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All employees of Palmer are required to complete the FERPA tutorial and "Test Your Understanding" quiz each fiscal year. Upon completion of the tutorial, select the appropriate quiz on the left. Once you have submitted your answers to the quiz, you will receive the answers page. To receive credit for completion of the tutorial, complete and submit the form at the bottom of the answers page. You may access Palmer's complete FERPA Policy by connecting to the link on the left.
FERPA Tutorial Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Before FERPA was enacted in 1974, students didn’t have a right to access their records, but just about everyone else did. There are serious obligations under FERPA, with the most serious being loss of Federal Financial Aid for all students. This tutorial will help you understand our responsibilities to keep student records private and allow students access to their records.
What is FERPA? FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (sometimes called the Buckley Amendment). Passed in 1974, the Act protects the confidentiality of student’s records and grants four specific rights to the adult student:
Who has FERPA rights at Palmer? According to the Palmer FERPA policy, a "student" is any person who attends or has attended Palmer. FERPA rights do not apply to prospective students or students who have applied, but have not enrolled at Palmer. "In attendance" is the day the student first attends a class at Palmer.
What are Education Records? • Information recorded in any form that is directly related to a student and maintained by the college and by those acting for the college. This includes, but is not limited to:
Personal Information • The storage medium in which you find this information does not matter. A student educational record may be: A
document in the registrar’s office
What is not an educational record? • The Palmer FERPA policy indicates that the following are not considered education records: • Records of instructional, supervisory and administrative personnel kept in the sole possession of the maker of the record and not revealed to anyone other than the maker’s substitute; • Employee records of an individual, whose employment is not contingent on the fact that he or she is a student, provided the record is used only in relation to the individual's employment at Palmer. • Law enforcement records maintained by the Palmer Security office if the record is maintained solely for agencies of the same jurisdiction, and the department does not have access to education records maintained by Palmer. • Counseling records which are created or maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other recognized professional or paraprofessional, acting in his/her professional capacity or assisting in a paraprofessional capacity, used solely in connection with the provision of treatment to the student and not disclosed to anyone other than individuals providing such treatment, so long as the records can be personally reviewed by a physician or other appropriate professional of the student's choice. "Treatment" in this context does not include remedial education activities or activities which are part of the program of instruction at Palmer. • Health records maintained by Palmer's Clinics if the records are used only for treatment of a student and made available only to those persons providing the treatment. • Alumni records which contain information about a student after he or she is no longer in attendance at Palmer and which do not relate to the person as a student.
The Right to Inspect and Review Palmer must grant requests to review within a reasonable time but in no case more than 45 days after the request is received.
Palmer’s Right to Refuse Access Palmer reserves the right to refuse to permit a student to inspect the following records: • The financial statements of the student’s parents. • Letters and statements of recommendation for which the student has waived his or her right of access. • Documents containing information on more than one student. • Records connected with an application to attend Palmer after acceptance but prior to enrollment, or if the application was denied. • Those records which are excluded from the FERPA definition of education records. • Copies of a student transcript (unofficial or official) if the student has an outstanding obligation to the college.
What is Prior Written Consent? A signed and dated document specifying the records to be disclosed, the purpose of the disclosure and the identity of the person to whom records will be disclosed.
When is Consent Not Required? • To school officials who have a legitimate educational interest in the record. A "school official" is a person employed by the college in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research or support staff capacity; a person serving on the Board of Trustees; A person or company with whom the College has contracted, such as an attorney, auditor, security firm, or collection agent; A student serving on an official committee such as a disciplinary or grievance committee or assisting another College official in performing his or her tasks. • To officials of another school, upon request, in which a student seeks or intends to enroll. • To certain officials of the U.S. Department of Education and other federal, state and local educational authorities, in connection with certain state and federally supported education programs. • In connection with a student's request for or receipt of financial aid, as necessary to determine the eligibility, amount or conditions of the financial aid, or to enforce the terms and conditions of the aid. Parents' financial information, including statements submitted in connection with financial aid applications, is excluded from inspection. • To the parents or legal guardians of any student who is under the age of 21 and determined to be responsible for violating federal, state, local law, or College policies related to possession, use, or distribution of alcohol or a controlled substance. • If
required by a state law requiring disclosure that was adopted before • To organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the College. • To accrediting organizations to carry out their functions. • To comply with a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena. • To appropriate parties in a health or safety emergency. • To an alleged victim of a crime or violence, we may release the final results of any institutional disciplinary proceeding against the alleged perpetrator of that crime with respect to that crime or offense. • To courts for a legal proceeding brought by a parent or student against the College or by the College against a parent or student. • If designated as directory information.
What is Considered a Legitimate Educational Interest? A school
official has a "legitimate educational interest" if the official is:
What is directory information? According to FERPA, directory information is defined as information contained in an educational record that generally would not be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Personal
directory information includes: Academic directory information includes: •
Student’s full name
How can a student prevent disclosure of all or part of his or her directory information? If a student prefers not to have any information released to anyone, the student must complete a non-disclosure form and submit it to the Registrar’s Office. Request for non-disclosure may be filed with the Registrar’s Office during the registration period and throughout the academic year. Once filed, the request remains in effect until cancelled by the student, regardless of when the request was filed, unless a written request to remove it is received. Requests for former students are honored at the College’s discretion.
How can a student challenge the content of their education records? FERPA grants students the right to seek amendment to their education records if the student believes the record to be inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of their privacy rights. Requests for amendment must follow these steps:
FERPA Dont's To avoid violations of FERPA rules, DO NOT: -at any time use the Social Security Number of a student in a public posting of grades. -ever link the name of a student with that student's social security number or matric number in any public manner. -leave graded tests, quizzes, assignments, etc. in a stack unattended for students to pick up by sorting through the papers of all students. -circulate a printed class list with student name and social security number or matric number or grades as an attendance roster. -discuss the progress of any student with anyone other than the student (including parents) without the consent of the student. -provide anyone with lists of students enrolled in your classes (refer the requestor to the Registrar’s Office). -provide anyone with student schedules or assist anyone other than College employees in finding a student on campus.
Please complete the Test Your Understanding quiz, located on the left hand column at the top of this web page. Once you have submitted the associated quiz, you will receive a form in which to complete and submit to receive credit for completing the FERPA tutorial. |
