FERPA

In our student directory, Clarkson College provides extensive information about each student. You have the right, however, to withhold the disclosure of information under the Family Educational Right and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.

It is your responsibility to direct Clarkson College to withhold information you do not wish to see released. Absent specific direction from a student (or via the student’s completion of Buckley Amendment forms), Clarkson College considers the following to be directory information:

  • Student's name
  • Photograph
  • Address
  • Email address
  • Telephone number
  • Date and place of birth
  • Major
  • Participation in officially recognized activities
  • Dates of attendance, degrees and awards received
  • Most recent previous educational agency or institution attended

The forms necessary to request withholding of information are available in the Registrar's office or on the Forms & Handbooks page. For a full listing of Clarkson College's FERPA procedures, including information as it relates your right to inspect all official Clarkson College records related to yourself, please refer to Policy SS-9.

Notification of Rights under FERPA for Postsecondary Institutions

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords eligible students certain rights with respect to their education records. (An “eligible student” under FERPA is a student who is 18 years of age or older or who attends a postsecondary institution at any age.) These rights include:

  1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within forty-five (45) days after the day Clarkson College receives a request for access. A student should submit to the Registrar’s Office a written request that identifies the record(s) the student wishes to inspect.

  2. The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading. Students may ask to amend a record they believe is incorrect or misleading. Grades are not subject to challenge.

  3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information from the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception that permits disclosure without consent is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record to fulfill their professional responsibilities for Clarkson College.

  4. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office concerning alleged failures by Clarkson College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is:

    Family Policy Compliance Office
    U.S. Department of Education
    400 Maryland Avenue, SW
    Washington, DC 20202