FERPA Help

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (FERPA, Buckley Amendment) is designed to protect the confidentiality of student education records that educational institutions maintain and to give students access to their records to assure the accuracy of their contents.

FERPA Policy

Washington and Lee’s complete FERPA policy is outlined on the General Counsel’s website.

Student Release Online (Third Party Access)

Students may authorize specific individuals access to designated areas of their record. In Workday, this is accomplished through Contacts > Friends and Family > Third Party User settings. Students may grant access to financial aid package information, current class schedules, and final grades. Third Party Access does not allow for transcript releases. Instead, students may request a printed transcript or an electronic transcript to be sent using the link on the Transcripts webpage.

Parents and Their Students’ Education Rights

The transition from secondary school to higher education includes a change in the protection of your students’ records on the day they matriculate. Washington and Lee is custodian of each student’s education record and, at matriculation, the student (no matter their age or financial dependency) becomes the only party responsible for authorizing release of the record, with certain exceptions noted in the full policy. This includes authorizing release of information – verbal or otherwise – to specified individuals in the student’s support network. As an alternative, students may request that a printed or electronic transcript be sent to a specified physical or email address using the following link on the Transcripts webpage.

Directory Information

Under FERPA rights, the University may release Directory Information about a student to the general public, including other students. This may be important for such things as verifying enrollment, sending information to family members, sending announcements of honors to hometown newspapers, and for faculty to facilitate communications among students in a course.

Information that W&L may disclose at its discretion includes the following: name, current enrollment, local address, permanent address, local telephone number, campus e-mail address, date and place of birth, dates of attendance, class standing (e.g., sophomore), schedule of classes, previous institution(s) attended, major field(s) of study, awards and honors, degree(s) conferred (including dates), full-time or part-time status, photographic or videotaped image, past and present participation in officially recognized sports and activities, including fraternities and sororities, and physical factors of athletes (e.g., height, weight).

W&L works hard to protect each student’s privacy and does not automatically release such information to all requestors. Examples of information which are NOT directory information and which are thus not releasable without advance student permission or applicable exception under the Act include: specific course grades, grade-point averages, race or ethnic group, religion, or parent names.

If you wish to withhold release of Directory Information, review “Manage My Privacy Settings” from your Workday account. If a block is requested, directory information will then be withheld until the student releases the block or until the last term of the student’s enrollment, whichever comes first. Students should be aware that placing a block on their directory information may limit the ability of certain W&L individuals or offices to communicate appropriately for you and with you.