Parent Piece: Navigating Privacy Within FERPA I recently spoke with a parent who was very frustrated by the lack of communication from the staff at her child’s college. The student was dealing with a serious issue involving health and safety, and her efforts to obtain information met with resistance. The reason? Privacy related to student records. This despite the student having signed a release. Nothing can be more frustrating for a parent when the institution is stone-walling them. And it is, in fact complicated, if not maddening. In considering how much college staff members will and won’t share with you about your student, understand that institutions are trying to treat students as adults and want to guard their privacy. This is part of teaching students to become adults. What is more, institutions strive to be student-centered. To build relationships with students, it is important to treat them with respect and to guard their privacy. Good institutions also want to partner with families to help their students succeed. These things (student and family centeredness) can co-exist and as a parent, you can be an advocate for your student without acting on behalf of them. Hopefully, your institution will let you. Essentially, FERPA was created in 1974 for students and families to ensure that student records were accurate, could not be shared arbitrarily with others, and could be reviewed and corrected. Records, generally, involve grades, finances, and conduct. Interactions between student and clergy, counselors, and doctors have a higher level of protection. Confidentiality is key in those relationships. Administrators can talk to parents about most anything else. If the student has a track record of belittling staff members, this is not a student record. If attempts to get through to the student don’t work, a phone call to a parent can be effective. These are not records, but observations. In extreme cases, students who are no longer attending classes, or are not responsive to attempts to address their mental health, including suicidality, then institutions may want to contact family to loop them in to help the student. If a parent calls about a roommate conflict, a staff member can absolutely discuss it – or at least listen. In my experience, this was an area when adding the emotional voices of parents actually complicated matters. But sometimes the parent can offer valuable information and insight that can help with context. And it can help with context for the staff in how to address the situation. The important thing to reinforce here, is that FERPA addresses student records, not much else. Be wary if someone says they can’t talk to you because of FERPA. They may be reluctant because of the aforementioned reasons related to privacy (student-centeredness and building trust with students). For entry-level staff and faculty, they may fear that a violation of FERPA will result in the school losing federal aid for a violation. This is extremely rare. Most upper-level and seasoned professionals are more experienced in navigating all of this. So sometimes, parents need to move up the organization chart to get assistance. As a parent of a college student, here are some important things to know about FERPA and privacy: Students are considered adults This is an important philosophy of college administrators. Unfortunately, admission to a college has somehow does not automatically turn an adolescent into a fully functioning adult. Having witnessed cases of improper student behavior, I can say for sure it is generous, at best, to confer adulthood onto 18-year-olds. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence that the brain isn’t close to full development until the mid-20’s. What college staffers want is aspirational. They want to establish that it is time for students to take care of their own business. This is part of the learning process, and is an important component of the college experience. In theory, I love this. However, sometimes students exhaust all manner of reasonable attempts to get assistance from staff members and they NEED an experienced person (parent) to step in. Sometimes parents simply know how to be assertive (hopefully not aggressive or threatening) and to help or get clarity on policies and procedures. Sometimes it is even simpler. When I was a new student and had an issue with my bill, I asked my mom to call the business office because I didn’t understand the situation. It was easier and more efficient for her to do this, and made me no more or less a grown-up. It was a one-off. I got the hang of it. I still grew up and became responsible in many ways (mostly by being an RA). This phone call was better for me and the school. And mom got to be my hero for once. More on privacy The dilemma for administrators is determining when to pull in parents. Most use the health, safety, and success of the student to guide them. Theses can be really gray area and decisions can have major consequences. They can’t do this effectively if they run to students every time the student gets in trouble. Or if they blab whenever a parent calls them. On the other hand, they don’t want to answer questions from a parent about why the family wasn’t informed of something. FERPA allows universities to inform parents of alcohol and drug violations. This can help in redirecting a student’s trajectory. I used it at times, as a dean of students, to help get the student to prioritize education over substance use and related shenanigans. I also sometimes contacted parents if the student was a threat to self or others, also allowed by FERPA. But this was used selectively. I often encouraged students to involve those best positioned to support them. Often, they did so when it was too late to have an impact. With the cost of education, schools should also cultivate parent relationships. This isn’t nefarious, and in fact, it can be very helpful in offering nuanced perspectives to parents, if not outright offering more accurate facts. Parents aren’t wrong when they say they are the ones paying. But still, it is complicated. I had a colleague who used to say he would never take a parent call. This was dumbfounding to me. Sometimes just helping a parent be heard and understand decisions is all a parent needs to be satisfied. So what can parents do? Have you student sign the waiver This is where you have leverage, and it is with your child. If you are the primary funding source, by all means, you should insist that your student sign a waiver, which will allow you to discuss student records. Check the Registrar webpage at your student’s school or search for FERPA waiver. Be proactive in making this happen. And don’t forget, most college instructors give less graded work. When your student can’t produce evidence of their grades during the term, they may be right. Most professors offer little in terms of gradebooks in the way teachers did in high school. But you should definitely feel comfortable asking your student how they will communicate with you about how they are doing academically. Gently push back on FERPA If you are getting the FERPA silent treatment, ask the person you are speaking with to explain what record is being protected. And challenge them if this is an issue of their confidentiality and privacy preferences, rather than the regulation. This will at least give you a sense of how the college is approaching student privacy. You can acknowledge this and still pursue your questions. Without belittling the staff member, perhaps ask to talk to someone at a higher level with more experience who can navigate these issues and speak with more confidence. If that doesn’t work, then speak to the dean of students or the registrar. These persons are used to this and are experts and should be either more informative about the school’s approach and/or more forthcoming. Speak hypothetically I have done this as a parent, calling a child’s therapist or school administrator. If they won’t talk to you about your student, say, “I understand.” And then say you want to speak to them hypothetically, so they know what you are up to. “Let’s say a student has a roommate whose boyfriend has essentially moved into the room, how would a student address this without looking lie a rat? Who can help them and advise them?” (A good staff member will have an RA discreetly look into this, by the way.) I did this with a child’s medical bill recently. “I know you can’t acknowledge they are a patient, but how can I as a parent determine if a bill has been submitted to insurance?” You would be amazed at the adept ways someone can tell you what you need to know without telling you anything specific. Say this, not that Generally, administrators are responsive to the term “student success.” So, if you are being shut out, express that you are interested in the student’s success, and ask the person if they support this (they better). This can help loosen things up. Without threatening that the student might transfer, it is okay to discuss wanting the student to be retained and finish their experience at the school. Every school is worried about retention and graduation rates. And be clear, you know your student needs to advocate for themselves, meet with the appropriate people, and manage their situation. Make it clear that you are seeking information or advocating and the action steps are up to your student. Telling a staff member that you pay, or who you know in the upper level of the administration generally just leads someone to dig in their heels. (Many students are on generous aid and good administrators won’t apply pressure because they know someone.) Lastly, if you are unhappy with the condition of the dorms, the food, textbook prices, class availability, and parking, consider letting these things go. Students have avenues for their complaints and this is when they should make their feelings known through student government or to appropriate university officials. Your general complaints may simply derail staff from managing things that need their attention. Don’t call or reach out to professors You know who will rarely talk about students and their grades and academic performance? Professors. They are almost always big believers that students are adults and that classroom learning is not to be mucked with, by parents, and often administrators. They believe firmly, often, that this isn’t high school any more. And they don’t care about FERPA. They can’t be bothered in most cases, with this. Your better approach will be to talk to an advisor or someone in academic or student services, who may be able to ascertain how a student is doing. As a dean of students, I could reach out to faculty members about student grades, attendance, and engagement and have a pretty good picture of where a student stood academically within 24-48 hours. This could be very helpful in generally painting the full picture for a parent (and student) and help in advising the how to salvage the semester. In summary, understand that institutions are trying to treat students as adults and want to guard their privacy. Good institutions want to partner with families and students to help them succeed. These things can co-exist and as a parent, you can be an advocate for your student without acting on behalf of them. Hopefully, your institution will let you.