Student Records and Privacy

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) protects the financial records of students enrolled in a postsecondary institution, regardless of age. However, there are two ways for the parents to obtain access to their student’s account activity. Students may give Student Financial Services written consent to release the information to their parents by completing an online Third Party Access form.  Alternatively, the parents may provide evidence that students are dependents of the parents as defined in Section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. A copy of the most recent tax return is required to be submitted to the Office of Student Financial Services each year.

Click here in order to read an excellent article by the FSU Parents Association about FERPA.

What Is Online Third Party or Parental Access?

From a legal perspective the student, not the family member(s), is the university's client and is responsible for his or her own debts. The university therefore is legally obligated to provide each student with the means to create his or her own personalized user name and password and to deny access to confidential information by anyone without a valid user name and password. However, we know that family members want access to see the student’s account, and what is owed and charges paid at FSU.  We provide a method for family members (or other designated third parties) to receive their own user ID and password to access a student’s account.  Each student may choose whether to provide this access. Although the university generally encourages sharing this information with family members for reasons of convenience and expedience, the decision to do so rests with the student and not with the University. For more information on computing policies go to http://gtcr.fsu.edu/.