Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of personally identifiable information contained in a student’s educational record. FERPA affords students with certain rights pertaining to their education records as listed below. Students will be sent an annual notification, via email, of these rights under FERPA.
Student Rights under FERPA
Student rights include:
1. The right to inspect and review information contained in their educational records;
2. The right to request to amend their educational records;
3. The right to consent to disclosure, with certain exceptions specified in the Act, of personally identifiable information from educational records; and
4. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the college to comply with the requirements of FERPA.
Additional information relating to student rights is available in the EC3 Student Handbook.
Militry Recruitment and the Solomon Amendment
The Solomon Amendment (10 U.S.C. § 983) is a federal law that allows military recruiters to access some personally identifiable information from a student's education record--for students age 17 and older. The Department of Education has determined the Solomon Amendment supersedes most elements of FERPA. As such, EC3 is obligated to release data when a military recruiter requests it.
The following is a list of information that may be released to military personnel for recruitment purposes pursuant to the Solomon Amendment:
● Name
● Address
● telephone
● year of birth
● level of education
● program of study
● degrees earned
● most recent educational institution
Directory Information
Although FERPA protects the privacy of personally identifiable information contained in a student’s educational record, there are stipulations that provide institutions to identify information that is generally not considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released as “directory information”. Individual students may still request that directory information be withheld by submitting the Request to Withhold Directory Information form.
Erie County Community College considers the following as directory information:
- Student’s full name
- Address
- EC3 email address
- Student enrollment status (full- or part-time)
- Dates of attendance
- Program of study
- Degrees, certificates, and honors received
- Participation in officially recognized activities
Viewing, Restricting, or Releasing Information
Students wishing to view, restrict, or release non-directory information can contact the admissions office for assistance (see below) or follow our step-by-step guide.
Complaints
Complaints regarding the unauthorized release of information should be directed to:
Andrew Dick, Registrar
registrar@ec3pa.org
814-413-7014
or
U.S. Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights
Lyndon B Johnson Department of Education Building
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-1100
OCR@ed.gov
800-421-3481
