Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

Dear SUNY Korea Community,

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records.  When a student turns 18 years old or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student. These rights include: 

• The right to inspect and review the student's education records maintained by the school;
• The right to request that a school amend the student’s education records;
• The right to consent in writing to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the student's education record, except under certain permitted situation; and
• The right to file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) regarding an alleged violation under FERPA.

Generally, schools must have written permission from the eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions:

• School officials with legitimate educational interest;
• Other schools to which a student is transferring;
• Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
• Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
• Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
• Accrediting organizations;
• To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena; 
• Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
• State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell eligible students about directory information and allow the students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them.

Violations of students’ rights can result in serious consequences such as lawsuits. So, ask the student to provide you with written consent for the release of information before providing it to a third party.

For more details about FERPA regulations, please visit the US Department of Education website:

http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

Thank you.