<p>Our HS meets with seniors (some of whom are still minors) and advises them to waive FERPA rights. I do realize colleges prefer and find more credible apps/recs from those who waive, so please(!) don't post responses about that aspect. My question is, can minors legally waive these rights without parental input or consent? After years of signing for all things medical for my kids, this strikes me as odd. Would appreciate legal opinions.</p>
<p>It is a very broad waiver. It is copied here:</p>
<p>IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE FOR COMMON APPLICATION
Common Application recommendation forms may not be submitted online by your school until you answer the questions below. You will not be able to change this information once you have completed the items below. </p>
<p>I understand that under the terms of the FERPA, after I matriculate I will have access to this form and all other recommendations and supporting documents submitted by me and on my behalf, unless at least one of the following is true: </p>
<p>1.The institution does not save recommendations post-matriculation (see list at <a href="http://www.commonapp.org/FERPA%5B/url%5D">www.commonapp.org/FERPA</a>).
2.I waive my right to access below, regardless of the institution to which it is sent:
Yes, I do waive my right to access, and I understand I will never see this form or any other recommendations submitted by me or on my behalf.
No, I do not waive my right to access, and I may someday choose to see this form or any other recommendations or supporting documents submitted by me or on my behalf to the institution at which I'm enrolling, if that institution saves them after I matriculate.</p>
<p>By completing this form, I authorize all schools that I have attended to release all requested records covered under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) so that my application may be reviewed by the Common Application member institution(s) to which I am applying. I further authorize the admission officers reviewing my application, including seasonal staff employed for the sole purpose of evaluating applications, to contact officials at my current and former schools should they have questions about the school forms submitted on my behalf.</p>
<p>Please enter your Common Application Online username and password if available. This information will ONLY be used to lookup your account so that your counselor and teachers may submit your recommendation forms online.</p>
<p>If ture, that sounds awfully similiar to extoration. We’ll give you a better chance of getting admitted if you waive your rights.</p>
<p>I always choose to waive my FERPA rights - not to impress the colleges but to ensure the people writing recommendations will not feel pressured and to preserve my relationship with the people who write them.</p>
<p>I hope some lawyers post a response. Would FERPA waiver allow HS counselors to disclose special ed accomodations in a phone conversation, should a college ask about a discrepancy between grades and scores, for example?</p>
<p>FERPA applies to all higher-education students, regardless of whether they are minors or not. For this reason, I expect that your minor student can indeed waive their own FERPA rights without your input. </p>
<p>Interesting question. I’m a lawyer and always love it when the school is careless and has my daughter sign some release or another instead of me.</p>
<p>From Ed.gov: “FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are “eligible students.””</p>
<p>Then a HS student younger than age 18 could not waive FERPA??</p>
<p>I would think that they would be able to, since what they are waiving is the right to view records after they have matriculated to a college. A parent would not have the right to see said records, so could not be involved in the waiving of said right. </p>
<p>I’m no lawyer, but I can’t imagine common app hasn’t thought of this.</p>
<p>IMSAgeek, if kids waive FERPA they are also allowing communications about forms submitted while they are still in HS, and release of ALL REQUESTED RECORDS while they are still in HS, which as I read it could mean ANY records in a kids’ file could be requested, released and discussed. The waiver doesn’t specify that ONLY the Common App forms and transcripts are allowed to be released and discussed.</p>
<p>"By completing this form, I authorize all schools that I have attended to release all requested records covered under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) so that my application may be reviewed by the Common Application member institution(s) to which I am applying. I further authorize the admission officers reviewing my application, including seasonal staff employed for the sole purpose of evaluating applications, to contact officials at my current and former schools should they have questions about the school forms submitted on my behalf.</p>
<p>I agree it’s a gray area, because the students are waiving rights that will transfer to them soon, before the rights have actually transferred. The waiver really should have two parts, one for the recommendations and one to release records. The first would be signed by the student, and the second by both student and parent. </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t see why the second part of the waiver is necessary at all, since FERPA also says:</p>
<p><a href=“a”>quote=“FERPA, Title 34 Part 99”</a> An educational agency or institution may disclose personally identifiable information from an education record of a student without the consent required by §99.30 if the disclosure meets one or more of the following conditions:[…]The disclosure is, subject to the requirements of §99.34, to officials of another school, school system, or institution of postsecondary education where the student seeks or intends to enroll,
<p>Once we receive an admitted student’s financial aid application, we cannot discuss it with a parent without the student’s written consent … even if the student is a minor, and even if the student has not actually matriculated. The rights of the student extend to all educational records, and if the records relate to the student’s college file, we must extend all Buckley Amendment rights to that person as a “student”.</p>