Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 1974
A Primer for Parents of St. Olaf Students
Week One
September 4, 2010

St. Olaf staff, faculty and administrators often handle confidential academic information.  Sharing of this information with anyone other than the student is regulated by FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).  For more detailed information, see:
http://www.stolaf.edu/offices/registrar/ferpa.html

What is FERPA?   FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.  It is a federal law designed to protect the access to and privacy of students’ “education records.”

What is an “education record?” An education record is any information directly related to the student that is maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. 

Students’ Rights – the student has the right to:

  1. inspect his or her education record
  2. seek amendment to an education record that the student believes is inaccurate or misleading.
  3. have some control over the disclosure of information from his or her education record (excludes internal disclosure to college officials with a “legitimate educational interest”)

Private information (“education record”) includes but is not limited to:

  • Grades
  • Courses taken
  • Class schedule
  • Test scores
  • Advising records
  • Education services received
  • Disciplinary actions

Public information ("directory information") includes:

  • name, local (St. Olaf) addresses and telephone number
  • full time/part time enrollment status
  • parents' names
  • previous school attendance
  • major field of study (verified for graduates), and dates attended
  • participation in officially recognized activities and sports (incl. height/weight of athletes)
  • degrees and awards received

Parental Access to Children’s Education Records: St. Olaf’s Policy, and Practical Suggestions for Parents

St. Olaf College discloses information from a student’s education records to parent(s)/guardian(s) if the student has authorized disclosure of education records to the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s), or if the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) claim(s) the student as a dependent for federal tax purposes.

St. Olaf College cannot, however, assume the dependency status of all of our students and thus requires verification of status in order to release records to a student's parent(s)/guardian(s).  To this end, all students are required annually to complete the “Release Form for Disclosure to Parents/Guardians.”  Students should have returned this form to us by now for the 2010-11 academic year.

If a dependent student does not grant authorization via the “Release Form for Disclosure to Parents/Guardians,” the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) may request disclosure of education records by submitting a letter indicating that the parent(s) declare(s) the student as a dependent on his/her/their most recent federal income tax form (IRS Code of 1954, Section 152).  The tax form must be accompanied by a letter, addressed to the appropriate office, that identifies the student and specifies the information needed from the education record.  The office will notify the student that a request for confidential information has been received, and that the office intends to comply with the request, unless the request comes from a parent/guardian to whom the student has specifically denied disclosure of education records, even if the student is dependent of that parent for federal income tax purposes.

* * *

Except in true emergency situations, our goal is always to work directly with the student, in order to encourage responsibility and accountability.  Here are some practical suggestions for keeping informed about your child’s academic progress while helping us meet this goal and also comply with federal regulations:

  1. Please allow your child to be responsible for his/her own academic program.  You can do this by encouraging him/her to:
    1. check his/her St. Olaf e-mail account daily, pay attention to, and, in a timely way, act on e-mails s/he receives from the Registrar, the Dean of Students, and other college personnel;
    2. comply with college policies, as they appear in the catalog and the student handbook;
    3. meet with an instructor at the first sign of any difficulty with a course;
    4. remain in contact with his/her academic advisor.
  1. If your child calls you and is very upset about something, please advise him/her to make use of the many college resources that are available to help students.  If your student is not sure where to start in getting help, suggest his/her instructors (crucial for a matter related to that particular course) and/or academic (faculty) advisor or the Registrar’s Office for academic matters; for personal matters, suggest the Dean of Students office.  You might check in with your child the next day to see if the problem has been resolved.  Sometimes problems that initially seem insurmountable are relatively easy to resolve once the proper source of help has been found.
  2. If you sense that something is very wrong, and that your child is not getting the help s/he needs, by all means, contact either the Registrar or the Dean of Students for advice. 
  3. Since we do not mail grades or other academic information to students’ homes, please ask your child to keep you informed of his/her academic progress.  Every student has on-line access to his/her record and can print a copy of registration, grades, degree audit as needed.  Students could also copy and paste the information into an e-mail and send it to parents.  Please do not ask the student to give you his/her St. Olaf password; see below.
  4. By all means, become familiar with and make use of all of the available resources on the St. Olaf website when you have a question.  Here are some places to start:
  1. Please do not:
    1. ask your child to give you his/her St. Olaf password; students’ passwords are confidential, and sharing passwords is a violation of academic computing policy;
    2. call faculty members and ask for information about students in their classes.  This puts them in a very difficult position, since they are asked to comply with FERPA regulations and are not completely aware of circumstances of individual students, some of which may preclude revealing information to any third party whatsoever.  Talk with your child.  If this is not possible, please call the Registrar or the Dean of Students Office.

If you have questions, call the Registrar's Office!
507-786-3015; http://www.stolaf.edu/offices/registrar/
http://www.stolaf.edu/offices/registrar/ferpa.html