Winter 2005-2006 Online Publication    




For more information on the Dec. 6 webcast featuring FERPA, go to the USA Funds website and select "Training".

Consider Students’ Dependency Status, Written Consent in Releasing Information
By Sandra Holt and Mae Dunn-St. Julien, USA Funds Services

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the privacy of information in education records and applies to any school that receives funding from the federal government. Financial-aid administrators should remember that only parents of students who are considered dependent according to Internal Revenue Service tax code have access to the students’ education records.

Parents of independent students do not have access to education records without students’ written consent.

A student’s status as dependent or independent under FERPA is not always the same as it would be if considered for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. To help you determine students’ dependency status under the FERPA and how that compares to their status according to the FAFSA, USA Funds® University offers the following table:

  FERPA Dependency Status FAFSA Dependency Status
Student is 18 years old and was claimed on parents’ taxes. Dependent Dependent
Student is 24 years old and was claimed on parents’ taxes. Dependent Independent
Student is 21 years old and was not claimed on parents’ taxes. Independent Dependent
Student is 21 years old and was claimed on stepparents’ taxes. Dependent Dependent

In addition to parents, other relatives might request information about a student from the financial-aid office. Even if these relatives have raised the student, they do not automatically have access to education records. In these circumstances, students should sign consent forms to release information from their education records to these relatives. Without this written consent, financial-aid administrators should release only data that is not considered to be harmful or an invasion of privacy if released. This “directory information”—which may be released as long as students have not indicated in writing that they do not want the information to be shared—includes the following:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Telephone listing
  • E-mail address.
  • Photograph.
  • Date and place of birth.
  • Major field of study.
  • Dates of attendance.
  • Grade level.
  • Enrollment status.
  • Participation in official activities and sports.
  • Degrees, honors and awards

FERPA is among the topics of the Fall 2005 USA Funds Student-Loan Workshops and will be featured in a Dec. 6 webcast. For more information, visit www.usafunds.org and select “Training” from the Express Links drop-down box.