Dear Professor FERPA:
A student has written a letter to a University administrator and now a local newspaper is requesting a copy of the letter. The letter contained information about an extracurricular activity the student participates in on behalf of the University and the student requested confidentiality.
Is this letter part of the student’s education record? The letter is still in the hands of the administrator, who is wondering if FERPA laws would allow for releasing the letter to the newspaper.
My thoughts are that the letter is not part of the student’s education record and since the student has requested confidentiality it should not be released.
Your help would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Registrar
_________________________________
Dear Registrar:
An education record generally includes any information that is directly related to the student and is maintained by the institution or a party acting for the institution. See §99.3 "education records" in the FERPA regulations.
While there are five exceptions to this broad definition, none of them would apply in the situation you describe. Consequently, the letter from the student, which is being maintained by the University, meets the definition of an "education record." As such, in order for the University to release the letter in response to the request from the local newspaper, the student would need to provide a signed consent as described in §99.30, or the disclosure would need to meet the specific conditions of one of the exceptions to signed consent found in §99.31 of the FERPA regulations.
You can find the FERPA regulations starting on page 151 of the 2012 AACRAO FERPA Guide.
Sincerely,
The FERPA Professor