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FERPA Notification Statement

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)
NOTIFICATION STATEMENT

The following notification statement is made available to students enrolled at PennWest Clarion to apprise them of their rights concerning access and review of their education records maintained at the University.

As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA regulations expand the circumstances under which your education records and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records-including your Social Security Number, grades, or other private information-may be accessed without your consent.  First, the U.S. Comptroller General, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Education, or state and local education authorities ("Federal and State Authorities") may allow access to your records and PII without your consent to any third party designated by a Federal or State Authority to evaluate a federal- or state-supported education program.  The evaluation may relate to any program that is "principally engaged in the provision of education," such as early childhood education and job training, as well as any program that is administered by an education agency or institution.  Second, Federal and State Authorities may allow access to your education records and PII without your consent to researchers performing certain types of studies, in certain cases even when we object to or do not request such research. Federal and State Authorities must obtain certain use-restriction and data security promises from the entities that they authorize to receive your PII, but the Authorities need not maintain direct control over such entities.  In addition, in connection with Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, State Authorities may collect, compile, permanently retain, and share without your consent PII from your education records, and they may track your participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about you that they obtain from other Federal or State data sources, including workforce development, unemployment insurance, child welfare, juvenile justice, military service, and migrant student records systems.

These rights afforded to students through the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are:

  1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day the University receives a request for access. Students should submit to the registrar, dean, chairperson, director or other appropriate University official written requests that identify the record(s) they wish to inspect. The University official will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the University official to whom the request was submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed.  
  2. The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes is inaccurate or misleading. Students may ask the University to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate or misleading. They should write the University official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the University decides not to amend the record as requested by the student, the University will notify the student of the decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.  
  3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is defined as a person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic or support staff position (including law enforcement and health staff); a person or company with whom the University has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks.  The university uses contractors, volunteers, in-service providers to provide university services and functions.  A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility.
  4. Upon request, the University may disclose education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intend to enroll.  Examples of this are any collaborative programs that Clarion is involved in with sister PASSHE universities.  These collaborative programs result in dual enrollment at both schools and Clarion will disclose certain information from the student's education records to the other institution under the program.  
  5. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning Failures by the University to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-4605

Directory Information: PennWest Clarion shall disclose nothing more than "directory information" without the student's written consent, unless the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 permits the disclosure.  One of those permissible disclosures is to faculty who has a legitimate educational interest.  The following are considered to be "directory information": the student's name, local and permanent addresses and telephone numbers, university E-mail address, age, names of parents, major field of study, dates of registered attendance, enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate or graduate; full-time or part-time), participation in officially recognized activities and sports, any degrees and the date they were conferred, any honors and awards received, and the most recent educational agency or institution attended. A student may refuse to permit disclosure of "directory information" by submitting in person to the Office of the Registrar, 147 Becht Hall, at any time a written statement of such refusal.  However, if the student's intent is exclusion of his or her information in the yearly printed directory, they must submit this refusal during the first five days of the Fall Semester.

Last Updated 2/16/23