Education, Big Data, and student privacy are a combustible mix. The improvement of education and the protection of student privacy are key societal values. Big Data and Learning Analytics offer the promise of unlocking insights to improving education through large-scale empirical analysis of data generated from student information and student…

Reports that universities are citing a 26-year-old federal law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), to withhold information about teaching assistants from the unions trying to organize them. The graduate students say FERPA is being misapplied to squelch their organizing drives. Both students and administrators are quoted…

Although colleges and universities generally regard the First Amendment as sacred, they often find themselves at the center of controversies concerning the right to say, print, write, or research with freedom. The complex relationships between a college or university and its student media have often contributed to conflicts over First Amendment…

This guide provides information to help postsecondary schools and guaranty agencies (GAs) understand how a cohort default rate is calculated, review backup data, submit challenges to GAs and/or Direct Loan Servicing Centers (DLSC), and understand the response from the GA and/or DLSC. A cohort default rate includes Federal Family Education Loan…

Presents recommendations to increase local and individual institutional responsibility and control, increase contact between individuals and institutions, put individuals on notice about information practices of educational institutions, introduce clear and firm degrees of accountability regarding handling of personal information, and give…

This report provides administrators, project leaders, and researchers with information about major federal regulations governing research in the social sciences. The report is presented in five major chapters. Chapter I identifies the report's limitations. For example, it describes only statutory and regulatory provisions and covers only domestic…

When used in managing college student records, electronic data interchange allows electronic student records to be fed directly into a receiving institution's database instead of being sent by mail. Although the process offers many clear advantages, one important question that must be addressed is how students' privacy will be protected under a…

In Girardier vs Webster College the court held that a private college may refuse to release college transcripts if students have not repaid their National Defense Education Act loans even though they've declared bankruptcy, and that no private remedy could be inferred under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Implications are…

Examines problems in the 1998 Amendment to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in its application to student disciplinary records. Reviews enactment and development of FERPA and discusses recent debate over "educational records" provision. Argues that Congress should amend FERPA to expressly mandate that universities…

Discusses issues in the University of California's policies concerning recording of disciplinary actions on student transcripts, including the conflicting recommendations of a number of professional associations in higher education concerning student records, provisions of the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and inconsistency in…

Discusses the impact of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act on student affairs. Examines several important court cases. Posits student affairs professionals can have a leading role in annunciating the appropriate nexus between policy and developmental practice. (JBJ)

Because efforts to curb campus alcohol abuse have largely failed, some colleges are contacting parents when students violate campus alcohol rules. Some institutions fear that sharing disciplinary records with parents violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects student privacy, but a recent amendment to the Higher…

Given the changes in higher education since 1974, especially those introduced by infusion of technology into admissions, registrar, bursar, financial aid, and advising functions, it is suggested that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 may be inadequate to address current college-student privacy issues. Additionally, colleges…

In response to a request by the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief, this report offers specific recommendations for reform of federal regulations. A cover letter explains the constraints imposed by the recommended format: that the report is unable to address adequately the area of federal regulatory activity generating the most adverse…