Student Record Access & FERPA Guidelines
In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and all of its subsequent amendments, students attending Valdosta State University are hereby notified of their right of access to their educational records.
A. Definition of Record: Within 45 days of receiving a request, the University must allow students to inspect their “educational records,” which are defined broadly to include “records, files, documents, and other materials which (1) contain information directly related to a student, and (2) are maintained by (a college) or by a person, acting (for a college).”
B. Records Not Available for Student’s Inspection: Students need not be allowed to look at (1) financial information furnished in the past or future by their parents, (2) confidential letters of evaluation which have found their way into the records before January 1, 1975. As to such letters received after 1974, the law allows the student to waive his or her right of access, if the letters have to do with admission, employment, or honors, if the letters are used only for those purposes, and if the student is told, on his or her request, the names of all letter writers. No student or applicant may be required to execute a waiver, but an unsuccessful applicant, waiver or no, has no right to inspect all or any of the files accumulated in his or her case. Other materials falling outside the definition of “educational records” and thus not open to inspection by parents or students include: (3) the records about students made by teachers or administrators for their own use and not shown to others, (4) campus police records, under certain circumstances, (5) employment records, and (6) records about college or over-seventeen-year old students “created or maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other registered professional or para-professional” acting or assisting in such capability, for treatment purposes, and which are available only to persons providing such treatment.
C. Judicial Process: If Valdosta State University is responding to a court order or subpoena, it is under no requirement to give a student a copy of the materials furnished, but it will notify him or her of all such orders or subpoenas in advance of compliance therewith.
D. Access Trial: Anyone looking at a student’s record must sign and leave in the file a statement indicating that person’s “legitimate educational or other interest” in inspecting the file. Valdosta State University’s own employees if within the category determined by the University itself to have a legitimate educational interest in the file, need not execute any explanatory statement, nor must a record of their access be kept.
E. Records available for student review and inspection and the official responsible for such records are as follows:
1. Academic Records—Registrar, Admissions, Vice President for Academic Affairs and the student’s advisor
2. Financial Records—Vice President for Business and Finance, Director of Financial Aid
3. Disciplinary Records—Vice President for Student Affairs (Dean of Students Office)
4. Placement Records—Director of Career Services
F. Any student wishing to review or challenge his or her records or desiring further information should contact the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
G. Disciplinary Records Review and Retention: All student disciplinary records are retained in accordance with the Board of Regents policy as stated in Student Records Category K (64) Student Conduct Records/Disciplinary Action Records Explanation: This series documents academic dishonesty and conduct violations among students. Records may include but are not limited to: incidents reports; final reports; evidence; notification of allegation; Timely Notice Forms; Conduct-Pending, Conduct-Restitution, and Suspension Lists; Semester Security Reports; disciplinary reports; informal discussion notes; formal hearing notes; final summary statements; decision statements; appeals documentation; and related documentation and correspondence. Retention: 5 years after graduation or date of last attendance. Citation or Reference: O.C.G.A. 9-3-26
3. Educational, financial aid, and placement records are maintained permanently.
H. Student Access: Students will be furnished copies of any desired records that are accessible under the FERPA guidelines for 25 cents per page fee as well as a nominal retrieval time cost. A student desiring to review his or her records should make a written request to the Custodian of Offical records in the Vice President for Academic Affairs Office who will forward the request to the appropriate departmental contact. Within 45 days the student will be allowed access to his or her records as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Any student desiring to challenge the content of his or her records should notify the Vice President for Academic Affairs in writing, who will, within 45 days, allow the student to present his or her argument before the Valdosta State University Judicial Committee for a decision.
I. Challenge Hearings: The student has a right to the opportunity of challenging the content of his or her educational records and to secure the correction of inaccurate or misleading entries. Furthermore, a student may insert into his or her records a written explanation respecting the content of such records. A student may challenge a grade only on the grounds that it was inaccurately recorded, not that it was lower than the instructor ought to have awarded.
Types of information about a student that may be released to whom, and under what conditions?
A. The following information about a student is considered “Directory Information” and may be unconditionally released without the consent of the student unless he or she has specifically asked that his or her prior consent be obtained. Information such as the student’s name, address, telephone listing, major field of study, participation in officially registered athletic teams, weight and height of team members, dates of attendance, degrees awarded, special honors and awards received, class standing, number of hours registered for, full or part time status, and the most recent previous educational institution attended by the student.
B. The student will have the opportunity annually during his or her first semester of registration, to request that the “directory information” as defined above be considered confidential information.
C. Such a written request must be furnished to the Dean of Students Office in writing (forms available in the Dean of Students Office) within fourteen days of the final day of regular registration for the student’s initial semester of any academic year. Upon the receipt of a properly completed form, directory information will be withheld.
Access Without Student Consent: Other than in the exceptions listed below, or in the case of directory information listed above, or in responding to a judicial process, the University may not release “personally identifiable information” in education records or allow anyone access to those records, unless the student has given his or her written consent specifying the records to be released, the reasons for such release, and to whom and a copy of the released records is furnished by the student.
Exceptions:
A. Faculty, administrators, and other appropriate Valdosta State University personnel may review the record if they have a “legitimate educational interest or need to know.”
B. Also, Valdosta State University may transfer information: (a) to other educational institutions to which the student intends or “seeks” (now) to enroll (though the student must be given a copy of the record, if he or she wishes, and an opportunity to challenge it); (b) to enumerated public officials (like the Comptroller General of the United States); (c) “in connection with a student’s application for, or receipt of, financial aid”; (d) state and local officials to whom state law in effect on November 19, 1974, required information to be reported; (e) organizations like ETS and CEED in connection with “developing, validating, or administering predictive tests, administering student aid programs, and improving instruction,” but such organizations in order to carry out their accrediting functions; (g) parents of a student who is dependent for income tax purposes; (h) “appropriate persons” in the case of health and safety emergencies.
Section II
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA)
For the purposes of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the University seeks to protect the confidentiality of individually identifiable health information that is in its possession. Such health information, which is protected from unauthorized disclosure by University policies and by state and federal law, is referred to as “protected health information,” or “PHI.”
PHI is defined as any individually identifiable health information regarding, a student’s, or a patient’s medical/dental history; mental or physical condition; or medical treatment. The disclosure of such information shall be in accordance with the practices that are described in the University’s Notice of Privacy Practices found at http://www.valdosta.edu/legal/hipaa/pocsa.htm.
Last revision Fall 2006