The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. These rights include:

1. The right to inspect and review the student’s education records;
2. the right to request the amendment of the student’s education records;
3. the right to provide written consent before the university discloses personally identifiable information from the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent; and
4. the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged 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 20202-5901

UW-Platteville school officials with a legitimate educational need to know may access a student’s education records without consent. 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 responsibilities for the university. A school official is a person employed by the university in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research or support staff position.

Examples of situations where education records may be disclosed without the student’s written consent include, but are not limited to:

1. Requests for “directory information” and the student has not restricted its release
2. Requests in accordance with a lawful subpoena or court order
3. Requests from representatives of agencies or organizations from which the student has received financial assistance
4. Requests from officials of other educational institutions in which the student intends to enroll
5. Requests from other persons specifically exempted from the prior consent requirement by the act (e.g., certain federal and state officials, organizations conducting studies on behalf of the university, accrediting organizations)
6. Requests in connection with a health or safety emergency as determined by the university

Directory information may be released to any inquirer unless students choose to exercise their right to withhold information. The university publishes an online student directory which includes students’ names, local addresses and telephone numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers, and university assigned e-mail addresses. The online University Phonebook includes student’s names, addresses, telephone numbers and majors. For questions about withholding directory information, please contact the Registrar’s Office at 608.342.1321.

Further information regarding FERPA, including a current list of what information the university has designated as directory information, may be found online at https://www.uwplatt.edu/department/registrar/family-educational-rights-and-privacy-act-ferpa.