Who may have access to education records?

Most of the information in the student education record is private and in most instances cannot be released to third parties without permission from the student. The following individuals may have access to private, public and suppressed public information in the education record:  the student who is the subject of the education record, any outside party with the student’s written consent -the consent form should specify what information the third party is allowed to access (keep a copy of the signed consent form); school officials with a legitimate educational interest in the data;; a person in response to a lawfully issued subpoena or court order (please get in touch with your campus contact listed at the end of this tutorial before responding to a subpoena or court order).

Parents do not have automatic access to their student's education records at the post-secondary level. Under FERPA parents are considered a third party, just like anyone else other than the student. However, there are ways parents can get access to their student's educational record. First, they can obtain written permission from the student to access the record. Second, the student can grant them access in the University’s “Parent/Guest Access” system, available on the One Stop Web page.