FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA) AND DIRECTORY INFORMATION

PRIVACY OF EDUCATIONAL RECORDS

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the eligible student when he or she reaches the age of 18.

Generally, schools must have written permission from the eligible student in order to release any information—including grade and financial aid information—from a student's education record. The ideal scenario is for students to share their educational record(s) openly with parents, but sometimes there are situations that make this inconvenient or non-practical. In order to allow parents (or any other third party) access to their eligible child’s educational record(s), the eligible child must fill out the FERPA Educational Records Release Form and return it to Student Financial Services, (Woodburn 115). FERPA Educational Records Release Form

Disclosure of Directory Information:
The regulations implementing FERPA permit the disclosure of directory information. BHSU may disclose, without consent, directory information such as name, dates of enrollment (start date and end date), academic level (undergraduate, graduate, professional), major field of study, date of graduation, degree awarded and home town. Generally, this directory information is releasable to any requesting person or entity (such as newspapers to announce awards, etc.) unless the student has followed the procedure to withhold disclosure of directory information. To prevent the disclosure of a student’s directory information, the eligible student must fill out the Directory Information Opt-Out Form and return it to the Registrar’s Office, (Woodburn 103) by the 10th day of classes of the first semester during which the student is enrolled. Download the Directory Information Opt-Out Form

View FERPA Annual Notification of BHSU Student Records and Student Directory Information Policy