Confidentiality of Student Records

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1976

Overview

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (FERPA) is a Federal law which controls the confidentiality of, and access to, student education records Additionally, Marquette University has a policy statement that explains how the federal law is applied locally. Please note that FERPA may contain additional applicable provisions which are not referenced in the Marquette policy.

The Marquette policy referred to above is a five-page document which contains definitions, notification policies, procedures, and many other details. Additional information can be obtained in the MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY GUIDELINES FOR STUDENT EDUCATION RECORDS RELEASE, that also provides guidelines for posting of student grades.

Overall, the Family Educations Rights and Privacy Act allows students access to their official school records and places limitations on the access of their records by others, including their parents. Thus, it is very important, when we are talking to the parents of our students (or anyone other than the student) to not disclose detailed information concerning the student's grades, academic progress, test or homework results, and so forth. These regulations are different than those that govern students in high school. The government Web site contains the following statement:

FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.

There are times when a student's parents may contact you as the student's advisor and ask questions concerning their child's progress. You must be very careful in what information you disclose. In most cases, it would be best to refer the parent's to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs who, in turn, may forward information requests to the Registrar's office for further consideration.

If you have any questions concerning the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, please refer to the above web sites for detailed information. If you have any concerns when talking to the parents of our students, please error on the side of safety and refer them to the College Office.