Among its several purposes, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) was enacted to protect the privacy of students' education records (files, documents, and other materials that contain information directly related to a student and that are maintained by the University), to establish the rights of students to inspect and review their education records, and to provide students with an opportunity to have inaccurate or misleading information in their education records corrected.
FERPA also permits the disclosure by an institution without a student's prior consent of so-called directory information about that student. Students have the right to file complaints with the Department of Education's Family Policy Compliance Office concerning alleged failures by an institution to comply with FERPA. In accordance with the statute and the FERPA regulations issued by the Department of Education, New York University ("NYU" or "the University") has adopted these FERPA policies and procedures.
Gallatin students or their parents/guardians needing assistance with the process to release information should contact Celeste Orangers, Assistant Dean for Academic Policy Administration.
If you are enrolled in classes at an institution of higher learning, the federal Family Education Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) stipulates that your academic records belong to you. This means that a university is not permitted to release information about your record to anyone, including your parent or guardian, without your explicit consent. NYU will therefore communicate information about your record (transcript, grades, tuition bill, housing information, etc.) only to you. Please be informed about this law and make sure to read all email sent from NYU offices to your NYU email account. It is your responsibility to pass information about your record (i.e., tuition bill) to your parents or other parties who may be managing or coordinating your business for you.
You have the option to provide other individuals (proxies) select access to your Albert records, such as grades, class schedule, contact information, etc. For more information, see Manage Guest Users on Albert. Access to view tuition & housing bills and make payments is managed separately within eSuite.
If you would like to permit University officials (deans, professors, advisors, administrators, etc.) to disclose (orally or through other forms of communication) information from your education records, you must grant written permission before the University can release information from your education record. To permit Gallatin to release information, you should complete the NYU Consent to Disclosure of Student Information form.
As a parent or guardian, you are understandably concerned about your college student’s success, and may have questions about obtaining access to information pertaining to your student's education records. Access to student education records is governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). For more information, please read the complete FERPA policy statement on the University’s web site.
Among its several purposes, FERPA was enacted to:
*Education Records are defined as those records, files, documents, and other materials that contain information directly related to a student and that are maintained by the University. Examples of education records might include the admissions docket, departmental docket, placement docket (if the student has a file there), financial aid docket (if student has applied for aid), advisement and counseling dockets, bursar's docket, etc.
The rights protected by FERPA, which may be exercised by the parents of elementary or secondary school students, belong only to the students once they are in attendance at an institution of postsecondary education, regardless of a student’s age or who is paying their tuition bills. Since parents or guardians do not automatically have rights under FERPA to access their student’s education records, you may gain access only by one of the following procedures below:
1) Speak directly with your student and ask the student to share information with you about their education records. This open line of communication is the best way to track your student’s progress and development, and to assist with administrative issues.
2) Your student may provide consent to access adviser information, class schedule, financial aid, grades, and other academic information through Albert (the online student information system). The student may also provide access to tuition and housing bills through eSuite (the online billing system). Ask your student to add you as a Guest User to the student's Albert account and to eSuite.
3) Your student may permit University officials (deans, professors, advisers, administrators, etc.) to disclose (orally or through other forms of communication) information to you from their education records. Before a University official can communicate with you about the specifics of your student's situation, the student must submit to the University a written and signed consent to disclose information. This consent should specify the information that may be disclosed, state the purpose of the disclosure, and identify by name the person to whom information can be released. If written consent is not submitted in person to an appropriate office, then the student's signature must be acknowledged by a notary public, attesting that the person who signed is who they say they are (the student).
The type of information the student wants to share (e.g., financial aid records, enrollment information, grades and transcript information, etc.) will determine the University office or official who can release the information. For example, if a Gallatin student wants to grant permission for a parent or guardian to speak with someone about the student's academic performance, the student should complete the NYU Consent to Disclosure of Student Information form.
Gallatin students or their parents/guardians needing assistance with the process to release information should contact Celeste Orangers, Assistant Dean for Academic Policy Administration, (212) 998-7348.
4) You, the parent(s) or guardian(s), may also make a request in writing, and provide evidence that the student is your dependent under the Internal Revenue Code. Requests are sent to:
New York University
Office of the Registrar
300 Cadman Plaza West, 7th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
212-998-4805
You will need to provide a copy of your latest federal income tax return. It is only necessary to send a copy of the information sufficient enough to determine dependency, omitting other confidential information, if you choose.
Before the University decides whether to provide the information, your student will be informed of your request.