Overview

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of educational records; to establish the rights of students to inspect and review their education records; and to provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading data through informal and formal hearings.  The law applies to any individual who is or has been in attendance and regarding whom the institution maintains educational records.  Once students have matriculated to Mineral Area College, i.e. enrolled in course work, FERPA rights transfer to the student, regardless of the student’s age.

Primary rights under FERPA

The Act grants four specific rights to the student:

1. the right to see the information that the institution is keeping on the student
2. the right to seek amendment to those records and in certain cases append a statement to the record
3. the right to consent to disclosure of his/her records
4. the right to file a complaint with the FERPA Office in Washington

The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is:

                Family Policy Compliance Office
                U. S. Department of Education
                600 Independence Avenue, S.W.
                Washington, D.C.  20202-4605

Educational records contain information that is directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution, or by a third party acting on behalf of the agency or institution.

Examples include:  handwritten notes, computer files/generated information, printed information, video or audio tapes, film, microfilm or microfiche, and any information maintained in any way about a student.

Directory Information

The following items have been designated as Directory Information at Mineral Area College.  As such, this information may be disclosed by the institution for any purpose, at its discretion:                      

• name
• address
• telephone number
• date and place of birth
• major field of study
• dates of attendance
• past and present participation in officially recognized activities and sports
• weight and height of members of athletic teams
• degree(s) conferred (including dates)
• awards
• most previous educational institution attended

Unless covered by an exception, staff may not release:

• Social Security number
• Student number
• Race/ethnicity/nationality
• Gender
• Grades, or
• Other personally identifiable information without written consent or when covered by an exception             

Students may prevent disclosure of directory information by completing a “Request to Restrict Directory Information” form in the Registrar’s Office before the end of the second week of classes during the fall and spring semester and by the end of the first week of classes of a summer or interim term.  The request to withhold directory information must be renewed each semester.  If a student does not specifically ask that directory information be withheld, the College will assume he or she approves the disclosure of that information.  Mineral Area College retains the right to exercise discretion in determining the release of directory information.

To release information other than directory information, students must authorize access to non-directory information for third parties, including parents.  The consent must specify records to be disclosed, state the purpose of the disclosure and identify the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure must be made.