<p>Do parents have the right to request progress report / grades of their kids from colleges? I heard that you need the consent of your kids to do this, right?</p>
<p>That's right. Age doesn't matter.</p>
<p>If the student is 18+ then you sure do need their permission, even if you are writing all the checks.</p>
<p>my d gave me permission, but I don't look she just tells me</p>
<p>I told her it was up to her how if she wanted to sign the waiver or whatever, either way was fine with me</p>
<p>I'm not a lawyer and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but at my daughter's college in her state, the school will not provide grades to parents without her consent. They claim it is against state law.</p>
<p>To be honest, I think the College takes the view that these are young adults who should sort out their own messes and, in fact, that's precisely what college is for.</p>
<p>Having said that, I think the College officials have ways of initiating a conversation should it become necessary, such as handing the phone to the student and asking, "Do you want to dial it or do you want me to?"</p>
<p>It depends on the school. At my son's school, if you agree to enroll, you are also waiving your right to keep your grades hidden from the people paying the bill. Not only do we receive the grades here at home, addressed to us, the school also has a policy of notifying parents at mid-semester (of freshman year, at least) if grades in any of the classes are below a C. (I only know that from a talk, glad to say I did not get any such report.)</p>
<p>This is definitely policy at Vanderbilt, and I believe it is true at U Chicago, or at least was recently.</p>
<p>You can have your child sign a waiver annually that allows you access to their academic records. Or, you can simply ask your child for their password and check their records online. The problem either way is that colleges usually only post final grades (some post midterm reports) so you don't gain much by having that access if your intention is to monitor their progress during the quarter/semester. The one situation where having a waiver might be useful is if your child became ill and you wanted to register/do paperwork for them because they were unable to do it themselves, but a poster in another thread regarding medical issues suggested that a general power of attorney might be as effective in these types of situations.</p>
<p>We have told D that we are paying her college tuition on the understanding that she waives her rights and grants us access to 1) academic records and 2) medical/counseling records. We are not requesting this to be punitive, but rather to ensure that if there is ever a problem, we can be informed and be part of the resolution.</p>
<p>Here is a link to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). It explains parents rights to see grades, among other things. If the school receives federal funds, parents have the right to "review" records whether the kid wants them to or not. Schools are required to inform both parents and students annually of their rights under FERPA. My Ds school provided a form at the beginning of each year that both she and we signed in order for us to have grades sent to us. According to FERPA rules, however, I'm not sure that her signature was truly required.</p>
<p>Family</a> Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)</p>
<p>I have never once asked my d. about her grades. If she wants to share about them, that's fine, but I frankly don't need to know.</p>
<p>I'm much more interested in what she is actually learning.</p>
<p>gladmom - that is interesting. I had understood that it was a federal law that we could not see them unless the student signed the waiver. In my daughter's case i have the password to her online student account because it has the info about her financial stuff including financial aid and she would rather i just check up on all that rather than her deal with it. The only grades that appear on that are mid term and semester. I am trying to be less helicopterish anyway and keep telling myself it is her future and her responsibility. I am telling myself to be happy as long as she keeps the grades up high enough to maintain her scholarship - and if she doesn't - well she gets the consequences - loans. So far so good. Though I do find it difficult to back off.</p>
<p>I think Northwestern mails grades to parents.</p>
<p>DS' school now has a parent portal page. With his permission I was able to get a page that shows me only transcript (final semester grades) and financial stuff.<br>
I kind of like it that way. I don't need to see every progress report or mid semester grade, what he ate on his dining dollars, etc.</p>
<p>In my humble opinion, if it comes down to finding out their grades without their permission, then the problem is bigger than FERPA. Why can't parents just ask their kids about the grades? If they won't tell you, you have a problem. If they don't know, you have a problem. By the time they get to college, what they choose to share with you should be at their option. Would you want their boss to call you if there's a problem at work too? </p>
<p>At some point we have to trust that we did a good job raising them and they can handle their life on their own.</p>
<p>On the subject of FERPA, it also addresses access to disciplinary incidents, and health issues.</p>
<p>Even if grades don't interest you, it makes sense to know your rights, your student's rights and your access to these.</p>
<p>I urge you to review the regs, discuss what steps you're all comfortable with, and submit the required student FERPA waivers, if nothing else for areas concerning health, medical, or accident issues.</p>
<p>It will save you much aggravation if you DO need access in an emergency.</p>
<p>Read the FERPA site carefully. At age 18, the right is reassigned to the student. The parent no longer has it.</p>
<p>Midmo--I'm quite surprised that a school can legally require a person to waive a legal right in order to matriculate there.</p>
<p>gladmom, the ED FERPA site says that "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."</p>
<p>Parents have the right to review their child's educational records only until the student reaches age 18 or attends a school beyond high school (such as college).</p>
<p>So it is illegal for colleges receiving Federal funds to share grades with parents unless the student agrees to it.</p>
<p>We've negotiated a deal with S--he has the right not to share his grades with us but if he chooses to exercise that right, then we have the right not to pay his tuition and other expenses!</p>
<p>cross-posted with garland</p>
<p>mini...don't you need the grades for insurance???? We get a "good student" discount if we mail in the college grades so D sends us a copy and we forward on to insurance company.</p>
<p>Well, we started out the school (freshman) year with a signed waiver and an agreement that we (parents) would have access to the password through which grades and finances could be accessed. Sure enough, just as the dean of students predicted during parent orientation, a couple of months into the school year my son changed the password and now I no longer can troll through the entirety of his Blackboard account. Of course this is because I was actually snooping too much and off-handedly commented on his lack of homework completion in one class. I learned my lesson and abandoned my helicoptering ways. Now I can only see the billing records (no fun in that), but as far as I know, we still have a signed waiver for medical records.</p>
<p>He gladly shared his final grades from first semester and generally lets us know how classes are going. But no more micro-managing.</p>