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College Record 2024-2025

FERPA Policy

FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 is a federal law which states (a) that a written institutional policy must be established, and (b) that a statement of adopted procedures covering the privacy rights of students be made available. The law provides that the institution will maintain the confidentiality of student education records.

Definitions:

Academic Record: Records associated with the student's academic history during their time of enrollment the College. Examples include registration information, grade changes, internal transcripts, and approved leave documentation and/or withdrawal documentation. 

 

Financial Record: Records associated with the student's financial history during their time of enrollment at the College. Examples include a history statement, a copy of FAFSA documents, and tax information.

 

FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. It is also referred to occasionally as the Solomon Amendment or Buckley Act.

 

Student: Any person who is or has been in attendance at the College where the College maintains education records or personally identifiable information on the person. However, the term does not include a person who has not been in attendance at Keuka College. The term attendance does not include specific daily records of a student's attendance at the College.

 

Parent: A parent is defined as a natural parent, an adoptive parent, or the legal guardian of the student. Verify that a person is a parent by reviewing the income tax return that shows the student as a dependent (IRS Code, Sect. 152)  in the most recent tax year.

 

Disclosure: To permit access, transfer or communicate student information to any party in any form.

 

Legitimate educational interest: 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 or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); a person or company with whom the College has contracted as its agent to provide a service instead of using college employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting 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.

 

Directory information: At its discretion, the College may provide directory information in accordance with provisions of the Act without prior written consent from the student.

 

Non-directory Information: Information that CANNOT be disclosed without the student’s signed written consent. Non-directory information includes everything that is not included in directory information, for example grades, GPA, and class attendance.

Access to Student Records

No one outside the college shall have access to any students' education records nor will the college disclose any information from such records without the written consent of students except:

  • to personnel within the institution;

  • to officials of other institutions in which students seek to enroll;

  • to persons or organizations providing student financial assistance;

  • to accrediting agencies carrying out their functions;

  • to persons in compliance with a local, state, or federal court order;

  • to persons or organizations conducting studies sanctioned by the college which will not permit the personal identification of students and their parents by persons other than those conducting the studies;

  • to government representatives seeking information in connection with the audit and evaluation of federally and state-supported educational programs;

  • to persons in an emergency in order to protect the health or safety of students or other persons.

Students may opt out of their directory information being shared with approved third-party entities by notifying the Registrar's Office in writing. Requests for non-disclosure must be renewed each academic year. Failure on the part of any student to request in writing that information be withheld will indicate approval for disclosure.

FERPA Amendment of 2011

As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA regulations expand the circumstances in which a student’s educational records and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records - including a student’s Social Security Number, grades, or other private information - may be accessed without a student’s 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 a student’s 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 education records and PII without a student’s 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 a student’s education records, and they may track a student’s participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about students 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 systems.

College Officials and Student Records Maintained at Keuka College

Within the Keuka College community, only those members, individually or collectively, acting in students' legitimate educational interest will be allowed access to student education records. A school official has a legitimate educational interest when the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her responsibility on behalf of the college, such as when the official is performing a task that is specifically noted in the job description or by a contract agreement or other official appointment; performing a task related to a student's education; performing a task related to the discipline of a student; or providing a service or benefit relating to the student or student's family, such as health care, counseling, job placement or financial aid. The final determination of legitimate educational interest will be made by the Registrar’s Office.

College officials are defined as:

  • A person employed by the college in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position, including Campus Safety and Residential Life staff;

  • College employees who are part of the student's success team, including academic advisors, coaches, residential life staff, financial officers, and academic personnel;

  • Individuals or entities volunteering on behalf of the college, or with whom the college has contracted to provide a service, instead of using college personnel (e.g., an attorney, auditor, or vendor) and who are under the direct control of the school with respect to the use and maintenance of personally identifiable information from education records;

  • Individuals serving on the Board of Trustees; and

  • Students conducting college business where a legitimate educational need to know has been vetted and identified (e.g., serving on official committees, student employees, assisting another school official in performing job-related duties).


It is college policy to destroy records in accordance with the College record retention policy.

Directory Information

At its discretion, the College may provide directory information in accordance with provisions of the Act without prior written consent from the student. The following student information has been designated public and may be disclosed by the college for any purpose, at its discretion: name, address, telephone listing, electronic mail address, photograph, date and place of birth, major field of study, class level, enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time), dates of attendance, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, degrees, honors, and awards received, and the most recent educational agency or institution attended.

 

Students are required to report and keep current their local and home addresses. Changes in residence hall addresses are automatically kept current by the Residential Life Office. Off-campus students must provide local address information as a condition of living off campus. Failure to keep personal information current can result in the College inadvertently sending information to physical and/or electronic addresses that are no longer associated with the intended individual. 

 

Rights of the Student

 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their educational records. They are:

  • The right to inspect and review the student’s educational records within 45 days of the day the College receives a request for access. Students should submit written requests to the Registrar’s Office that identify the record(s) they wish to inspect. The Registrar’s Office 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 Registrar’s Office, they will direct the student to the appropriate department of the College.

  • The right to request the amendment of the student’s educational records that the student believes is inaccurate or misleading. They should write to the College official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the College decides not to amend a record as requested by the student, the College will notify the student of the decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing. Additional information regarding the hearing process will be provided to the student in writing once the hearing has been scheduled.

  • The right to consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s educational records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.

    • One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to college officials with legitimate educational interests. The definition of a school official with legitimate educational interest appears in the definition section of this policy.

    • Another exception is required by the Solomon Amendment (32 CFR Part 216, RIN 0790-AG42). This amendment prescribes that the College must release all requested directory information, which is required by the Secretary of Defense for military recruiting purposes.

  • The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is: Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-8520.

 

The FERPA waiver form can be found on the Registrar’s Office website. Students must submit a new form each time they wish to change their FERPA consent terms. Students wishing to review or amend their academic records must contact the Registrar’s Office. The College reserves the right to contact a student’s parents or guardians when, in the opinion of the College, the notification is necessary to protect the well-being of the student or others. This exception is only to be made during the period of the emergency, and does not constitute the release of all personally identifiable information (PII) from the student's records. Questions concerning the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act may be referred to the Registrar’s Office (registrar@keuka.edu).

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