Title: 01.02.004-Educational Records

Policy Number: 01.02.004

Policy Title: Educational Records

Status: Active

Policy:

The institution defines education records according to language from the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The term "education records" is defined as those records that contain information directly related to a student and which are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. At the time of this application, the institution is not subject to FERPA requirements but intends to substantially match the requirements.
The institution defines financial records according to the DEAC requirements for-profit institutions which are based on generally accepted accounting principles which include the following documentation:
• Balance Sheet: reflecting assets, liabilities, and equity;
• Income Statement: reflecting revenues, expenses, and net income (loss);
• Statement of Cash Flows: reflecting the sources and uses of cash; and
• Statement of Changes in Shareholders’ Equity: showing activity in shareholders’ equity for the
periods presented.

The institution will provide certain privacy protections for those education, administrative, and financial records that it does maintain according to Policy 01.02.003 (Record Keeping Retention Schedule). The institution will provide an eligible student with an opportunity to inspect and review his or her education and financial records within 45 days following its receipt of a request. The institution may choose to provide an eligible student with copies of education or financial records, or make other arrangements, if a failure to do so would effectively prevent the student from obtaining access to the records.
The institution generally prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education, administrative, and financial records. Information that an official obtains through personal knowledge or observation, or has heard orally from others, is not considered to be protected. This remains applicable even if education, administrative, and financial records exist which contain that information, unless the official had an official role in making a determination that generated a protected education, administrative, or financial records. Certain students who are officially sponsored by an employer, volunteer organization, or other entity may sign a Waiver for the Disclosure of Educational Records providing specific parties the right to request and view any and all education, administrative, and financial records that might ordinarily be available to the student.
Even though the institution is not subject to FERPA at the time of this document submission, conditions specified in the FERPA regulations at 34 CFR § 99. 31 must be met before a school may non-consensually disclose personally identifiable information from education records in connection with any of the exceptions mentioned above.
An eligible student has the right to request that inaccurate or misleading information in his or her education records be amended. While the institution is not required to amend education records in accordance with an eligible student's request, the institution will consider the request. If the institution decides not to amend a record in accordance with an eligible student's request, the institution must inform the student of his or her right to a hearing on the matter. If, as a result of the hearing, the Institution still decides not to amend the record, then the eligible student has the right to insert a statement in the record setting forth his or her views. That statement must remain with the contested part of the eligible student's record for as long as the record is maintained.

The institution maintains the right to disclose personally identifiable information from education records without consent when the disclosure is to the parents of a student at a postsecondary institution regarding the student's violation of any Federal, State, or local law, or of any rule or policy of the institution, governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance. The school may non-consensually disclose information under this exception if the school determines that the student has committed a disciplinary violation with respect to that use or possession and the student is under 21 years of age at the time of the disclosure to the parent.

The institution maintains the right to non-consensually disclose personally identifiable information from a student's education records when such information has been appropriately designated as directory information. "Directory information" is defined as information contained in the education records of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Directory information could include information such as the student's name, address, e-mail address, telephone listing, photograph, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended, grade level or year (such as freshman or junior), and enrollment status (undergraduate or graduate; full-time or part-time).

Under certain conditions, the institution may non-consensually disclose personally identifiable information from education records:
• to authorized representatives of the Comptroller General of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and State and local educational authorities for audit or evaluation of Federal or State supported education programs, or for the enforcement of or compliance with Federal legal requirements that relate to those programs;
• to organizations conducting studies for or on behalf of the school making the disclosure for the purposes of administering predictive tests, administering student aid programs, or improving instruction; to comply with a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena;
• to the victim of an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or a non-forcible sex offense concerning the final results of a disciplinary hearing with respect to the alleged crime; and
• to any third party the final results of a disciplinary proceeding related to a crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense if the student who is the alleged perpetrator is found to have violated the school's rules or policies.
The disclosure of the final results only includes: the name of the alleged perpetrator, the violation committed, and any sanction imposed against the alleged perpetrator. The disclosure must not include the name of any other student, including a victim or witness, without the written consent of that other student.