Parents of Boston University students will no longer receive their sons’ and daughters’ grades, in accordance to the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act, BU officials said.
Under FERPA, BU does not disclose student information unless legally authorized to do so, and the Office of the Registrar said as of Sept. 1, this information is now applicable to students’ official grades.
‘The University Counsel has been in conversation about this,’ Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said. ‘Last spring the University Counsel approved a new policy . . . with the student’s consent, we will communicate to parents.’
Brown sent letters to parents detailing the change and the intended benefits it would bring, BU spokesman Colin Riley said. School officials also discussed the issue with parents during summer orientation sessions.
‘Upon a student’s matriculation into an undergraduate program at a college or university, regardless of the student’s age, those rights transfer to the student,’ Brown said in the letter.
In the event of an emergency, however, students’ records would be released without student consent, he said. Elmore said BU will still contact parents in the event of disciplinary problems.
‘We will reserve the right to contact parents about alcohol . . . if she or he is a danger to himself or others.’ Elmore said.
Parents said they had mixed feelings about the new policy.
‘I guess [my daughter] is going to be paying for school now,’ Dave Larkin, father of a College of Communication senior, said jokingly.
Larkin said he was surprised to find out he would no longer be receiving his daughter’s grades.
‘ ‘I think parents paying for their child’s education should have a right to see their grades,’ he said. ‘But I trust my daughter to tell me honestly what grades she’s receiving.’
The goal of the policy is to facilitate communication between students and parents or guardians, Brown said in the letter.
‘ Elmore agreed.
‘We don’t want to be in the middle of that communication,’ Elmore said. ‘You want to deal with grades, talk to your student.’
Riley said there have been few parental inquiries about the new policy.
Under FERPA, which passed in 1974, students have the right to inspect their records, require written consent prior to releasing identifiable information and request corrections to educational records that they believe are misleading or inaccurate.’
Additional amendments, including the provision restricting grades from parents, were finalized in the Federal Register in early December 2008, according to the FERPA website.
‘In the past, we made an assumption that students automatically consented,’ Elmore said.
The Registrar Office can disclose directory information, which includes academic program and dates attended, degrees or awards received, email addresses, local address, phone number and the school or college the student is in without consent, Riley said.
Students are able to go on Student Link and allow their parents to receive their grades if they so choose.
COM sophomore Sarah Tanus said she thinks the new FERPA provisions are a good idea.
‘Most people would rather it be this way,’ she said. ‘Even if my parents aren’t getting my grades, I would obviously tell them what I got in my classes.’
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