Confidentiality in AdvisingConfidentiality in Advising

Confidentiality in Advising

As an advisor, one should extend to students the same courtesy of privacy about personal matters that we would expect from other professionals, including medical personnel, counselors, and priests. The Registrar informs the advisor of the status of confidentiality of the student's grades with the notations "Parents May See Grades" on the semester grade report. In general, advisors should discuss grades/performance with students and only involve parents if students have agreed. The advisor should avoid being drawn into family dynamics in which a parent or a student is asking the advisor to be the go-between. Encourage parents to communicate directly with the student and encourage students to share directly with the parents.

The Famiy Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) 

FERPA is also known as the Buckley Amendment, governs how students education records should be handled and applied to any public or private institution that receives federal funds. FERPA allows institutions to designate as public selected student information, such as name, major, address, phone, class, dates of enrollment and termination, college, advisor name, degrees granted, and honors and awards received. Students must be allowed to state each year whether they want to have the directory information suppressed. Private information may not be released to anyone but the student without the written consent of the student or a court order, or under the following FERPA-defined circumstances: a health or safety emergency, if the information is necessary to resolve the emergency; or to those within the university itself who have a "legitimate educational interest." Thus, release within a school is permissible for legitimate educational purposes-for example, to a faculty member who needs information about a student enrolled in her course, or even to a school's accounts receivable clerk who is attempting to college a student's outstanding tuition debt.