FERPA

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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

FERPA is the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that sets forth requirements regarding the privacy of student records. FERPA governs the release of student education records maintained by the University and access to these records.

Students are afforded certain rights concerning their education records, including:

  • the right to inspect and review the education records
  • the right to seek to have the records amended
  • the right to have some control over the disclosure of the information from the records

An institution’s failure to comply with FERPA could result in the withdrawal of federal funds by the Department of Education. In order to ensure compliance with FERPA, it is important to review our UWW policies from our Registrar Links to an external site..

Whether you are delivering a face-to-face or an online course, it is important to identify the difference between Directory Information and Personally Identifiable Information.

Directory Information (Public Records)

FERPA allows for the release of specified items of information not generally considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. UW-Whitewater, in accordance with FERPA, has designated the following categories of information about individual students as directory (public) information. This information will be released to any inquirer unless you specifically request that all of the items on the following list be withheld.

  • Name
  • Address
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (excluding cell)
  • Dates of attendance
  • Enrollment status (full/part time)
  • Classification (e.g., sophomore, senior, graduate student)
  • Major/minor/degree program
  • Degrees and dates of graduation, including anticipated graduation dates
  • Previous institutions attended
  • Awards and academic honors
  • Participation in officially recognized sports and activities
  • Physical factors (weight and height) of members of athletic teams

Non-Directory Information (Private Records)

Non-directory information includes items which are considered private, or protected, and which cannot be identified as directory information. Examples of private information include, but are not limited to:

  • Social security number
  • Race
  • Religion
  • National origin
  • Gender
  • Grades

The online environment provides new options to communicate with your students. In addition to using Canvas, you may choose to use tools outside of your course to communicate with your students or hold virtual office hours . It is important to remember that you should not use any of these third party communication tools to discuss grades. The best method to communicate with students regarding grades or other personally identifiable information is through Canvas since this is password protected and FERPA compliant.