FERPA & Student Information Policies

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. These rights include:

• The right to inspect and review their education records within 45 days after the day the University receives a request for access. 
  • Students should submit to the registrar of their school or program a written request that identifies the record(s) the students wish to inspect. The registrar will make access arrangements and notify students of the time and place where the records may be inspected.
• The right to request the amendment of their education records that the student believes is inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA.
  • Students who wish to ask the University to amend a record should write the registrar of their school or program, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it should be changed. If the University decides not to amend the record as requested, the University will notify students in writing of the decision and their right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to students when notified of the right to a hearing.
• The right to provide written consent before the University discloses personally identifiable information from the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
  • Title 34 Section 99.31 of the Code of Federal Regulations describes the circumstances in which the University may disclose personally identifiable information without a student’s consent. The following are additional important details on the University’s policy regarding three of those circumstances:
    1. The University discloses education records without a student’s prior written consent under the FERPA exception for disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. Typically, a school official is a person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); fellows of the Yale Corporation and non-trustee members of Yale Corporation committees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee. A school official also may include a volunteer or contractor outside of the University who performs an institutional service or function for which the University would otherwise use its own employees and who is under the direct control of the school with respect to the use and maintenance of personally identifiable information from education records. A school official typically has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for the University.
    2. As a public service, the University may, but is not required to, disclose without consent directory information. Additional details regarding directory information are available in the Directory Information Statement.
    3. Upon request, the University also discloses education records without consent to officials of another educational institution in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.
• The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the University to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) is a federal law with three purposes:

• Ensuring that students have an opportunity to review their own education records
• Providing students with a process for requesting amendments to their education records
• Protecting the confidentiality of students’ education records

The Right to Review: In regard to the first purpose, FERPA requires Yale to provide students with an opportunity to review their education records within 45 days after they make a request to do so.

Requesting Amendments:  If students believe that their education records are inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of their privacy rights, they can request amendments.  If Yale declines to make requested changes, students may request a hearing.

Confidentiality:  Yale is forbidden to disclose students’ education records without their written permission, unless the disclosure fits into one of several exceptions to the confidentiality requirement.

A Key Point about the Rights to Review and Request Amendment: 

• Refer Students to the Registrar: At Yale, the University Registrar and the registrars of the professional schools are responsible for the formal FERPA review, amendment, and hearing processes.  If students ask to review or amend their education records as an explicit exercise of their rights under FERPA, please refer them to the registrar of their school. 

FERPA Confidentiality in Brief

Two Key Definitions:

• Education Records:  A record directly related to an identifiable student and maintained by Yale or a party acting for Yale.  There are a few types of records that are carved out of this definition, and they are discussed below.
• Student:  Anyone who is or has been in attendance at Yale.  A person is considered to be “in attendance” at Yale – and therefore a Yale “student” – on the first day of classes for the program in which the person is enrolled.

Two Key Confidentiality Requirements:

• Student’s Written Consent to Disclose Records:  You may not disclose a student’s education records unless the student has provided a signed and dated written consent that specifies the records that may be disclosed, the purpose of the disclosure, and the party to whom the disclosure may be made.
• Educational Need:  You are forbidden to read a student’s education record unless you have a “legitimate educational interest” in the record.  You have a legitimate educational interest in a record if you need the record in order to fulfill your professional responsibility at Yale.

Three Key Exceptions to the Consent Requirement:

• The Student:  In the normal course of your work at Yale, you may disclose to a student that student’s education records (graded course work, bursar bills, etc.), and there is no need for the student to provide a written consent. 
• Other School Officials:  FERPA allows you to share a student’s education records with other members of the Yale faculty and staff (“School Officials”) who have a legitimate educational interest in reading the record.
• Health or Safety:  If, in light of all the surrounding circumstances, you identify a significant health or safety threat, FERPA allows you to disclose a student’s education records to anyone who may need the records to respond to the threat.  In addition, the exception for “Other School Officials” allows you to discuss health or safety concerns about a student with other Yale faculty or staff members who are in a position to provide help or advice.  Finally, your personal observations of a student’s behavior are not protected education records and may also be shared if you have health or safety concerns about the student.

The Key Point about the Other 13 Exceptions:

• Consult the Registrar:  FERPA includes 13 other exceptions to the consent-to-disclose requirement.  Please consult the registrar of the student’s school before disclosing a student’s record to anyone other than the student, a colleague with a legitimate educational interest, or someone who can assist with an urgent health or safety concern. 

If you have any questions regarding FERPA or the guidance above please e-mail FERPA@yale.edu.

Yale policy on parental notification does not allow you to discuss a student’s academic performance with the student’s parents, and you should refer any parental requests for information to the dean of the student’s residential college or the registrar of the student’s school.

Yes, but only if the company offering the program signs an agreement with Yale protecting the confidentiality of the students’ records and accepting its responsibility as a “School Official” under FERPA. If you wish to use such a program, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning.

FERPA is not a records retention law, and it requires Yale to preserve education records in one circumstance only: while formal requests by students to review their own education records are pending.

Yes, so long as Yale removes all information that, alone or in combination, would allow the student to be identified. Please consult the registrar of the student’s school before disclosing de-identified information.

Yes, but you may ask students to waive their right to see letters of recommendation. The waiver must be in writing.

If the letter will include your personal observations only, then you do not need to obtain the student’s written consent. If you intend to refer to the student’s grades or other education records, then the student will need to provide written consent.

In the vast majority of cases, FERPA’s “directory information” exception allows Yale to disclose a student’s name, address, Yale program, and other basic information. The complete list of information that Yale considers directory information can be found here. 

In certain circumstances, some information in the following categories may not be considered “education records” covered by FERPA:

• medical records;
• law enforcement records;
• employment records;
• records about post-graduation alumni achievements; and
• a faculty or staff member’s personal notes about a student that are not shared with others.

In addition, your personal observations of a student’s behavior are not education records covered by FERPA. Consult the registrar of the student’s school before concluding that the types of information discussed above are not protected by FERPA.