<p>When I click my "school forms" tab, it tells me that my school uses Naviance eDocs to complete FERPA Waivers and Release authorization...However, my counselor has already told me to do everything by paper b/c the Naviance program at our school is currently not working. Is the FERPA/Release authorization that same small red box on the first page of the Secondary School Report? So if my counselor completes the Secondary School Report by paper, I don't need to worry about the FERPA/release authorization?</p>
<p>Two notes on this: First, it sounds like your high school may be coded incorrectly in the Common App Online system. You should suggest to your counselor that he/she should contact Naviance to opt out of eDocs. This information will then be sent to Common App so the School Forms section for students at your high school will appear correctly. Once that happens, you will still need to complete the FERPA waiver and Release Authorization, but you will do so within the School Forms section of your Common App Online account, not within Naviance.</p>
<p>So there’s no way to complete the FERPA waiver and Release Authorization by paper? </p>
<p>I will let my school know, but I don’t know if my school will undergo all that change in time for me to submit my early decision application…</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>You cannot submit a Common App Online without “signing” the waiver and authorization online, but this does not obligate your counselor or teachers to submit online. If your counselor and teachers opt out of the online process, you’ll be provided in the School Forms section with a pre-populated pdf that you can print and give to them to complete and mail.</p>
<p>I think you would benefit a great deal from watching the brief video that explains this process:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CommonAppDemo.aspx?src=S[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CommonAppDemo.aspx?src=S</a></p>
<p>I was unfamilar with FERPA until my childs high school sent the above edict to the parents. It sounds like a arm twisting tactic instead of an explaination of a chioce. They did explain that this must be done on Naviance. Why would the release on the common app itself not be enough?
Is there more protection affored to the high school if a release is signed on Naviance?</p>
<p>PlentyQuestions–</p>
<p>The FERPA Waiver in Naviance and the FERPA Waiver in Common App Online are one and the same. It’s just that students at schools using Naviance to submit online must complete the form within that system, while students at non-Naviance schools must do so within Common App Online. To submit a Common App Online, a student MUST complete both the Release Authorization and indicate whether or not he will waive or will not waiver his right of access to the recommendation. So it is entirely possible that your child’s high school is reinforcing a simple, technological reality: students cannot submit a Common App Online unless the FERPA Waiver is signed. But the choice to waive or not to waive is the student’s and the student’s alone, and Common App makes no recommendation one way or the other on which to choose.</p>
<p>WinstonWolfe
Thank you for the clarification.
Once the waiver is signed, is the high school able to access all or any part of the students common application at any time prior to or after it has been submitted?</p>
<p>This is still quite confusing to me. How am I supposed to complete the FERPA waiver and Release of authorization online if commonapp is not allowing me to do so because our school uses Naviance which is currently down? </p>
<p>My question is, the red box on the first page of the Secondary School Report asking if I want to waive/not waive my right to see the recommendations is exactly the FERPA waiver/Release of authorization, right? </p>
<p>So as long as my counselor fills out the paper version of the Secondary School Report and I fill in that box at the bottom of its first page, I’m good to go? Will Commonapp still let me submit my application even though none of these things are completed online? </p>
<p>Also, I’m applying early decision and on the supplement section, it says that I must complete my ED agreement before I can submit my application. Again, my counselor is telling me to do everything by paper. So will commonapp let me submit my application anyway?</p>
<p>@powerbomb–this will all make sense when your school gets coded correctly, but someone on the counseling staff needs to explain to Common App support that they do not plan to submit online via Naviance.</p>
<p>@PlentyQuestions–No. Counselors and teachers have no access to any part of a student’s application.</p>
<p>gah… I just want to know if I can complete the FERPA waiver/release of authorization by PAPER. That is ALL I need to know. Can I?</p>
<p>^You cannot submit a Common App Online until your FERPA Waiver and Release Authorization have been submitted online. Completion of these two items is a system requirement before you can submit an online application. So, can you complete these two items on paper? Absolutely–but only if you intend to complete a paper app as well.</p>
<p>WinstonWolfe
Thank you again. You are providing a most needed service.</p>
<p>WinstonWolfe - thanks for the clarification. One more question. Has the process always been like this? or is the “must-complete-FERPA-online-if-you-want-to-complete-app-online” a new thing this year?</p>
<p>But I want to release authorization, but it won’t let me. Why can’t I go further then this stage on common app?</p>
<p>Same problem ^^, has anyone successfully signed the waiver yet this year?</p>
<p>Nvm, tried it on Google chrome and it worked. The FERPA page on commonapp seems to have an issue with Internet Explorer.</p>
<p>Do you have to have everything completed to get the FERPA page to show up? I tried IE and Mozilla with no luck.</p>
<p>powerbomb… I have the exact same issue…you can fill out the FERPA waiver/release of authorization on line and then use paper for the rest of the forms you need</p>
<p>Try chrome. What happened for me on IE was that the pop out box wasn’t all on screen. The checkbox was there, but the “continue” button, which is below that, was behind the margins, and there was no option to scroll. I used Chrome and it worked out.</p>
<p>If I check on the checkbox on FERPA waiver pop up then continue and check the next box again then I am successfully waiving my right of access, right? Help anyone</p>