FERPA Tutorial

What is FERPA?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, commonly known as FERPA, is a federal law governing the privacy of educational records. It grants specific rights to students and sets restrictions on how schools handle educational records. FERPA requires that schools obtain written permission from students before releasing educational records. In certain well-defined circumstances, some information may be released without written permission from the student.

FERPA gives each student the following rights:

• The right to inspect and review the student's education records
• The right to request the amendment of the student's education records
• The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records
• The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the Georgia Institute of Technology to comply with the requirements of FERPA