FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, also known as FERPA or the Buckley amendment, is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of your student's educational records. If your student is over 18, or in a postsecondary insitution at any age, FERPA grants them the following rights:

• The right to inspect and review their educational records
• The right to seek the amendment of their educational records
• The right to consent to the disclosure of their educational records, subject to some specific exceptions
• The right to obtain a copy of their school’s Student Records Policy
• The right to file a complaint with the FERPA Office in Washington, D.C.

FERPA applies to all educational agencies or institutions that receive federal funding for any program administered by the Secretary of Education. FERPA also applies to private entities that contract to perform services for Rutgers University–Newark that it would otherwise undertake to perform on its own; in such cases, the private entity must observe the same FERPA protections applicable to Rutgers University–Newark.

Educational records include any information or data recorded in any medium, including but not limited to, handwriting, print, tapes, film, email, microfilm, and microfiche, which is directly related to a student and maintained by Rutgers–Newark or by a person acting for Rutgers–Newark.

Examples of an educational record include, but are not 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
• Course work, including papers, exams, and class schedules, as well as written, email, or recorded communications that are part of the academic process
• Disciplinary records
• Students' financial and financial aid records
• Internship program records

Educational records do not include:

• Rutgers University law enforcement records
• Employment records when the employment is not connected to student status (for example, a staff member who happens to be pursuing a degree at the institution, as opposed to a student employed under the work-study program)
• Medical and mental health records used only for treatment of the student
• Alumni records which do not relate to or contain information about the person as a student (for example, information collected by the university pertaining to alumni accomplishments)
• "Sole possession records," which refers to memory aids or reference tools. The term does not refer to records that contain information provided directly by a student or records that are used to make decisions about a student. As such, this is a very limited exception. For example, personal notes from a committee meeting recommending students for a particular program would not be considered sole possession records if they are used to make decisions about the students.