University of Southern Maine

Faculty Handbook

Confidentiality of Student Educational Records

FERPA (Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act) basically states that there is one and only one person that has complete access to a student's record - and that is the student. The following are the more common exceptions to the above statement:

1. If a Faculty or staff member of USM (including student employees) has a legitimate educational need to know in order to perform the duties of their job.
2. If the student gives specific and explicit written permission to share specific information with a specific third party(s).
3. If a parent or guardian can show proof that the student was claimed as a dependent on the most recent federal tax return.
4. Direct any other type of request from a party other than the student to the Registrar's Office.

Some information in a student's record is public information can be shared with anyone, unless the student has explicitly stated that he/she wants this information to be suppressed. Currently, the data items that USM considers public include: name, local and home addresses (not the e-mail address or the phone numbers),major, class level(FR, SO, etc),date of birth, enrollment status (part-time/full-time), dates of attendance, previous school attended, date of graduation, any degree and award received, and student activities.

In cases of emergency, the request should be directed to the Police Department (x5211), if the Registrar's Office staff are unavailable.

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