<p>If the student is a dependent then you could view his academic record. I will also say that I have spoken to my kids’ doctors and my parens’ doctors without any release notes. I recently had to make a decision about my Father’s medical care without any prior consent. Of course, there are some very strict doctors, but I do try to avoid them.</p>
<p>And this actually would work for D2, although I prefer to just get the FERPA waiver on file anyway. For D1 it would not have worked, as she was a dependent on her dad’s taxes (not mine) during her college years.</p>
<p>Although FERPA allows parents of students who are dependents on their tax return to obtain info, it does not require that the school allow them to do so. Because a school really does not know whether or not a student is a dependent on that particular parent’s tax return - and just because a tax return may have been submitted for financial aid verification does not mean the school is somehow going to flag the student’s account as being “mom can be told stuff; dad can’t” - the policy is very often that NO parents will be given access to student info without a FERPA release signed by the student.</p>
<p>I’m with MDMom, my kids just gave me the password so I could pay the bills on-line. I did not need to ask. They like being able to call me and ask me to do things for them in their on-line accounts when they are in a jam. My new college kid needed to switch classes last week and there one hour left to do it and he was in class. He texted me, told me what he needed me to do and voila. It depends on your relationship with your kids I guess. I don’t do anything accept pay the bills unless they specifically ask me. It’s just a trust we have. Legal or not legal who gives a rip. 4 years is a very, very short period of time. Their grades are there but I can’t think of one instance in the past 6 years where the kids haven’t told me their grades before they were posted. Now HIPPA that is an important form. I’ve had 2 of my 3 end up in a hospital from injuries.</p>
<p>Well, for what it is worth, there was no HIPPA form or mention of any, either…</p>
<p>FWIW, my son also gave me his password because he needed classes that were full. I checked that schedule on and off for several days, several times a day. One day, all the classes opened at once and I got him in. He never changed his password. I do not check anything either, but I sure would if I thought I needed to. I hope you get it straightened out, inparent.</p>
<p>Update from the OP here. STILL struggling with the FERPA filing! D confirmed last week that she never heard back from the registrar. So I called his office on Wednesday morning. He was not at his desk, so I left a message. Reminded him of our conversation and said D2 had not heard from him… could he please either speak to her or call me back? Neither happened last week, so I left a message for the Dean of Students today, the one who originally said to come to her office for the form (that doesn’t exist). When I called her staff kept trying to get me to work with them and not put me through to her or her voicemail – but I was firm, said I had already spoken with them and the registrar, and needed to talk with the Dean directly. She is at a conference for a few days, but I left a message telling her what I needed. We will see… honestly, this just should not be this hard.</p>
<p>Just a word in favor of those FERPA releases. Yes, it is only for academics, but professors are really in a tight spot if those are not signed.</p>
<p>Twice in 18 years of being a professor I have received phone calls from distraught parents who are with their student in the hospital in an emergency, trying to navigate contacts for their students. With no FERPA, I cannot talk to the parent about their student’s academics. (We have a way of using our computer system to see if there is a form on record.) I can offer to contact the student’s other professors and the dean of students, but I can’t give any information to the parents. None. Not their schedule, not their classes, not their professors’ names. It is very difficult to want to help these people and not be able to. Without the FERPA, the dean of students can’t help the parents of an unconscious student either.</p>
<p>Emergencies do arise, and that FERPA form can be important.</p>
<p>Or, on the other hand, the student could tell the parents her classes and schedule. I don’t have a FERPA for my kids, but I know what classes they are in and what time they meet. If the parents contacted the Dean of Students, he/she could contact the other professors on the student’s behalf, surely? If my kid was in the emergency room, contacting her professors would not be my top priority.</p>
<p>" If my kid was in the emergency room, contacting her professors would not be my top priority."</p>
<p>Maybe not a top priority, but it would possibly come up as something to address fairly soon. My D (still in HS) was hospitalized last school year, and was heavily medicated/unconscious for most of the day after being admitted. We contacted her guidance counselor that day, I’m pretty sure. But it occurred to us the next day, as we were calling our workplaces to let them know we weren’t in, etc., that we needed to give the school a heads up about her. I imagine that if a similar situation happened with our kids in college we would also attempt to notify appropriate school people within a similar timeframe.</p>
<p>We were insanely worried, but at the same time, there wasn’t really anything we could DO for her during much of the time. So it’s not like we were neglecting her by shooting off an email to the school, etc. I do countless things every single day that are not my top priority, because they need to get done. The list of things that needs to get done may get shorter if your child is seriously ill, and it will certainly change, but you still have to take care of things.</p>
<p>And if my kid were in school out of town and I had to travel to wherever they were hospitalized, I don’t know if I’d think of bringing any info I had about their schedule when I was rushing out the door but I might very well realize in the next day or two that the school should be contacted. So from that standpoint a FERPA form would be much simpler.</p>
<p>If a parent wants a FERPA form, that’s fine. I was responding to limulus saying distraught parents contact him/her from the emergency room. I feel no need for the form myself. I am not interested in checking up on my kid’s grades, and being at a small LAC I feel comfortable that contacting the Dean of Students in an emergency would be sufficient, but I would wait until the next day, not do it from the emergency room. You don’t need a FERPA to call the school to report an illness.</p>
<p>Okay, OP here. My FERPA story is NOT getting better. Dean of students did not call me back, so I left her another message. Then D got an email from registrars office to stop in. She did, and they said to come by the office. She did, and they had her handwrite a note again (I gave her suggested wording via email, lifted from a FERPA form that a different college conveniently posts on their website). They said they would email her about it… then didn’t. She stopped in again, and they said they would get back to her.</p>
<p>So I was on campus yesterday. I live a couple thousand miles away, but decided to go take D on a long weekend instead of flying her home for T-giving. We stopped in at the registrar’s office, and I talked to a woman there. Apparently their interpretation of FERPA is that when a specific item (eg transcript) is needed, their policy is that the parent talks to the student and the student requests it. They have no process or interpretation of FERPA that a student should be able to generally sign off on access for a third party. Argh. I think they are out of compliance with the law, at least the way other colleges interpret it. I am very, very frustrated right now. :(</p>
<p>Some good advise from you intparent. With my 2 oldest, I never looked at anything they did/do as far as college goes. They were/are very responsible so graduating is their responsibility. I trust them to get it done (1st did in 4 years, 2nd says he is on track).</p>
<p>Now, kid #3 has a tendency to sugarcoat things a bit and is less realistic than sibs. I have to check over things that are important so having FERPA access would be very important and he would consent. He is a good kid, but still needs mom and dad. I will look into this issue from the get go!</p>
<p>Hmm… I am wondering if they are legally obligated to accept the “blanket waiver” that D2 wrote out even if it is not their typical policy. The registrar is supposed to call me (per the woman at the desk in his office who asked for my phone number after talking with me). Not sure that is gonna happen, though.</p>
<p>Intparent…can’t you get your college KID to give you what you want? </p>
<p>Our kids’ colleges allowed students to designate parents to look at their college things. Still…we had a deal with our kids…we expected a viewing from their student portal of grades, or we would not pay for the upcoming semester. NOTE…we had no criteria for the grades (except they had to maintain their merit awards) but we wanted to see them! Kids did this with no problem.</p>
<p>Re: bills… Our kids still got paper bills (finished undergrad in 2010). This was their permanent address. We simply asked if we could open the bills. They were fine with that…because WE were paying the bills.</p>
<p>If there is something specific you want access to, you might get further with THAT office. For example, if you want info about bills and money, the Bursars Office might just have the form you are looking for so you can gain access. At both of our kids’ school, parents were given their own username and password for bursar, if the student signed the requisite release. </p>
<p>If you are looking for a blanket FERPA release for EVERYTHING the college has of your kid’s THAT might be the reason you are having difficulty.</p>
<p>I think they are out of compliance with the law, at least the way other colleges interpret it.</p>
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<p>It doesn’t matter how any other college interprets it. The LAW is that the student’s records are protected. Whether or not a college chooses to provide a way to allow the student to grant access is 100% up to the college. I work at a graduate-only school, and we do not have FERPA release forms. Our policy is that we will not speak with parents about anything protected by FERPA … we do not provide a way for a student to allow us to do so. There is no reason for us to talk to a parent about anything. Our students are adults. We will allow students to request that we release certain info to spouses/partners who also attend our school … for example, a married student recently wanted to pay the bill for both her & her husband. Without his express consent, we could not tell the wife how much her husband owed. We did allow him to request that we release info related to his bill to her.</p>
<p>And Kelsmom…that student could easily have gotten the info from her spouse.</p>
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<p>Sure, I can right now. But stuff happens… for example, students with mental health issues often don’t want to have their parents see what is going on with their academics. Not an issue now, but could be. </p>
<p>And gotta say, it grinds me that schools that want us to pay $250K for an education (and the kids sure aren’t paying the vast majority of the expense in those situations) don’t have a FERPA form that many other schools provide as a routine matter. The FERPA law was passed when a private school education (tuition/room/board) was $2,900 a year. The current average cost is over $32,000/year. I will pay more for my kids’ educations than I paid for my house. I don’t intend to interfere with my kids’ educational process, but I do want access to information to protect my investment if things spin seriously out of control or I think there is some risk to my kid that I would like to discuss with adults at her college</p>
<p>I still think the college may be obligated to provide records at my request based on the wording of the document my kid wrote out and signed. Don’t really plan to use it or test it in court, but it seems to me that just because they don’t have a process for it does not make the permission granted invalid.</p>
<p>Okay… finally got resolution. Email from the registrar saying the request is in D’s file and with information on how they would prefer I request info if I want it.</p>
<p>Also, we have discussed earlier in this thread that you can get access to your kid’s record anyway if they are a dependent on your taxes. But as someone pointed out to me in a PM, the FERPA law says you “may” get access, not “shall”. And some colleges interpret that as it is their choice, and don’t allow it. So don’t assume you are covered by that clause in the law in case you need it.</p>
<p>I used to work at a public U, and we chose not to allow access based on the student being a dependent on the tax return. The reason? It is much too difficult for a large school to keep tabs on whether or not the parent claimed the student on the tax form … and if the school grants illegal access to a parent, the repercussions could be huge (financially).</p>