FERPA
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Student Records
Procedures relating to the establishment of student records are in accordance with the provision of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 (Buckley Amendment), as amended, with the policies of West Georgia Technical College, and with the regulations of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Each student at West Georgia Technical College has the right and may request to inspect his or her general education records within 45 days of the day the college receives a request for access. This right of inspection includes academic records maintained by Student Affairs. All college records are confidential and are not available without the student’s written consent. Directory information (name, city of residence, county of residence, major field of study, dates of attendance, enrollment status, i.e, full or part-time, participation in official sports and student activities and organizations, height and weight of athletic team members, degrees and awards received) will normally be released without student notification or consent unless a student has requested that such information not be released. If you need to place a restriction on your records, you may do so by filling out the Objection to Release Student Directory Information Form and submitting it to the Registrar’s Office.
Students desiring access to their records should contact the Registrar’s Office. The Registrar will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. The student has the right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes in inaccurate or misleading. The student should write the Registrar, clearly identify the records they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend a record as requested by the student, the school will notify the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for an amendment. A student has the right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in 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 school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the school in an administrative, supervisory, and academic or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement personnel and health staff) a person or company with whom the school has contracted; a person serving on the Board of Trustees; 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 task. A school official has a legitimate education interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility. Upon request, the school discloses education records to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll. The student has the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by West Georgia Technical College to comply with requirements of FERPA.
The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20202-4605