The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
When a student attends a postsecondary institution or turns 18 years of age, the student, and not the parent, may access, seek to amend and consent to disclosures of his or her education records.
Under FERPA, certain "protected" types of information cannot be released to any third party without specific written consent from the eligible student.
The following is a list of information not released by the colleges' or district's employees.
- grades
- grade point average
- ethnicity
- Social Security Number
- class schedule
- personal e-mail address
...to anyone but the student unless the student has provided specific written instructions to release the information to a particular person.
However in most cases, "Directory Information" is allowed to be released without fear of penalty under FERPA. Directory information includes the following information:
- student's name
- local address
- local phone
- Lone Star College System e-mail address (not the student's personal account)
- date of birth
- place of birth
- degrees earned
- dates of attendance
- enrollment status (full or part-time/hours enrolled)
- sports participation
- official activities
- academic level (freshman, sophomore, etc)
- residency status
- photograph
- major field of study
- height/weight if on a recognized athletic team
- the last school which the student attended
Students have the option to place a security block on their record at which time the only response allowed is, "I cannot release any information on a person with that name."