College Policies

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Privacy Rights and FERPA

FERPA Release Form

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 protects the privacy of educational records, establishes the right of students to inspect and review their educational records and provides guidelines for the correction of inaccurate or misleading data. Each year Schoolcraft College notifies students of these privacy rights and outlines the public information that can be released outside the institution.

Students:
If you want to grant another person access to your records at the College, a FERPA release is required.  You can decide what information and when you want someone to have access as well as the password you will use by completing the FERPA Release Form below.  You can also submit a written request to have access revoked at any time.

Parents/Family members :
You cannot access your student’s protected information unless they have completed, signed and turned in a FERPA Release Form.   This means you need a release to get information about your student’s grades, attendance or class schedule, disciplinary action, financial aid/student accounts, or to speak with their instructor regarding any FERPA protected information..  The student can revoke access at any time.

Please note that having a FERPA release form on file does not mean that you can conduct business for your student with the college, such as requesting password resets, for example.

Faculty:
You cannot release information regarding a student’s grades, attendance or any other student specific information unless there is a FERPA Release Form on file and you have received the password from the requestor.  Please contact your Dean or Associate Dean’s Office to confirm that a FERPA Release Form has been received and that the password is correct before disclosing anything that is FERPA protected.  It is ok to talk to someone other than the student related to processes, rules or non-FERPA related items.  For instance, if a family member inquires about whether or not you will take work after a deadline for a student, and your policy is that you do not accept late work, indicating that policy to the inquiring party is not a FERPA violation.

No one outside the institution shall have access to nor will the institution disclose any information, other than directory information, from students’ educational records without the written consent of the student. Exceptions permitted under FERPA include:

  • information released to qualified persons within the institution
  • officials of other institutions in which students seek to enroll
  • persons or organizations providing student financial aid 
  • accrediting agencies carrying out their accreditation function 
  • members of the Schoolcraft Community who are individually or collectively acting in the educational interests of students 
  • persons in compliance with a judicial order and in an emergency to protect the health or safety of students or other persons.

Upon request, Schoolcraft discloses education records without consent to officials of another school in which the student seeks or intends to enroll or where the student is already enrolled so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student’s enrollment/transfer.

Students wishing to review their educational records must file a written request with the Registrar. Records covered by FERPA will be made available within 45 days of the receipt of the request. The right to a review or hearing under the Act does not include any right to challenge the appropriateness of a grade as determined by the instructor. However, students may use this process to verify that the instructor’s grade has been properly transmitted to the student’s records. Any inspection shall be made under the supervision of a Schoolcraft College employee. Students may not inspect or review the following as outlined by FERPA:

  • financial information submitted by their parents
  • confidential letters and recommendations associated with admissions, employment, job placement or honors to which they have waived their rights of inspection and review
  • educational records containing information about more than one student, in which case the institution will permit access only to the part of the record which pertains to the inquiring student.

If an individual student feels that his or her official records are inaccurate, misleading or otherwise inappropriate, the student may discuss his/her concerns informally with the person(s) in charge of the records involved. If these persons agree with the student, the appropriate records will be amended. If not, the student will be notified within a reasonable period of time that the records will not be amended, and also will be informed by the vice president of student services of the student’s right to a formal hearing.

At its discretion, the college is authorized to release directory information which includes, but is not limited to a student’s name, address, telephone number, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, dates of attendance, degrees and academic awards received, and the most recent previous educational institution attended by the student. Students may request that this information be withheld by notifying the Student Records office in writing.