Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Office of General Counsel

Location:

112 Hullihen Hall
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716-0101

Hours:

8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Contact Information:

Phone: 302-831-7366
Fax: 302-831-3055
Email: generalcounsel@udel.edu

For Mailing Purposes:

162 The Green
Room 112
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716-0101

FERPA applies to the use and disclosure of “Personally Identifiable Information” in student education records. Personally Identifiable Information includes the names of students and their parents, addresses, personal identifiers such as a social security or student identification number, other indirect identifiers such as date of birth, and any other information that, alone or in combination, can reasonably be linked to a specific student and would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty. Education records generally includes records that are directly related to a student and are maintained by the University, but there are exceptions.

FERPA permits using and disclosing Personally Identifiable Information without a student’s consent to specific people and circumstances which the University’s FERPA Policy and the FERPA Notice explain. Otherwise, FERPA requires a student’s consent.

The Office of the University Registrar oversees the FERPA policy. The Office of General Counsel’s Chief Privacy Officer assists on a case-by-case basis in determining whether the records at issue are FERPA records and if so whether they may be used or disclosed as proposed.