UMass Amherst: Office of the University Registrar

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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Following are highlights of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act concerning the records of enrolled students:

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Part 99 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations), also known as the Buckley Amendment, was developed to allow present or former students at educational institutions access to certain records maintained by the institution containing information about them. It also established standards of access accorded others, to ensure students' rights of privacy.

The law generally grants the following rights of access to students regarding their own records:
1. The right to be provided a list of the types of educational records maintained by the institution which directly relate to them.
2. The right to inspect and review the contents of their own records.
3. The right to obtain copies of those records when: a) failure to provide such copies would effectively prevent the student from exercising the right to inspect and review his/her educational records; b) when the student has submitted his/her written consent to allow the University to disclose certain personally identifiable information from the student's educational record, and the student requests a copy of the information to be disclosed; and c) when the University transfers the student's educational records to another educational institution, and a copy of those records is requested by the student.
4. The right to a response to a reasonable request for an explanation and/or interpretation of their record.
5. The right to an opportunity for a hearing to challenge the contents of their records.
6. Complaints regarding violations of this act, or its regulations, may be submitted in writing to the Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202-4605.
The law generally exempts personal records kept by instructional, supervisory, and administrative staff, as long as those records are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a substitute; records of law enforcement unit; records of employees of an educational institution; and records which are created or maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, or other recognized professional or paraprofessional, and which are created or maintained or used only in connection with the treatment of the student.
The law permits the University to release and/or publish, without students' permission, directory information. This is defined as a student's name, local address, home address, e-mail address, major, telephone numbers, date and place of birth, acknowledgment of a student's participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, date(s) of attendance, degrees, certificates, awards received, student employment status, the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student and appointment as a Resident Assistant or Community Development Assistant. For graduate students who are teaching credit courses, work department, office address, and employment category are also defined as directory information.
The University recognizes its obligation and responsibilities concerning rights of access to education records. Policies concerning transcripts, access of records to advisors, academic departments, counselors, and others with a need to know are available from either the Office of the University Registrar, 213 Whitmore, 545-0555, or the Graduate Records Office, 534 Goodell, 545-0024.
Additional information is available in the Academic Regulations handbook. [downloadable file]

Requests by individual students to suppress directory information must be made annually to the Dean of Students Office, 227 Whitmore Administration Building for undergraduates; to the Graduate Records Office, 534 Goodell Building for graduate students.