The Rights of Parents of College Students

One mother in the auditorium seemed particularly concerned. She sheepishly asked if her son was having difficulties or was overwhelmed by the new campus environment, would someone, his resident advisor, his guidance counselor, or his professors call her so that she might offer assistance. This did not seem like an unusual request. She and the other parents were told that parents are called only when the police were involved or when an ambulance came to take a child away from the dormitory. The woman did not respond, but not because she was pleased or persuaded, but because she did not know what to say. I believe she was a little embarrassed that she was perhaps not sophisticated enough to understand how a college campus functions.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. I decided to find out what the federal law actually said and it was relatively simple to find. The federal law that governs student privacy is Title 20 of the U.S. Code. The law was passed because apparently personal student information was finding its way to people who had no relationship to the student. The law provides that:

"No funds shall be made available under any applicable program to any educational agency or institution which has a policy or practice of permitting the release of education records (or personally identifiable information contained therein other than directory information)."

However, there are a number of exceptions. These include law enforcement officials, university officials, those conducting legitimate education research, and the "parents of a dependent student of such parents."

In other words, most of the parents in the auditorium at orientation were misled into believing they had no right to their child's student records. Moreover, they were made to feel that it would intrusive to seek out student records.

I called the president of the university and was directed to the university's attorney. The attorney confirmed my reading of the law and said that a parent who proved his child was a dependent could have access their dependent child's student records. When I reported that we were misled during the summer orientation, the attorney told me that the university presumes the student is independent unless proven otherwise. How are we to know, the attorney asked, whether a student is a dependent? He was silent when I pointed out that student financial aid records, which must be submitted yearly, revealed the student filing status. He was silent when I

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