FERPA: Why Can’t I Speak with My Student’s Professors?

The University of California is required by law to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This law establishes guidelines to protect the privacy of student records and to provide students access to these records.

This means that students have the right to keep their records private and that the university is prohibited from sharing a student’s FERPA-protected information without a written release from the student.

Students may share information with authorized parties in the following ways:

Students may sign authorizations for parents to discuss their accounts with Campus Billing. fs.uci.edu/files/2014/10/RELEASE.pdf Students may grant permission for another person to make an electronic payment on their ZOT account. fs.uci.edu/payments/guest-access.php Students may sign authorizations for parents to discuss grants, scholarships and other awards with the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. www.ofas.uci.edu/content/pdf/ ConsentForReleaseOfInformation.pdf

Students cannot authorize the release of grade reports to parents, but can send their parents printed or electronic copies themselves.