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Student Educational Records

What does FERPA stand for?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

It's the Law

FERPA is a federal law that gives students the following rights to their educational records:

  1. Inspect and review their educational records.
  2. Request the amendment of records that he/she believe are inaccurate
  3. Request that disclosure of their personally identifiable information be limited, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
  4. File a complaint with the Department of Education regarding an institutions alleged failure to comply with the Act.

FERPA rights apply to eligible students who have reached the age of 18 OR who attend postsecondary institutions.

Legitimate Educational Interest

Legitimate educational interest — also referred to as educational “need to know” — means records may be shared with school officials who are defined as needing access to an educational record in order to fulfill their professional responsibilities.​

FERPA allows DMACC school officials to 1) access a student’s education record if they have a legitimate educational interest and 2) share a student’s education record information with other DMACC school officials who have a legitimate educational interest. This does not constitute authorization for that person to transmit, share, or disclose any of that information to third parties.

In addition, authorized users of restricted data may access said data only to fulfill the job duties for which authorization was granted. Further, an authorized user may not access restricted data for personal use.