Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)

What is FERPA?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) sets forth requirements regarding the privacy of student records. FERPA governs 1) release of these records (known as educational records) maintained by an educational institution and 2) access to these records.

What are Your Responsibilities as a Faculty or Staff Member?

As an employee of Millersville University, you may be authorized to have access to student records. The confidentiality, use and release of student records are governed by FERPA. Your utilization of this information also depends on the nature of the duties and responsibilities associated with your position.

Your job places you in a position of trust, and in this respect you play an integral part in ensuring that student information is handled properly. Students have a right to expect that their academic records are being treated with the same care and respect that we would expect for our own records.

In general, all student information must be treated as confidential. Even public or "directory" information is subject to restriction on an individual basis. Unless your job involves release of information and you have been trained in that function, any requests for disclosure of information, especially outside the University, should be referred to the Registrar's Office. Release of information contained on a student's transcript without the written consent of the person identified on the document is in violation of FERPA.

As a faculty or staff member, you may encounter people who are not authorized to receive student data, but who apply a great deal of pressure on you to release such information, or to discuss a student's confidential records. Parents, relatives, spouses and ex-spouses, employers or potential employers, attorneys and other representatives of law firms, and representatives of a variety of other types of organizations (e.g., collection agencies) are not entitled to confidential student data. The only information we may provide them is directory information (defined below). If you receive a phone call or a visit from someone like this, you should direct the call or person to the Registrar's Office.

Faculty and many other University employees have their own account and password for use of the Banner and/or the Banner Web for Faculty systems. You are responsible for your personal account and its use; your sign-on information should never be shared with other individuals. Your log-on ID and password are critical for security. Your password protects your account and provides the only way the system can verify that you are actually who you say you are. Please make every effort to protect your log-on ID and password information.

Confidentiality Statement on MAX Web System

The following statement appears on the MAX sign-on screen for faculty, staff, and students:

Millersville University complies with the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Faculty and staff viewing student records are reminded that this information is confidential. Please refer to the FERPA statement, or contact the Registrar's Office.

Directory Information

The items listed below are Directory Information and may be released to those requesting it unless the student has specifically requested that his or her information be kept confidential.

• Student Name
• Address (home, email and local at school)
• Telephone numbers (home and local telephone at school)
• Major
• Dates of attendance
• Degree(s) earned
• Height and weight (for athletic team members)

No other information about a student may be released without written consent of the student. Such items as grades, test scores, social security numbers, gender and ethnic background, and class schedules may never be released to anyone other than the student. This includes parents or guardians. In no case should a student's information be released by phone.

Confidentiality of Student Records

Students have the right to request that their directory information not be disclosed to anyone. They can restrict disclosure by filing a form in the Registrar's Office. The only way to know whether a student has such a confidentiality flag is to look at their record in Banner or on Banner Web for Faculty. If the Banner screen or web page you are viewing for a student has *CONFIDENTIAL* displayed on it, you may not release any information about that student to anyone. You may not even acknowledge that the student is at Millersville. The appropriate response to a caller who requests information on a student whose record is labeled *CONFIDENTIAL" is: "I cannot provide any information on that individual." When in doubt, it is better to err on the side of not releasing the information and refer the caller or visitor to the Registrar's Office.

Additional information about FERPA

For answers to FERPA questions, contact the Registrar's Office.