Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is the cornerstone federal law governing student data. Enacted by Congress in 1974, the focus of the law is to:

• provide the requirements for the protection of student education records;
• grant parents and eligible students the right to access education records;
• grant parents and eligible students the right to have education records amended; and
• grant parents and eligible students the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records.