WHAT IS FERPA?
According to the US Department of Education; The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”). The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99. studentprivacy.ed.gov.
WHAT IF MY STUDENT IS 18 OR UNDER AND IN A DUAL CREDIT PROGRAM?
If a student is attending a postsecondary institution - at any age - the rights under FERPA have transferred to the student. However, in a situation where a student is enrolled in both a high school and a postsecondary institution, the two schools may exchange information on that student. If the student is under 18, the parents still retain the rights under FERPA at the high school and may inspect and review any records sent by the postsecondary institution to the high school. Additionally, the postsecondary institution may disclose personally identifiable information from the student’s education records to the parents, without the consent of the eligible student, if the student is a dependent for tax purposes under the IRS rules. studentprivacy.ed.gov
Students who are enrolled in both high school and courses at a postsecondary institution provide a unique situation. While the rights under FERPA belong to the parents with respect to high school records, they belong to the students with respect to postsecondary records.
CUNE strongly encourages the parents of Dual Enrolled students to respect the student’s ownership of his or her education record at the college level and seek ways to gain that information while safeguarding the student’s rights and responsibilities.
WHAT DOES FERPA HAVE TO DO WITH ORDERING A TRANSCRIPT?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal privacy law that gives parents certain protections regarding their children's education records, such as report cards, transcripts, disciplinary records, contact and family information, and class schedules.
The FERPA of 1974 affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. They are:
1. The right to inspect and review the student’s education records.
2. The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records to ensure that they are not inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy or other rights.
3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
4. The right to file with the U.S. Department of Education a complaint concerning alleged failures by Concordia University, Nebraska to comply with the requirements of FERPA.
Concordia University, Nebraska only accepts transcript requests from the student. Parents cannot request transcripts for their students, even if they are high school students enrolled in dual credit.