Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Overview
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of educational records; to establish the rights of students to inspect and review their education records; and to provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading data through informal and formal hearings. The law applies to any individual who is or has been in attendance at an institution and regarding whom the institution maintains educational records.
Once students have matriculated to Fort Hays State University, i.e. registered in course work, FERPA rights transfer to the student, regardless of the student's age.
Fort Hays State University Privacy Policy
Primary rights under FERPA
To inspect and review educational records
To seek to amend educational records through informal and formal hearings
To have some control over the release of information about educational records
Educational records contain information that is directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution, or by a third party acting on the behalf of the agency or institution.
Examples include:
Handwritten notes,
Computer files/generated information,
Printed information,
Video or audio tapes,
Film,
Microfilm or microfiche, and
Any information maintained in any way about a student.
Directory information
Directory information may be shared, unless restricted.
Fort Hays State University defines directory information as:
- Student name
- Current mailing address
- E-mail address
- Telephone number
- Date and place of birth
- Major field of study
- Participation in officially recognized activities
- Weight and height of athletic team members
- Dates of attendance
- Degrees
- Awards received
- Most recent previous educational institution attended
Unless covered by an exception, FHSU may not release:
- Social Security number,
- Student identification number,
- Race/ethnicity/nationality,
- Gender,
- Grades, or
- Other non-directory information from student records without written consent of the student.
Further Information regarding FHSU's FERPA practices--
To release information other than directory information, students must authorize access to non-directory information for third parties, including parents. FERPA Release Request
To prevent release of ANY student directory information, students must authorize full privacy to prevent disclosure of even their names in publications, programs, honor roll, etc. To request privacy, current students can log into their Workday account, search the task, “Manage My Privacy Settings”, and follow the instructions on the screen.
The consent must specify records to be disclosed, state the purpose of the disclosure and identify the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure must be made.
Direct questions to the Office of the Registrar.