Question

Is FERPA is an important privacy law, one that is often overlooked? Why?

Answer 1

FERPA is the acronym for The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA is an important law originally intended to protect student and parent privacy. It is the cornerstone of education privacy, and knowing its key provisions it is a must in order to understand current educational privacy rights for students and parents.

The FERPA protects the confidentiality of student educational records. The Act applies to any public or private elementary, secondary, or post-secondary school and any state or local education agency that receives federal funds. All public schools and virtually all private schools are covered by FERPA because they receive some sort of federal funding.

Northern Arizona University is a community unto itself. As such, the university is the repository for various types of information about the members of the community. The sharing of that information is governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA became law in 1974 and provides requirements for the proper release of information pertaining to students’ educational records.

The law stipulates the conditions for the release of information to others, both within and outside the university. It should be noted, that while FERPA seeks to control access to information, it clearly allows for students to inspect and review their own education records, as defined. Thus, it is for the protection of the rights of the individual student that FERPA was established.