Privacy and your educational records
Enacted in 1974, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that provides students certain rights regarding their educational records. Specifically, it provides students the right to:
- Inspect and review their educational records,
- Request the amendment of inaccurate or misleading records,
- Consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in their educational record,
- Request confidentiality, and
- File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Waubonsee Community College to comply with this law.
A "student" is defined as 1) someone who has reached 18 years of age or 2) is attending a postsecondary institution at any age. This means that all the rights that once belonged to the student's parent(s) transfer to the student at the postsecondary level. FERPA does state that the college may release information to the parent(s) of a student but is not required to do so. Information about how Registration and Records may disclose information to a parent can be found at our FERPA for Parents page. Access to official educational records does not allow parents to directly contact instructors, academic deans or counselors.
Contact
Registrar
Registration and Records
Sugar Grove Campus
Student Center, Second Floor
(630) 466-2373
