FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)

What is FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), enacted in 1974, is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. FERPA applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education, which includes nearly all public schools and most private educational institutions. The law gives parents and students (18+ or in postsecondary education) rights to access education records, request corrections, and control disclosure to third parties.

Education records under FERPA include grades, transcripts, class schedules, disciplinary records, contact information, financial information, and any record directly related to a student maintained by the institution. FERPA generally prohibits schools from disclosing personally identifiable information without consent, with specific exceptions for school officials with legitimate educational interest, other schools to which a student is transferring, and parties in connection with financial aid.

Schools violating FERPA can lose federal funding. For educational technology vendors and researchers, FERPA creates significant obligations around student data. Testing and development of educational systems must use properly de-identified or synthetic student data rather than actual student records. Directory information (name, address, phone, email, dates of attendance) has somewhat less stringent requirements but schools must provide opt-out rights.