The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of, and limit access to, student education records. This law applies to all schools, including Rice, that receive federal aid under applicable programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Because of this, Rice is legally obligated to protect the confidentiality of student educational records. 

When we think about these types of records, it may be helpful to consider the student as the “owner” of the record while Rice is the “custodian” of the record. Students are given these central rights with regards to education records under FERPA:

1. The right to inspect and review their education records, maintained by the Rice;
2. The right to request an amendment to the education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading;
3. The right to limit disclosure of personally identifiable information, including “directory information”; and
4. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education.

What is an Education Record?

FERPA applies only to education records, which are records that have two key characteristics:

1.     The record is directly related to a student, and

2.     The record is maintained by Rice (or someone working for or on behalf of Rice).

What may surprise you is that more items are actually education records than you may think. Education records can include files, documents, and materials in whatever medium (handwriting, print, email, tapes, disks, film) that contain information directly related to a student and from which a student can be personally identified. Furthermore, education records are not only those maintained in the Office of the Registrar; for example, they also would include (but not be limited to): 

• Admissions information for students who are accepted and enrolled;
• Biographical information including date and place of birth, gender, nationality, information about race and ethnicity, and identification photographs;
• Grades, test scores, evaluations, courses taken, academic specialization and activities, and official communications regarding a student's status;
• Coursework, including papers and exams, class schedules;
• Disciplinary records;
• Students' financial and financial aid records;
• Building access logs; and
• Internship program records

In other words, FERPA likely has an intersection with your work! If you interact at all with students or information about students, you will likely have education records in some format.

This is important because, generally speaking, Rice needs written consent from the student to release any education record about a student. Such written consent must include:

• The records to be disclosed;
• The purpose of disclosure;
• To whom the disclosure may be made; and
• The student's signature and the date.

The Office of the Registrar has consent forms available that cover the required elements.

What about exceptions to a student's written consent?

FERPA contains a few exceptions that allow institutions to release education records to a third party without the student's written consent. One of the main exceptions used at Rice is the “directory information” exception. FERPA allows institutions to identify a subset of elements as “directory information” and release that information without a student's written consent if the institution publishes those elements in an annual notification and allows students to opt out of allowing their directory information to be published. For example, this exception allows Rice to publish directory search results on the online directory and physically post the Dean’s List on the wall in the Office of the Registrar.

Some Rice students, however, wish to opt out of allowing their directory information to be published. A student can do this inside of ESTHER. It is important to keep in mind that a student may do this any time for any reason. Some students opt out just to see what happens when they click the button, while other students may be facing a very difficult life situation and trying to remain as anonymous as possible. For this reason, if you are using the directory information exception to written consent, you should implement procedures to regularly check to ensure that a student has not subsequently opted out.

FERPA Help/Questions

The Office of the Registrar has worked with other offices to help them think about FERPA concerns and address Rice’s responsibilities while still functioning effectively. The OTR regularly addresses questions like this:

·       Can I put student information on my department’s website?

·       How do I collect written consent easily and effectively?

·       I want to purchase software that students will use, can I?

·       What types of photos can I put on social media without needing written consent?

·       A parent is asking me about a student – what can (or should) I say?

The OTR is more than glad to help work through your business process and address FERPA concerns, and you can reach them by emailing ferpa@rice.edu.

Justin Schilke is the Deputy Registrar in the Office of the Registrar.