FERPA: To Release or Not to Release – That is the Question

In most higher education institutions, by default or by choice, the Registrar’s Office is expected to be the university’s Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) expert. FERPA is also referred to as the Buckley Amendment, which was originally created in 1974, and named after one of the proponents of the law, former New York Senator James. In my university’s Registrar’s Office, we receive requests to release non-directory student information almost daily, such as student class schedules or the grade received in a certain class. Requests come from a range o