Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)

The purpose of FERPA is to protect the privacy of information concerning individual students by placing certain restrictions on the disclosure of information concerning students and that which is contained in a student's educational record.

Any student wishing to give FERPA-protected permissions to others must complete a release form, which will need to be submitted in person by the student to either Office of Admissions & Records, Office of Student Accounts, or Financial Aid Office. A photo ID must be presented for review at the time of submission to verify the student's identity.

On each release form is a section when students will authorize access for specific individuals. For each authorized person, the student will need include the following:

Name
Relationship
Address
Telephone Number

In addition, students will need to create a five (5) digit numeric password to remember and supply to each person they are giving access to. There is a space on the release form to record this number. When authorized individual(s) are inquiring via telephone about specific student account information, the password will need to be confirmed before any information can be disclosed. If inquiring in person, a photo ID will need to be reviewed for verification.

For more information regarding FERPA, please visit the Admissions & Records web-site below:

http://www.arc.wvu.edu/AcademicInformation/index.html

To download the release form and instructions, please visit the direct link below:

http://www.arc.wvu.edu/rightsd.html