Confidentiality of Student Records
What is the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)?
FERPA helps protect the privacy of student education rights. The act provides three basic rights:
- The right to inspect and review the education relating to the student maintained by the schools the student attends.
- The right to challenge and require the schools to amend any portion of the education records concerning the student that is inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student's privacy rights.
- The right to require the school to obtain written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information, except in those instances specifically noted in the statute.
The act applies to all institutions that are recipients of federal funds administered by the Secretary of Education.
Student Information Release Form
Holyoke Community College considers all students to be independent as defined in Section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code. The College will not disclose non-directory information of any student except where the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act requires or allows disclosure without consent.
Students can request that their information be released to a third party (parents, state agency, etc.) by completing the Student Information Release form.
See the HCC Student Handbook under Publications for Holyoke Community College's full policy on Student Confidentiality and FERPA.
