Confidentiality of Student Records
FERPA
Marietta College abides by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA, “Buckley Amendment”), as amended. This legislation is designed to protect the privacy of a student’s educational records.
Information held by the College in any office (e.g. Records Office, Provost’s Office, Office of the Dean of Student Life, Health and Wellness Center, Career Center, Admission Office, Student Financial Services Office, Cashier’s Office, Business Office, and faculty offices) is released for off-campus use only with the student’s written consent or upon subpoena, with the exceptions listed below.
Data classified as directory information, which may be released to anyone by the College on request, includes the student’s hometown; telephone numbers; e-mail; photographs; dates of attendance; degrees and awards received; date of graduation; fields of study; class level; schedule of classes; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; and, if a member of an athletic team, weight and height. In addition, information about a student’s accomplishments, such as participation in recognized student activities and receipt of awards and honors, may be communicated to news media, parents, and the high school the student attended, unless the student specifically requests that such communication not take place. Such a request must be in writing and sent to the office of Communication & Brand Management, Follett House. Such requests must be resubmitted at the beginning of each academic year and may cover no more than one year. A request for non-disclosure of all directory information may be filed in writing with the Office of the Dean of Student Life, Andrews Hall.
Student records (e.g., grades, disciplinary action, financial information, etc.) may be released to parents or legal guardians only with signed consent of the student. The student must provide the College with a signed waiver for such release of information. Waiver forms are available in the Records Office and the Office of the Dean of Student Life. See the Parent Notification Policy in the Student Handbook section for specific circumstances in which exceptions may be made.
As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education’s FERPA regulations expand the circumstances under which your education records and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records — including your Social Security Number, grades, or other private information — may be accessed without your consent. First, the U.S. Comptroller General, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Education, or state and local education authorities (“Federal and State Authorities”) may allow access to your records and PII without your consent to any third party designated by a Federal or State Authority to evaluate a federal- or state-supported education program. The evaluation may relate to any program that is “principally engaged in the provision of education,” such as early childhood education and job training, as well as any program that is administered by an education agency or institution. Second, Federal and State Authorities may allow access to your education records and PII without your consent to researchers performing certain types of studies, in certain cases even when we object to or do not request such research. Federal and State Authorities must obtain certain use-restriction and data security promises from the entities that they authorize to receive your PII, but the Authorities need not maintain direct control over such entities. In addition, in connection with Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, State Authorities may collect, compile, permanently retain, and share without your consent PII from your education records, and they may track your participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about you that they obtain from other Federal or State data sources, including workforce development, unemployment insurance, child welfare, juvenile justice, military service, and migrant student records systems.