Dear FERPA Professor,
One of our academic departments is requesting access to student records for two consultants hired to assist with a program. The consultants will need access to the students’ assignments and discussion posts using our learning management system. I have two questions related to this:
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Is it possible to grant access to consultants if the students sign a consent form?
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If so, is there a recommended (e.g., a sample) form that can provide appropriate language specific to this issue that would be compliant with FERPA?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Erin Toss
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Dear Erin,
So long as the University has a contract with the consultants that meet the conditions of §99.31(a)(1)(i)(B), the disclosure could be made to the consultants without the need to meet the signed consent requirements of §99.30. These conditions can be found in whole on page 159 of the 2012 AACRAO FERPA Guide. To paraphrase, the consultants must; a) perform functions or services which institutional employees would normally perform; b) operate under the direct control of the institution (this control should be defined explicitly in the consultant’s contract); and c) the consultants are subject to the requirements of §99.33(a) governing the use and redisclosure of education records. If the consultants meet all the above criteria, they can effectively be treated as school officials under FERPA. So long as they have a legitimate educational interest, they can be granted access to educational records.
If there is no contract in place meeting the §99.31 requirements, then you could use signed consent to grant them access to the records. You can find sample consent forms in Chapter Six of the above-mentioned FERPA Guide, beginning on page 105.
I hope this is helpful in answering your question,
The FERPA Professor
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