During orientation, there is a lot of information to take note of and process. It's easy to miss a few things here and there. At the beginning of each new academic year, parents and families usually have a lot of questions about how to receive information about their student in order to pay bills and more generally support them.
Here, you will find some basic information about working
with your student to make sure you are getting the proper information.
FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act of 1974, which is a Federal law protecting the privacy of students
education records. This law applies to every school receiving funds under an
applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
So, what exactly is included in a student’s education
record? Acceding to FERPA’s website, education records are “(1) directly
related to a student; and (2) maintained by an educational agency or
institution, or by a party acting for the agency or institution.” Essentially,
student education records include their grades, course schedule, financial aid
history, student account statement and practically any record maintained by
DePaul that personally identifies a student.
You won’t have direct access to your student’s education
record, but you can get the information by having your student grant permission
to receive the information you need. They can also simply share that
information with you. DePaul strongly encourages students to communicate
directly with their parents and/or family members concerning their academic
progress and other important issues.
It is the student’s responsibility to set and maintain their
FERPA release preferences in Campus Connect, and they can give DePaul
permission to share education record information with you there.
If you and your student have not talked about this already,
make sure to ask them to add you.
Students can obtain a “FERPA release” from most offices at
DePaul, which they can sign to allow the school to share information from their
education record. School officials are permitted by FERPA’s “health and safety
exception” to disclose information from a student’s education record to the
appropriate parties without consent if the university reasonably determines
such disclosure is necessary to the safety and well-being of a student or other
individuals.
DePaul also strongly recommends that students list their
parent(s) or guardian(s) as their emergency contact in Campus Connect.
Lastly, the Student Care Team at DePaul meets to consider
the needs of students of concern who have a wide range of behavioral,
psychological, physical, social, or academic needs. DePaul engages families along
with other supportive resources to ensure students get the help they need if a
student comes to our attention whose behavior falls within certain areas
(health, safety, alcohol, controlled substances).
Learn
more about FERPA here, contact DePaul
Central via email or call 312-362-8610.