FERPA

Notification of Rights Under FERPA

These rights include:

1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day Yavapai College receives a request for access. A student should submit to the registrar, dean, head of the academic department, or other appropriate official, a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect. The College official will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the school official to whom the request was submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed.

2. The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes is inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student's privacy rights under FERPA.

A student who wishes to ask the College to amend a record should write the school official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record the student wants changed, and specify why it should be changed.

If the College decides not to amend the record as requested, the College will notify the student in writing of the decision and the student's right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.

3. The right to provide written consent before the College discloses personally identifiable information (PII) from the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.

The College discloses education records without a student's prior written consent under the FERPA exception for disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); a person serving on the board of trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee. A school official also may include a volunteer or contractor outside of the College who performs an institutional service or function for which the school would otherwise use its own employees and who is under the direct control of the school with respect to the use and maintenance of PII from education records, such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent or a student volunteering to assist another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for the College.

The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Yavapai College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA are:

FERPA permits the disclosure of PII from students' education records, without consent of the student, if the disclosure meets certain conditions found in 99.31 of the FERPA regulations. Except for disclosures to school officials, disclosures related to some judicial orders or lawfully issues subpoenas, disclosures of directory information, and disclosures to the student, 99.32 of FERPA regulations requires the institution to record the disclosure. Eligible students have a right to inspect and review the record of disclosures. A postsecondary institution may disclose PII from the education records without obtaining prior written consent of the student --

Directory Information:

In compliance with FERPA, Yavapai College designates the following personally identifiable information about a student as directory information. Unless restricted by a student, directory information may be released to the public without the prior consent of the student. The student may request a privacy hold ("confidential hold") in person or in writing. These requests remain in effect until revoked in person or in writing. Directory information includes: name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of athletic team members, dates of attendance, enrollment status, degrees and awards received ID numbers, the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended, photographs, college-issued email address, and grade level.

FERPA Annual Notice Addendum:

As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA regulations expand the circumstances under which your education records and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records -- including your Social Security Number, grades, or other private information -- may be accessed without your consent. First, the U.S. Comptroller General, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Education, or state and local education authorities ("Federal and State Authorities") may allow access to your records and PII without your consent to any third party designated by a Federal or State Authority to evaluate a federal- or state-supported education program. The evaluation may relate to any program that is "principally engaged in the provision of education," such as early childhood education and job training, as well as any program that is administered by an education agency or institution. Second, Federal and State Authorities may allow access to your education records and PII without your consent to researchers performing certain types of studies, in certain cases even when we object to or do not request such research. Federal and State Authorities must obtain certain use-restriction and data security promises from the entities that they authorize to receive your PII, but the Authorities need not maintain direct control over such entities. In addition, in connection with Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems. State Authorities may collect, compile, permanently retain, and share without your consent PII from your education records, and they may track your participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about you that they obtain from other Federal or State data sources, including workforce development, unemployment insurance, child welfare, juvenile justice, military service and migrant student records system.

FERPA is a federal regulation that deals specifically with the education records of students who attend a post-secondary institution, such as Yavapai College. It provides the following rights to the student:

• Right to inspect and review education records
• Right to seek to amend education records
• Right to have some control over the disclosure of information from educational records

Yavapai College is conservative in our treatment of student records within the parameters of FERPA:

Written requests to disclose student records must include the student's signature. (Request for an official transcript, for example.) We do not respond to phone requests for specific information, because the identity of the caller cannot be verified.

What does all of this mean to parents?

The best scenario is for the student to provide information to parents.

Students can provide a class schedule, grade report, unofficial transcript, etc., directly to the parent by logging into the yc website.