Something that you might want to be aware of is once your child becomes an adult universities can’t call up mom and dad if the adult student is having problems. I remember a number of years ago when I was experiencing a very serious situation with a student who was having adjustment problems. The issue was very serious and being addressed by the appropriate campus personnel but the student had no interest in bringing the parents in. The mom called the University trying to get information but the University is limited in what they can share. I am not sure how you do it, but the time you take selecting schools and addressing social transition issues is so important.
Does this include Department of Disabilities? When I met with the Director at my son’s future school she said “if there’s something going on that we can’t figure out, we’ll call you”. Maybe that excludes mental health issues.
For mental health and disabilities issues, I’m pretty sure that if the kid signs a waiver, parents can be contacted.
I am not aware of the various ways campuses interpret this, maybe some choose to disregard the privacy issue but it I would learn the law and find out how each campus handles this.
“maybe some choose to disregard the privacy issue”
They can’t. It’s a federal law. If a school wants to talk to parents about a student over 18, the student has to sign a FERPA waiver.
Some private religious schools may require all students to sign one as part of the enrollment process, but a public school could not get away with that.