FERPA
With federal regulations in place, is there a set script that employees must follow to assure compliance or to assure there's no breach of regulations?
Our front desk personnel have a script that they must use in answering questions concerning associates and students. We use this to make sure that no personel information is given out.
Our admissions dept. has a set script that they have to follow.
Regarding FERPA, we have a specific procedure available on our company Intranet.
In addition to the FERPA procedure, we also have the form posted on our Intranet, along with reports that can be run from CampusVue.
We continuously train and remind the academic team about FERPA. For easy access, we've placed the FERPA documents in a folder on our shared network drive.
I explain the FERPA form to all of my students on the first day of class and ask if any are interested in signing one. I give them all a copy and if they complete the form, I document it in Campus Vue.
Is a FERPA form required each time a student wants to allow someone other than themselves to discuss their personal information? Or can one form that they sign at the beginning of their enrollmeng througout the course of their schooling with your institution be used time and again?
Our departemnt has been trained on the FERPA regulations. We know what is acceptable to say and what is not acceptable. We don't have a certain script to follow but our training has allowed us to confidently speak to inviduals seeking infromation with being in violation. I think that practice is the key!!
I beleive the signed forms are valid until they are withdrawn in writing by the student.
same in our school. we have no certain script, but we have a guid line to follow. Every one is trained and confiddent, in addition we do have a FERPA form in our enrollment package.
Delicia - training is certainly key, even if scripts are used as conversations have variables for which responses must be compliant. FERPA is a touchy area that requires attention.
Kathy - sounds like you have a lot of great tools in place to support FERPA including training and the shared drive and intranet for ongoing reference.
Yes, we follow strict guidelines regarding FERPA and the privacy of the student. We let the third party know there is a form the student must sign allowing access.
This is very important with the protection of students rights. Although some of them do not understand they are their rights and wish for us to speak to anyone else, it's still a right that must be protected so that not only the school is not penalized, but the students rights are not breached.
Since we are in health care environments for our externships and clinical experiences, I usually begin a FERPA discussion with "FERPA is to education as HIPAA is to health care>" when I discuss this issue with faculty. For a person who has experience with health care, this usually begins the discussion on a higher level because they understand the privacy regulation of HIPAA. I am assuming all our faculty have experience.
I take your approach, generally anyone in healthcare can relate FERPA to HIPAA. The lights go on and we can then discuss specifics according to our students and this institution.
In addition to utilizing a form and requiring the student to sign off allowing release of information, we require the student to explicitly state what items they are allowing to be released. This ensures that there is no confusion as to what part of their file or what information may be released (which could happen with a vague blanket release).
This is very much like the HIPAA requirement. The individual must specify what items and how much is allowed to be released, to whom and for what purpose. I can see where if a blanket release was made, the individual might not actually think about the far reaching ramifications of such a release. With the actually listing, this may help to limit what is released and therefore save from inappropriate information being disclosed and the student feeling taken advantage of and maybe even experience actual damage.
I agree. I think the hard part about FERPA is just getting used to saying (or not saying) the right things. I always think about what kind of information I am disclosing - is it general to the College, or specific to one student's account? I also think it's always smart to be cautious and if you're questioning whether or not you can say or disclose something, the best thing is to wait and to find out for sure.
Andrea - great suggestion that if you aren't sure, to check first. There could be an entire course on FERPA given all the elements within this regulation.
Excellent point, Leah. The more specifics in this case, the better to avoid disputes later.
