FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) information as it relates to Parent access to Student records.

1. Parent/Family Orientation

2. What is FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)
 Federal law designed to protect the privacy of a student’s
education records. It also provides guidelines for
appropriately using and releasing student education
records.
 It is intended that students’ rights be broadly defined and
applied. Therefore, consider the student as the “owner” of
his or her education record, and the institution as the
“custodian” of that record.
 A FERPA-related college education record begins for a
student when he or she becomes 18 or enrolls in a higher
education institution at any age. However, FERPA allows
schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the
following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR
§ 99.31

3. Who can schools disclose records to?
 School officials with legitimate educational interest;
 Other schools to which a student is transferring;
 Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
 Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
 Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the
school;
 Accrediting organizations;
 To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
 Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies;
and
 State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system,
pursuant to specific State law.

4. What is an educational record?
 Includes any record maintained by the institution that is
related to the student (in whatever format or medium)
with some narrowly defined exceptions:
 Records in the “sole possession of the maker” (e.g., private advising
notes).
 Law enforcement records created by a law enforcement agency for
that purpose.
 Employment records (unless the employment is based on student
status). The employment records of student employees (e.g., work-
study, wages, graduate teaching associates) are part of their
education records.
 Medical/psychological treatment records (e.g., from a health or
counseling center). (HIPAA covers this area of the student’s record)
 Alumni records (i.e., those created after the student was enrolled).

5. HIPAA- Medical Records
 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
 Federal law from 1996 to protect health records
 Wellness Suite does have protection in place for
medical records and student will need to sign a form
that they are aware of the protection
 Special forms for release of the information to other
health care providers

6. Directory Information
Each institution establishes what it considers
to be directory information. Examples of
directory information include:
1. Name
2. Address (local, home and e-mail)
3. Telephone (local and home)
4. Academic program of study
5. Dates of attendance
6. Date of birth
7. Degrees and awards received

7. Please note:
At GGC, we do not give out information freely. We confirm
enrollment, confirm degrees but do not validate addresses, date
of birth or phone numbers.
Concern for the safety of our students as well as concern for their
privacy is of utmost importance.
Parents may have access to their child’s record if they present
documentation that the child is their dependant for tax
purposes. If there is no FERPA release form on file and a parent
wishes to go this route, the parent can speak with the Registrar’s
Office about the process and the Registrar’s Office will provide
direction once the process has been completed.

8. FERPA in brief
 Colleges have up to 45 days to provide an inspection of the record. The request
for record review should come through the Registrar’s Office.
 GGC has set up the rules to allow cross advising within the various schools so
GGC faculty have access to other students records because GGC has established
a “need to know”.
 Admissions records are not a part of the educational record unless the student
enrolls in classes
 FERPA is reviewed with students during SMART and students are asked to
complete the GGC FERPA Disclosure Notice to Students
 Faculty and staff at GGC will act in a careful and cautious manner when
working with a student’s record. This means:
 We are aware of who is around when discussing a student’s record.
 We lock our desktop when leaving the work station or office.
 We are careful when discussing information with a student via email or
phone
 We shred any paperwork that has confidential information about a student

9. Additional information on FERPA
 FERPA official website
www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fprco/ferpa/index.html
 Student records and FERPA information may be found
in the catalog and student handbook.

10. Additional information regarding student records
 Regular backups are done by OIIT (Office of
Information and Instructional Technology) to provide
security of records from catastrophes such as fire.
 GGC completes a regular internal back-up on systems
that are administered solely by GGC.
 In addition, the back-ups follow standard protocol for
secure back-up.
 Student record access has password protection with
Banner WEB and screen level permission from the
administrative user.