Parents and FERPA in College
The single most common FERPA conversation in higher education is a parent being told the school cannot discuss their child. Sometimes that is right. Frequently it is a simplification of a more interesting rule.
When rights transfer
FERPA rights belong to the parent while the student is a minor in elementary or secondary school. They transfer to the student when the student reaches 18 or enrolls in a postsecondary institution at any age.
Note the second half. A sixteen-year-old dual-enrolled in a college course holds FERPA rights as to those college records. A student who turns 18 mid-year in high school acquires them then.
Once transferred, the student is the rights-holder. A parent who paid the tuition, who is listed as an emergency contact, and who is on the phone with the dean has no FERPA right of access at all.
The dependent student exception
This is the part most parents are never told. Under 34 C.F.R. § 99.31(a)(8), an institution may disclose education records to parents of a student who is a dependent for federal income tax purposes, without the student’s consent.
Two features of that sentence do the work:
- “May,” not “must.” The exception permits disclosure; it does not compel it. An institution is free to have a policy of not disclosing to parents even where the exception would allow it, and many do.
- Dependency is a tax question, not a question of who pays the bills. Institutions that use this exception typically require a copy of the relevant page of a tax return.
So a parent told “FERPA prevents us from telling you” where the student is a tax dependent is being told about the school’s policy, framed as a statute. That is worth knowing, and worth asking about politely.
The drug and alcohol provision
Separately, FERPA permits an institution to disclose to a parent information regarding a student’s violation of any federal, state or local law, or of institutional rules or policy, governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance, where the institution has determined the student committed a disciplinary violation and the student is under 21.
Again this is permissive. Institutional practice varies widely, and the policy is usually published in the student handbook.
Health or safety
The health or safety emergency exception at § 99.36 expressly contemplates disclosure to parents. In a genuine emergency, an institution can and generally will contact a parent.
What it does not authorize is routine reporting of a student’s mental health treatment or academic struggles to a parent on the theory that it might become an emergency later.
The practical answer for most families
If a student wants a parent involved, the clean route is a written FERPA release naming the parent, scoped to what the student wants shared. Most institutions have a form. It can usually be limited — to academic records, or the conduct matter, or a particular office — and it can be revoked.
That is far better than relying on the dependent exception, because it is under the student’s control, it is unambiguous, and it does not require the institution to exercise discretion it may prefer not to exercise.
Note that a FERPA release is about records. Whether a parent may attend a conduct hearing, speak at it, or act as an advisor is governed by the institution’s own procedure, not by FERPA. Those are two separate permissions and both may be needed.
Common questions
I pay the tuition. Doesn’t that give me rights?
No. Payment is irrelevant to FERPA. Tax dependency creates a permission for the institution, not a right for you.
My adult child signed a release. Can the school still refuse?
A valid release removes the FERPA obstacle. Other policies may still limit what a school will discuss, but it should not be citing FERPA.
Can the school tell me if my child is in crisis?
In a health or safety emergency, yes. Institutions differ substantially in how they apply that, and it is worth asking the dean of students office what their practice is before there is an emergency.
Can I see the disciplinary file?
Only with the student’s consent, or under an exception the institution chooses to apply.
Get in touch if a records question has become a real problem — a hold you cannot resolve, a disclosure that should not have happened, or a record that is wrong and staying wrong.
General information about federal education privacy law. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and it cannot account for your institution’s own policies or the law of your state, several of which impose obligations beyond FERPA.