Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Students can now authorize designee(s) through the MySJSU portal to disclose their records. Scroll down to "Authorize to Release Information" section for more details.

FERPA is the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act of 1974, otherwise known as the Buckley Amendment. This act is enforced by the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) in the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C.

It is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student records. It gives students certain rights with respect to their education records: 

• • the right to view and inspect their records
  • the right to request for an amendment to their records
  • the right to consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s information records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent 

San Jose State University does not release information from student records without a written consent from the student, except for student information that the university has deemed as directory information. SJSU Student Information Disclosure policy is more restricted than what FERPA provides as directory information. Requests for contact information are not honored, especially for marketing or membership solicitation purposes.

What is Directory information?

SJSU considers the following information to be Directory Information:

• • Dates of enrollment
  • Degree earned

Updating Your Preferences

To edit your FERPA/ Directory restrictions, follow these steps:

• • Log into MySJSU
  • Click the Personal Information banner, then click User Preferences
  • Click the Security tab, then click the green Edit FERPA/ Directory button.

Note that restricting your directory information does not make you anonymous in courses that you enrolled.

Authorization to Release Information

• Current students may grant consent for their designated person (parent or legal guardian) to university officials via MySJSU to disclose student record information as prescribed by FERPA. Below are the departments included in the "Authorize to Release" list on MySJSU that students can select from.
  • • Admissions
    • Bursar’s Office
    • Financial Aid & Scholarship Office
    • Office of the Registrar
    • University Housing Services

    See the guide on how to complete the Authorization to Release [pdf].

• Former students who no longer have access to MySJSU and want to give FERPA access to their designated person need to contact our office. It will be reviewed on a case by case basis. 

Solomon Amendment

All colleges and universities are required to release information to military recruiters. The only way to prevent release is to restrict directory information from being released.  Failure to comply with this amendment may result in the loss of federal funding, including various forms of federal student aid. 

Resources Links:

• Revised FERPA Bulletin [pdf]
• FERPA Brochure [pdf]
• ISA Classification Standards - 10/5/17 [pdf]
• GA_classification_standards - 10/5/17 [pdf]
• Institutional Policy on Access and Control of Information Contained in Student Records (Presidential Directive 2008-02) [pdf]
• Data Breaches - Contact Information Security Officer

Contact: registrar@sjsu.edu for FERPA inquiries