FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and is a federal law enacted to protect the privacy of student educational records. If you are a student, it is important for you to understand your rights under FERPA. If you are a parent, you will need to understand how the law changes once your student enters a post-secondary institution. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's educational records when a student is K-12. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or enrolls in a post-secondary institution.
FERPA gives students four basic rights with respect to their education record:
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The right to control disclosure of their education record
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The right to review their education record
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The right to request amendment of inaccurate or misleading portions of their education record
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The right to file a complaint regarding non-compliance of FERPA with the Family Policy Compliance Office of the U.S. Department of Education
Schools must have written permission from the eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. Students can fill out a HCC FERPA Consent form if they wish to authorize release of information to other parties.