When children go off to college, they begin to largely make decisions about what their parents know about their grades and other educational information — a big change from high school. The reason is the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, commonly known as FERPA.
“In higher education, it becomes the student’s right to control who sees their educational information, not the parent’s right,” says Paul Lannon, a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys.
This right allows college students to access and verify accuracy of information, attempt to correct something that may be wrong and appeal if a requested change is denied. Parental access to academic, health and other records generally requires a student’s written permission, as FERPA rights usually transfer to the child upon enrollment in college classes.
It’s a significant mindset shift, and many parents may feel reluctant to hand over the reins to children who seem less prepared to take them.
“Where we’re most likely to get into a legal fight is when the parents want information that the students don’t want to give,” Lannon says. “Very often, it’s health-related. It can be pregnancy, or an LGBTQ issue or a transgender issue.”
Often, he says, “students are desperate that their parents not know, especially if it’s related to a drug or alcohol offense, a sexual offense, an act of violence or an academic offense like plagiarism.” A college’s FERPA policy can cause or intensify family tensions when the student and parents don’t agree on information-sharing, he adds.
Experts say parents often are concerned about personal educational information that the student usually need not share without written consent, such as grades and other academic matters; academic accommodations, which students tend to have to pursue on their own; issues relating to drugs, alcohol, violence and sexual assault; and athletic standing, including scholarships.
In a letter on the website of Defiance College in Ohio, Lynn Braun, assistant dean of campus wellness and director of counseling and accessibility services, urges parents to let their children in college take care of things on their own and learn to “make important life decisions, even if they sometimes end up being mistakes.”
“The institution itself is not designed to call a parent every time their child has an issue,” Braun, a supervising professional clinical counselor, added in an interview.
What Parents Should Do First
According to FERPA, once a child is actually attending college, he or she becomes an “eligible student” and thus the guardian of personal information. Parents should learn as much as possible about a college’s specific FERPA policy before their child enrolls, experts advise, since details may vary by institution.
“Each college or university is required to issue an annual notice, sometimes called the ‘annual privacy notice’ or the ‘annual FERPA notice,'” says Lannon, a partner with Holland & Knight law firm in Boston. “These notices appear on the college’s website, spelling out the college’s FERPA policy on disclosing information.”
[READ:4 Changes That Parents of College Applicants Need to Know]
Although the notices often go unread, Lannon says, they’re important because they tell parents if and in what cases colleges may release some information without a student’s consent.
For example, the University of California, Santa Cruz “does not permit disclosures of confidential student records to parents of financially dependent children, regardless of a student’s age or financial status,” according to the school’s website. “This information may only be shared with parents with the written consent of the student, or in a health or safety emergency.”
At Bates College in Maine, parents who claim a student as a dependent “may have access to education records unless the student specifically prohibits it,” according to institutional policy.
And at the University of Missouri, the school “may disclose personally identifiable information from an education record of a student without the consent required” by federal guidelines if the disclosure meets at least one of more than a dozen special conditions, including if the student is a tax dependent, according to university policy.
Parents can have a productive relationship with college officials before and during their child’s college years if they understand FERPA and how their child’s college interprets the law, experts say. Well before freshman orientation, even before high school graduation, students and their parents need to reach an understanding about what personal educational information students will share in college, experts advise.
“These are conversations, not directives,” Braun emphasizes, adding that the discussions can cover grades, drugs, alcohol, sex, roommates and more.
“You as parents know your student, so the summer before college is a great time to help provide support where they may need work,” says Stephanie Quade, dean of students at Marquette University in Wisconsin. “Can they get up without an alarm? Can they make appointments and follow up?”
Information about medical health, mental illness and scholarships being lost or at risk top the list of things parents want to know, says Lisa Heffernan, an author and co-founder of Grown and Flown Parents, a Facebook group for parents of teens and college kids with more than 250,000 members.
“Parents should have a hands-off policy” in principle, Heffernan says, “but because of the pandemic, many students were housebound during key transition years before college. They didn’t get the chance to make the kinds of mistakes, stumbles and hiccups that actually do prepare them for college.”
During COVID-19 restrictions, recalls Quade, “parents got used to doing everything for these students, including reading and answering their emails. I’ve seen incoming freshmen texting their parents during registration about what classes to take. According to FERPA, our primary relationship is with the student, and parents’ expectations of what they will know from us about their students’ lives is going to have to become more realistic.”
Protected Student Information Is Wide-Ranging
The personal information that students become in charge of when they go to college is wide-ranging.
“FERPA covers several kinds of personal educational information, all of it in records related to a student and maintained by the educational institution,” Lannon says. “Included is directory information that the college considers ‘harmless’ and may release publicly without a student’s consent.”
[READ:What Parents Need to Know About the College Admissions Timeline]
Typically, personal information includes name, year of graduation, major, possibly address and phone number, and a student’s Social Security number. Students have the right to opt out of having personal information shared, Lannon says.
“Not only celebrities or public figures are in need of privacy, but also victims of a crime like sexual assault, or who have been stalked, or have needed a restraining order,” he says. “Some may be involved in litigation or a contentious divorce where they don’t want an ex-spouse harassing or snooping around.”
Some student experiences are usually not part of their educational record. If a student is in therapy in a campus counseling center, for example, the clinician’s treatment notes are not part of a student’s educational record, nor are law enforcement records if not shared with the college.
However, if a student is felt to be a safety risk to self or others, parents may be informed, though colleges are not required to do so.
“Treating doctors have professional ethics obligations and some state laws may require disclosure to parents in cases of actual knowledge of an attempt or plan for suicide,” Lannon says.
How Parents Can Receive and Share Information
As early as possible, students should choose what information they want to share and take steps to allow parents to have access to it.
“The first, easiest and most effective thing students can do if they want to share all their information with their parents is sign a written consent form on behalf of their parents and make it as broad as possible, as in ‘All categories of my educational records can be shared with my parents,'” Lannon says.
[Read: Is Your Data Safe When Applying for Financial Aid?]
Parents, in turn, can share information they would like the college to know about their child before the student enrolls and get information about resources that can help determine whether the school is a good fit.
“If your child has been accepted to a college, helpful information is welcome,” Quade says.
Braun at Defiance College invites parents to call her if they think their child would benefit from the counseling center, but she says she can’t require a student to obtain counseling — nor, according to FERPA and her own licensing requirements, can she tell parents what does or doesn’t happen with their student.
College officials who routinely interact with students often choose not to disclose unfavorable information to parents, even when they have the flexibility to do so. At Marquette, for example, the policy is generally not to report a first alcohol offense, Quade says.
“We don’t actually want to go running to your parents and we don’t want you to lose your athletic scholarship. What we want to do is sit down with you and talk about what that violation is.”
When that happens, there’s rarely a second violation, Quade says.
“Our disciplinary system, like most university disciplinary systems, is considered to be an educational process, and so we’re going to use FERPA to be educational.”
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FERPA: What Parents of College Students Should Know originally appeared on usnews.com
