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Organizational Membership

Connect to the world of higher education

With AACRAO membership you'll be connected to more than 11,000 members from institutions around the world. Facilitate your professional development by attending discounted meetings, gaining complimentary subscriptions to our College & University journal and more.

Why should you join? State higher education coordinating boards, higher education associations, accrediting bodies and international ministries of education and more can collaborate with our members and lend their voices to discussions about practices in the field. 

Annual Membership Price: $710

Requirements: YOU MUST BE A PUBLIC SECTOR AND/OR A PRIVATE NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATION WHOSE INTERESTS ARE CLOSELY ALIGNED TO AACRAO.  

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Professional Competencies

Work on your skills like change management, technical knowledge and professional development and contributions to the field. We have the tools for you.

Online Learning

Strategic enrollment management. Admissions & recruitment. Transfer & articulation.  AACRAO regularly partners with organizations to hold joint discussions. No matter what your focus is, our webinars are loved by our members, and can raise the profile of your work. 

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AACRAO's Career Navigator is a wealth of job postings and resources for training. 

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Get Published

AACRAO's professional journals College & University and SEM Quarterly are always accepting articles and have a wide circulation base.

Research Opportunities

Leverage the expertise of our over 11,000 members and contribute to one of the premier sources of practice related research within the global higher education community. 

Join a committee

Do work you're passionate about, with support and mentoring from fellow members. From Caucuses to specialized topics, it's all one community, no matter where in the world your institution is located. 


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AACRAO's bi-weekly professional development e-newsletter

Ask the FERPA Professor

Sep 9, 2019, 15:40 PM
legacy id :
Summary : Is a contracted lawyer a designated school official?
Url :

Good day, FERPA Professor,

I'm writing to ask about an inquiry from a former student’s attorney.

Our university put him in touch with our contracted lawyer (who is not an employee of the institution). There is not currently a lawsuit nor subpoena.  Our lawyer asked for a copy of a statement the student submitted to our Title IV coordinator when he was a student. We denied the request for the statement unless the lawyer submitted a subpoena or a signed release from the student.

Just checking: Is there a loophole that would permit me to share that information with our contracted lawyer?  

 

Thank you for your helpful advice.

Sincerely,

Ella Vayder

___________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Ella,

It is possible, depending on how the University defines "school official," to give your attorney access to the education records of a student in compliance with FERPA.

FERPA regulations permit institutions to designate their contractors, vendors, etc. as school officials so long as the conditions of 99.31(a)(1)(i)(B) are met.  In particular, the contractor must be under the direct control of the institution to be designated as a school official. 

If these conditions are met, then the institution could share student education records with the attorney as appropriate. 

You can find the referenced language on page 159 of the 2012 AACRAO FERPA Guide.

I hope this is helpful in answering your question.

The FERPA Professor

Want the Professor to come to your campus? Visit our  FERPA compliance training page.

AACRAO members, send your questions to the FERPA Professor at connect@aacrao.org.

 

Registrar 101 & FERPA Two-Day Workshop

Nov. 4-5, Dallas, TX -- Take a journey through the what and how of the registrar's office, and gain the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful now and in future supervisory roles

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  • FERPA
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Questions? Contact us at membership@aacrao.org or (202) 355-1040