access to their record. This happens in extremely rare circumstances and may be revoked by the student at any time.

The most efficient way for you to see information about your student’s life at Carleton is for your student to give you Proxy access to their academic record. Your student can easily give you access to certain financial and academic information with just a few clicks in The Hub.

As mentioned previously, you do not need to consent to the release of your directory information. If you wish to prevent the release of all your directory information, including for enrollment or athletic verification, you may suppress your directory information by working with the Dean of Students Office. While this will prevent your information from being released in most cases, faculty and staff who need to see your information to do their jobs will continue to be able to access your educational records and directory information.

Letter of Recommendation Release and Instructions

When current and former students need letters of recommendation or oral recommendations from members of the Carleton community, it’s important to make sure that information released in those recommendations has been properly authorized. The letter of recommendation release form is an easy way to make sure students are giving faculty and staff appropriate permissions to discuss protected student record information when recommending students.

When should students and alumni use this form?

This form should be used whenever a student is requesting a recommendation that will include FERPA-protected information from their academic record, such as:

• courses taken
• grades received
• GPA

The student should complete a letter of recommendation form for each individual making a recommendation. Fill out the form completely and return it to your recommenders, who will retain it in their files. An example of this would be a faculty member describing the student’s academic performance in a particular course.

When do students and alumni not need to use this form?

If the recommender is only disclosing directory information or only giving general impressions of the student, then the form is not required. An example of this would be if a work supervisor is describing the student’s performance through the course of their employment.

What if the faculty member I’m asking to write a recommendation for me is no longer at Carleton?

You should check with your faculty member to see if they have another form they would prefer you to use. However, you are welcome to use this form even for faculty members who are no longer at Carleton.

What if my department has another form we’d prefer our students to use?

Departments are free to use their own forms, but make sure the form has a few key elements:

• specific items the student or alumni is asking you to release
• to whom they may be released
• for what purpose
• a signature and a date

This form also gives the student the option to waive their ability to review the recommendation. Although this is entirely optional on the part of the student and may be revoked at any time, waiving the right to review the recommendation can help employers, graduate schools, etc, feel that the sentiments expressed in the recommendation are a true reflection of the recommender’s opinions and insights.

Letter of Recommendation Release Form