Education Privacy: Should Parents Have Access to College Grades

When a parent of a 2011 Simley graduate contacted me recently to complain about her inability to access her son's college records at the U of M, I was surprised.  I figured, as did she, that since she and her husband were paying their son's tuition at the U, they would have a right to look at his class list and grades.  How wrong we were.

As a child goes through elementary school, middle school, and high school, parents become used to automatic access to their child’s records. Grades, attendance, discipline, all of these are available to parents of young students, no questions asked. However, once a student turns 18 or attends college, a federal law abruptly changes that, and the right to access student records transfers to the student.

All of this is a result of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act passed by Congress in 1974. This law gives parents the right to access student records until they are college students, when the law then deems them responsible adults who are allowed to determine who will receive information about them. For parents, this can be unsettling and annoying, especially if they are paying for the expensive tuition allowing their child to go to college.

So how can parents get a copy of their son or daughter’s grades? The quickest and easiest way is for the student to provide it. Otherwise, the student must sign an information release form to provide others with their information — however, information will not be automatically provided to parents, and it must still be requested.

There are two exceptions to this law. One occurs if parents document in writing that the student is still claimed as a dependent for income tax purposes.  The college may require you to submit your most recent tax forms in order to support this claim.

The second is a health and safety exception. If a student is considered a threat to himself or to others, or there is a need to protect the health and safety of the student for some reason, information may be shared with parents. A school may also disclose to parents any violation of the use or possession of drugs or alcohol by students under 21.  An important note here is that the law allows, but does not require, such information to be released to parents.  School policies may vary widely on policies notifying parents.

What do you think? Should a parent of a college student automatically have a right to all student data if the parent is paying for tuition? Let me know either by posting below, emailing me at Rep.Joe.Atkins@house.mn, or by giving me a call at the Capitol at 296-4192.