Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 is a Federal law that is designed to protect the privacy of your student educational records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable U.S. Department of Education program. FERPA applies only to student records.
Under FERPA, institutions may designate certain limited student information as directory/public information. Institutions in compliance with FERPA provide that, except for directory/public information, all student educational records are confidential and available only to the student, any party that has obtained the student’s written consent, or any official or court representation as permitted by IU Southeast or the court of law.
What information is directory or public information?
Directory/public information is any information that directly identifies the student or makes the student’s identity easily traceable. Records of arrests and/or convictions and traffic accident information are public information. Public information shall be released freely unless the student files the appropriate form requesting that certain public information not be released. This form (the Non-disclosure of Student Records Information) is available in the Office of the Registrar. IU Southeast has defined directory information as:
- Name
- Hometown (City, State, 5 digit zip only)
- IU E-mail address
- Dates of attendance
- Admission or enrollment status
- Campus, school, college, division, major
- Class standing (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior)
- Degrees and awards
- Activities
- Athletic information
NOTE: Items that can never be identified as directory information are a student’s social security number, citizenship, gender, religious preference, grades, and GPA.
You control the access to your information
By default, you’re the only one who can see your personal information. You can enable third-party access if you want to let a parent, guardian, or other person:
- Pay your bill
- See your financial aid award and summary information
- Find out about holds on your account
- See your grades
- View your unofficial transcript
- See your class schedule
- See your final exam schedule
Set up third-party access
To set up third-party access, log in to One.IU and go to Set Up 3rd Party Users. Create a unique username and password for each person you want to authorize to see your information, and then choose what information each person can see. You can edit or remove a user’s permission at any time. Make sure you give all authorized users their usernames and passwords so they’re able to log in. But don’t send this information via email — you could expose your personal and financial information to identity thieves or others with bad intentions.
