Privacy of Student Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights to access and amend incorrect educational records. It also controls the disclosure of record information to outside parties. Dependent students who are at least eighteen years old must give written permission to release academic records to anyone not associated with the university, including parents. According to the U.S. Department of Education, "under FERPA, schools may release any and all information to parents, without the consent of the eligible student, if the student is dependent for tax purposes under IRS rules." North Georgia College and State University believes that students in attendance at North Georgia who have reached their eighteenth birthday are deemed to be emancipated, and thus parents will not have the authority to inspect and review, or to be informed about, the educational records of the student without his/her written consent.
For additional information, students should review the Registrar's Office web site from North Georgia home page at www.northgeorgia.edu, or the FERPA web site at www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html.