Consider Students’ Dependency Status, Written Consent in Releasing Information

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the privacy of information in education records and applies to any school that receives funding from the federal government. Financial-aid administrators should remember that only parents of students who are considered dependent according to Internal Revenue Service tax code have access to the students’ education records.

Parents of independent students do not have access to education records without students’ written consent.

A student’s dependency status under the FERPA is not always the same as it would be for federal financial-aid considerations. To help you determine students’ dependency status under the FERPA and how that compares to their status according to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, USA Funds^® University offers the following table:

	FERPA Dependency Status	FAFSA Dependency Status
Student is 18 years old and was claimed on parents’ taxes.	Dependent.	Dependent.
Student is 24 years old and was claimed on parents’ taxes.	Dependent.	Independent.
Student is 21 years old and was not claimed on parents’ taxes.	Independent.	Dependent.
Student is 21 years old and was claimed on stepparents’ taxes.	Dependent.	Dependent.

In addition to parents, other relatives might request information about a student from the financial-aid office. Even if these relatives have raised the student, they do not automatically have access to education records. In these circumstances, students should sign consent forms to release information from their education records to these relatives. Without this written consent, financial-aid administrators should release only data that is not considered to be harmful or an invasion of privacy if released. This “directory information” — which may be released as long as students have not indicated in writing that they do not want the information to be shared — includes the following:

• Name.
• Address.
• Telephone listing.
• E-mail address.
• Photograph.
• Date and place of birth.
• Major field of study.
• Dates of attendance.
• Grade level.
• Enrollment status.
• Participation in official activities and sports.
• Degrees, honors and awards.

FERPA is among the topics in USA Funds University’s current webcast series. Financial-aid professionals may register for the FERPA webcast, scheduled for Feb. 2 at 2-3 p.m. EST.