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FERPA

Family Education Rights and Privacy
Trinidad State College Notification of Rights Under FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their education records.  FERPA rights are afforded to the students at the time of admission. These rights include:

1)   The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day Trinidad State College receives a request for access.  A student should submit to the Office of Registrar, a written request that identifies the record(s) the student wishes to inspect.  The Registrar will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. 

2)   The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights.

A student who wishes to ask Trinidad State College to amend a record should write the Registrar who will notify the college official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record the student wants changed, and specify why it should be changed.  If the College decides not to amend the record as requested, the College will notify the student in writing of the decision and the student’s right to a hearing re­garding the request for amendment using the Student Grievance Procedure SP 4-31.  Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.

3)   The right to provide written consent before Trinidad State College discloses personally identifiable information from the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without con­sent.  One exception which permits disclosure without consent is disclosure to College officials with legitimate educational interests.  A College official is a person employed by the College,  Colorado Community College System, or another CCCS College in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research or support staff position (including law en­forcement unit personnel and health staff); a person or company with whom the College has contracted as its agent to provide a service instead of using college employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the College Board; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance com­mittee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. Trinidad State College has designated the National Student Clearinghouse as a College official.  A College official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an educa­tion record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for the College. Upon request, the College discloses education records, without a student's consent, to officials of another school, in which a student seeks or intends to enroll, or after enrollment.

The college may share educational records to parents in the following circumstances: for a student who is dependent under I.R.S. tax code; a student under 21 years old who has violated a law or the school’s rules or policies governing alcohol or substance abuse; and when the information is needed to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals in an emergency.

FERPA Annual Notice to Reflect Possible Federal and State Data Collection and Use
As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA regulations expand the circumstances under which a student’s education record(s) and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records — including Social Security Number, grades, or other private information — may be accessed without student consent. First, the U.S. Comptroller General, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Education, or state and local education authorities ("Federal and State Authorities") may allow access to student records and PII without student consent to any third party designated by a Federal or State Authority to evaluate a federal- or state-supported education program. The evaluation may relate to any program that is "principally engaged in the provision of education," such as early childhood education and job training, as well as any program that is administered by an education agency or institution. Second, Federal and State Authorities may allow access to student education records and PII without student consent to researchers performing certain types of studies, in certain cases even when we object to or do not request such research. Federal and State Authorities must obtain certain use-restriction and data security promises from the entities that they authorize to receive student PII, but the Authorities need not maintain direct control over such entities. In addition, in connection with Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, State Authorities may collect, compile, permanently retain, and share without student consent PII from student education records, and they may track student participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about students that they obtain from other Federal or State data sources, including workforce development, unemployment insurance, child welfare, juvenile justice, military service, and migrant student records systems.

The Colorado Community College System considers the following to be directory information and Trinidad State College may disclose this information, without prior consent, to anyone inquiring in person, by phone, or in writing:  Student name; Major field of study;  Dates of student attendance;  Degrees / certificates, honors, and awards student has earned;  Most recent educational institution attended by the student; enrollment status (full time, part time, etc.), photographs, Participation in officially recognized activities and sports; and if participating in an officially recognized activity or sport, height, weight, and high school attended.

Physical Addresses are considered PII and are not released as directory information except they may be released for the following limited purposes:

  • Graduation lists released to news media, which may include the student’s city of residence only,
  • Other listings to the news media and College personnel for special awards, honors, and events,
  • Notification to Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society for students who are eligible to be considered for membership,
  • As may be needed by cash management service providers engaged by CCCS or the Colleges to process student refunds, or
  • To institutions who have a written agreement with the CCCS System Office or Trinidad State College for early advising, scholarship, or admissions consideration. Credit hour threshold for release may be stipulated in system-wide or individual college agreements.

Email Addresses are considered PII and are not released as directory information except they may be released for the following limited purposes:

  • Notification to Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society for students who are eligible to be considered for membership,
  • As may be needed by cash management service providers engaged by the CCCS System Office or Trinidad State College to process student refunds, or
  • To institutions who have a written agreement with the System or a CCCS college for early advising, scholarship, or admissions consideration. Credit hour threshold for release may be stipulated in system-wide or individual college agreements.

Phone numbers (including type) Date of Birth, Race/Ethnicity, and GPA are considered PII and are not released as Directory Information except for the following limited purpose:

  • To institutions who have a written agreement with the CCCS System Office or Trinidad State College for early advising, scholarship, or admissions consideration. Credit hour threshold for release may be stipulated in system-wide or individual college agreements.

Additionally, name, address, college issued e-mail address, phone number, date and place of birth, level of education, most recently attended college, field of study, and degree(s) received of students may be released to military recruiters upon request in accordance with the Solomon Amendment.  All other information contained in student records is considered private and not open to the public without the student’s written consent. Students who do not want their directory/public information released to third parties or students who do not want to be listed in the College online e-Directory should complete a form to suppress directory information available online or at the Registrar’s Office or Office of Admissions and Records by the first day of the semester.

Neither CCCS, its Colleges, nor any entity designated as a College official, will release Directory Information to any financial institution requesting data for credit card marketing purposes, nor to any database service, data aggregator, or requestor who maintains a list for the sole purpose of selling data for profit and/or marketing purposes.

4) The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA.  The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:

Student Privacy Policy Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC  20202-5901