TL;DR FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is the federal law that keeps your school records private and gives you the right to see them and ask for corrections. It covers your education recordsEducation records: records directly related to a student and maintained by the school or someone acting for it — transcripts, grades, discipline files, and more. at schools that take U.S. Department of Education money. Until you turn 18 or start college, your parents hold those rights; after that you’re an eligible studentEligible student: a student who has turned 18 or is attending a college or other postsecondary school at any age. FERPA rights move from the parents to that student. and they’re yours. Schools generally need signed written consent to share your records — but the law lists exceptions, and directory informationDirectory information: basic details like your name, address, email, photo, and honors that a school may release without consent after public notice, unless you opt out. can go out unless you opt out. You can’t sue under FERPA, but you can file a federal complaint within 180 days.
Your Mom Called the Registrar: Who Actually Gets to See Your Grades?
It’s October of your first semester. Your mom calls the registrar and asks how midterms went. She’s paying the bill, and she has read every report card since kindergarten. The person on the phone says they can’t discuss your grades. Four months ago, your high school would have opened the whole file for her. Your mom didn’t change. The rights did — a federal law passed in 1974 moved them from her to you the day you started college. That law also decides who else can see your transcript and how you correct a file that’s wrong. Here is what FERPA covers, who can see your records at each stage, and the steps for seeing, fixing, and protecting your own file.What Is FERPA? The Short Answer
FERPA is a federal statute, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, with detailed rules in 34 CFR Part 99. It gives three rights over a student’s education records: to inspect and review them, to ask the school to amend anything inaccurate or misleading, and to control most disclosures through signed, dated written consent. In K-12, your parents hold those rights. The regulations define an eligible student as “a student who has reached 18 years of age or is attending an institution of postsecondary education” — so at 18, or on the day you start college at any age, the rights transfer to you. FERPA applies to schools that receive funds from U.S. Department of Education programs: public schools and districts, plus colleges, public or private, that get that money, including through students’ Pell Grants and federal student loans. Private K-12 schools generally don’t receive it and generally aren’t covered. Two limits matter. The consent rule has exceptions, covered below. And enforcement runs through the Department of Education, not the courthouse: in Gonzaga University v. Doe (2002), the Supreme Court held that FERPA’s privacy provisions “create no personal rights to enforce” under the federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Your remedy is a complaint to the Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office.
Who Can See Your School Records? Five Situations
Situation 1 · K-12, under 18 Your parents hold the rights — both of themUntil you turn 18, your parents can ask to inspect your records, and the school must give access within a reasonable time — never more than 45 days after the request. That reaches whatever the school maintains that is directly related to you: grades, attendance, discipline, notes placed in your file.
Divorce alone doesn’t change that: under 34 CFR § 99.4, either parent has full rights unless a court order, state statute, or legally binding document specifically revokes them. FERPA gives a student under 18 no independent right to the file, but § 99.5(b) lets schools give students more access. Ask.
Situation 2 · College Can my parents see my grades in college? Through you, or through an exceptionOnce you attend a college, the rights are yours — even at 17. Your parents no longer have a FERPA right to your grades, schedule, conduct file, or billing account. Your own signed consent is the clean way to let them in.
Without it, a college is allowed to share with parents in three main cases: you are their dependent for federal tax purposes (§ 99.31(a)(8)); there is a health or safety emergency (§ 99.36); or you are under 21 and the college has determined you committed a disciplinary violation involving alcohol or a controlled substance (§ 99.31(a)(15)). Allowed is not required, so read your college’s policy.
Situation 3 · Inside the system Teachers, counselors, your next school, and financial aidSchool officials, including teachers, can see your records without consent when the school has determined they have “legitimate educational interests.” A school that shares records this way must say in its annual FERPA notice who counts as a school official and what counts as a legitimate educational interest. A contractor, such as a gradebook software company, can qualify if it does work the school would otherwise give employees and stays under the school’s direct control on records.
Records can also follow you: a school may send them to a school or college where you seek or intend to enroll, and may share what’s needed to decide your financial aid.
Situation 4 · Outsiders Directory information, recruiters, subpoenas, and emergenciesA school may designate directory information — name, address, phone listing, email, photograph, major, sports, honors — and release it without consent, but only after public notice and a period to opt out in writing (§ 99.37). Separately, 20 U.S.C. § 7908 requires school districts that receive federal K-12 funds to give military recruiters, on request, high school students’ names, addresses, and phone listings unless a parent, or the student at 18, opts out in writing.
A court order or subpoena can reach your records, but the school generally must make a reasonable effort to notify you or your parents first. In an emergency, a school may tell appropriate parties what they need to know when there is an “articulable and significant threat” to someone’s health or safety. A police officer who simply asks for your file, with no listed exception, isn’t entitled to it under FERPA.
The quiet exception Records and schools FERPA doesn’t coverNot everything written about you is an education record. The regulations leave out notes “kept in the sole possession of the maker” and used only as a personal memory aid. They leave out records a campus police or security unit creates and keeps for law enforcement purposes; FERPA neither requires nor forbids releasing those. For students who are 18 or in college, they leave out treatment records that a doctor or psychologist shares only with the people providing treatment.
A private K-12 school that takes no Department of Education funds sits outside the law; there, your enrollment contract, the handbook, and state law control. And FERPA covers records only — whether a school can go through your phone is separate law, covered in our guide to school phone searches.
How five states add their own rules. FERPA is national, but states can pass student-records laws of their own:
- Florida — Fla. Stat. § 1002.22 lets a parent or student ask a circuit court for an injunction when a school official refuses to honor records rights.
- New York — Education Law § 2-d bars selling a student’s personally identifiable information or releasing it for commercial purposes.
- Texas — Education Code § 26.004 entitles a parent to all written district records about their child, including grades, discipline, counseling, and psychological records.
- Ohio — Revised Code § 3319.321 forbids releasing public school students’ directory information for use in a profit-making plan or activity.
- Washington — RCW 28A.605.030 gives a parent or guardian the right to review all education records and requires each district to adopt an access procedure.
What to Say When You Want to See, Fix, or Protect Your Records
Put it in writing — and date it
1. To see your records (you, if you’re 18 or in college; your parent, if not):
“Under FERPA and 34 CFR § 99.10, I am requesting to inspect and review my education records, including my transcript and discipline file. Please tell me when and where I can review them within the 45 days the law allows.”
2. To see who else has looked:“I would also like to inspect the record of requests and disclosures kept with my file under 34 CFR § 99.32.”
3. To fix something that’s wrong:“I am asking the school to amend this entry because it is inaccurate or misleading, for these reasons. If the school decides not to amend it, please tell me in writing how to request a hearing.”
4. To opt out of directory information (check the annual notice for the deadline):“Please do not designate or release any of my information as directory information, and confirm in writing that my opt-out is on file.”
Send requests to the registrar or records office and keep a dated copy. A school can’t charge you to search for or retrieve records, and can’t destroy them while your request is pending. To let a parent see college records, give the school signed, dated consent naming the records, the purpose, and the recipient.What to Do If Your School Shared Your Records Without Permission
- Write it down the same day: what was shared, with whom, when, and how you found out. Save emails and screenshots.
- Check for an exception. Read the school’s annual FERPA notice and directory information list, and ask to inspect the disclosure record in your file.
- Raise it with the school in writing — the registrar or principal first. The Department of Education strongly encourages this step, though it isn’t required.
- File a FERPA complaint with the Student Privacy Policy Office, using the form on studentprivacy.ed.gov and specific facts, within 180 days of the violation or of when you knew or reasonably should have known about it.
- Know who files: parents and eligible students. If you’re under 18 and in K-12, your parent files. Then check whether your state’s law adds a remedy.
Your School Records: What Schools Can vs. Can’t Do
✓ SCHOOLS CAN
- Let staff with a legitimate educational interest see your records
- Send your records to a school or college where you’re enrolling
- Release directory information after public notice, unless you opted out
- Tell a college student’s parents about grades if the student is their tax dependent
- Disclose what’s necessary in a real health or safety emergency
✗ SCHOOLS CAN’T
- Give your grades or discipline file to outsiders without signed, dated consent or a listed exception
- Take more than 45 days to let you or your parents inspect your records
- Charge a fee to search for or retrieve your records
- Treat your Social Security number as directory information
- Deny an amendment request without telling you about your right to a hearing
The word that matters is “may”: apart from giving parents and eligible students access to their own records, FERPA’s exceptions permit a school to share; they don’t order it to (34 CFR § 99.31(d)). That is why two colleges can give a parent different answers and both be following the law.
FERPA Myths, Busted
Myth: “If my school violates FERPA, I can sue for money.”
False under FERPA itself. Gonzaga University v. Doe closed that door in 2002. The federal route is a complaint to the Student Privacy Policy Office; a school that won’t comply voluntarily can have federal payments withheld. A lawsuit would have to rest on some other law.
Myth: “FERPA lets me make a teacher change a grade I think is unfair.”
False. The Department of Education has said the amendment right cannot be used to challenge a grade unless it was recorded inaccurately. A B entered where you earned an A is a FERPA issue; a B you think you didn’t deserve is a grade appeal.
Myth: “Everything a teacher or counselor writes about me is in my record.”
Not quite. Private notes kept only by the person who wrote them, used as a memory aid, and shown to no one except a temporary substitute are not education records.
Myth: “Classmates grading each other’s quizzes is a FERPA violation.”
False. In Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo (2002), the Supreme Court ruled that peer grading does not violate FERPA. The regulations now exclude grades on peer-graded papers before a teacher collects and records them.
FERPA Questions People Actually Ask
Tap a question to open it.Can my parents see my grades in college?
Not automatically. Once you attend a college, FERPA rights belong to you, and the college generally needs your signed, dated written consent. A college may share anyway if your parents claim you as a federal tax dependent, in a health or safety emergency, or after an alcohol or drug violation if you’re under 21 — but it doesn’t have to.
Can a school share my records without permission?
Yes, but only in the situations listed in 34 CFR § 99.31. The common ones: school officials with a legitimate educational interest, a school where you’re enrolling, financial aid, a court order or subpoena, a health or safety emergency, and directory information you didn’t opt out of. Otherwise the school needs written consent.
How do I see my own school records, and how long can the school take?
Ask the records office in writing; the school has no more than 45 days after it receives the request (34 CFR § 99.10), and it must answer reasonable requests to explain a record. If you’re under 18 and in K-12, the request comes from your parent.
Can I make my school change or remove something in my record?
You can ask, and the school must follow a process. Under 34 CFR § 99.20, you may request amendment of information that is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s privacy rights. If the school refuses, it must offer a hearing. If the hearing goes against you, you may place your own statement in the record, and the school must disclose it whenever it discloses the disputed entry.
What is directory information, and how do I opt out?
Directory information is basic information a school may release without consent, and you opt out by notifying the school in writing within the period it sets. Each school must give public notice of the categories it uses and of the opt-out window. One limit: opting out can’t keep your name, ID, or school email from being used in a class you’re enrolled in.
I’m under 18 and taking college classes. Who controls those records?
You control the records at the college; your parents keep their rights at the high school. The Department of Education says the two schools may exchange information, your parents may inspect anything the college sends to the high school while you’re under 18, and the college may share with parents who claim you as a tax dependent.
Does FERPA apply to private schools?
It depends on federal funding. FERPA covers schools that receive U.S. Department of Education funds. Private and parochial K-12 schools generally don’t, so they generally aren’t covered. A private college is covered when Department funds reach it, including through its students’ federal aid such as Pell Grants.
FERPA Key Terms, Explained
Education records — records directly related to a student and maintained by the school or a party acting for it.
Eligible student — a student who is 18 or attends a postsecondary school; the holder of FERPA rights from then on.
Directory information — basic details a school may release without consent after public notice, unless you opted out.
Legitimate educational interest — what a school official needs in order to see your records without consent; defined in the school’s annual notice.
Sole-possession notes — a staff member’s private memory aids, shown to no one but a temporary substitute; not education records.
Law enforcement unit records — records campus police or security create and keep for law enforcement purposes; outside FERPA.
The Law Behind Your School Records
One statute, one set of regulations, and two Supreme Court rulings. Full text is linked in Sources.20 U.S.C. § 1232g — Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974The statute. It conditions federal education funding on access to records within 45 days, a hearing to challenge them, and written consent before most releases.
34 CFR Part 99 — the FERPA regulationsThe working rulebook: definitions (§ 99.3), access (§ 99.10), amendment (§§ 99.20 to 99.22), consent exceptions (§ 99.31), and complaints (§§ 99.63 to 99.67).
Gonzaga University v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273 (2002)A university employee told the state’s teacher certification agency about misconduct allegations against a student, and a jury awarded him damages. The Supreme Court reversed: FERPA creates no personal right to sue under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo, 534 U.S. 426 (2002)An Oklahoma parent challenged students grading each other’s papers. The Court held peer grading does not violate FERPA, reading the law to point at records kept by “a single central custodian, such as a registrar.”
Student Privacy Law That’s Still Moving
The edges to watch as of October 2026:
- Who enforces FERPA — on June 30, 2026, the Department of Education said it had entered an interagency agreement with the Department of Justice to speed enforcement, with the Student Privacy Policy Office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division acting together against a school district. On September 1, 2026, the Justice Department sued that district, Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, in federal court over parents’ access to records, and called the case the first of its kind. FERPA complaints still go to the Student Privacy Policy Office.
- Parents’ access to K-12 records — in January 2026, the Office announced a finding that the California Department of Education was violating FERPA, saying state law and guidance pressured districts to keep records such as “gender support plans” from parents. The Department’s position is that these are education records a parent may inspect; it raised the loss of federal funding. California challenged the finding in federal court in February 2026.
- State student-data laws — the newest amendments we found in the official notes to the FERPA regulations date to December 2011, apart from a January 2017 update to the section that names the enforcing office. States have written rules of their own, such as New York’s Education Law § 2-d, and those can change faster.
One important note: FERPA is the same in every state, but it isn’t the only law on your records. States can add their own rules — here is how federal and state law fit together — and they differ on deadlines, on what a parent can see, and on whether you can go to court. Your district’s or college’s annual FERPA notice shows which rules your school follows.
The Bottom Line on What FERPA Is and Who Sees Your Records
FERPA gives three rights — see the records, ask to correct them, control most sharing — and one switch: at 18 or at college, those rights stop being your parents’ and become yours. Most exceptions are the school’s choice, so the policy your school publishes each year matters as much as the statute. Want your file? Ask in writing and count 45 days. Something wrong in it? Ask for an amendment, then a hearing, then add your own statement. Records went where they shouldn’t have? Write it down and remember the 180 days. Now you know.The other privacy questionCan schools search your phone? → What else changes at 18Can your parents kick you out at 18? → The whole subjectExplore School & College →
Sources
Primary sources:- 20 U.S.C. § 1232g — Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — law.cornell.edu
- 34 CFR Part 99 — FERPA regulations, current text — ecfr.gov
- 34 CFR § 99.3 — definitions — law.cornell.edu
- 34 CFR § 99.10 — inspection within 45 days — law.cornell.edu
- 34 CFR § 99.20 — amending records — law.cornell.edu
- 34 CFR § 99.31 — when consent is not required — law.cornell.edu
- 34 CFR § 99.37 — directory information — law.cornell.edu
- Gonzaga University v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273 (2002) — supreme.justia.com
- Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo, 534 U.S. 426 (2002) — supreme.justia.com
- How to file a FERPA complaint, with the complaint form — studentprivacy.ed.gov
- Which schools FERPA applies to — studentprivacy.ed.gov
- Students under 18 enrolled in both high school and college — studentprivacy.ed.gov
- The 45-day rule and shorter state deadlines — studentprivacy.ed.gov
- Family Policy Compliance Office letter on the amendment right (Aug. 13, 2004) — studentprivacy.ed.gov
- 20 U.S.C. § 7908 — military recruiter access to student contact information — law.cornell.edu
- Department of Education and Department of Justice enforcement agreement (June 30, 2026) — ed.gov
- Justice Department lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (September 1, 2026) — justice.gov
- FERPA finding on the California Department of Education (January 2026) — ed.gov
- California Attorney General’s announcement of the lawsuit challenging the finding (February 11, 2026) — oag.ca.gov
- Fla. Stat. § 1002.22 — leg.state.fl.us
- N.Y. Education Law § 2-d — nysenate.gov
- Tex. Education Code § 26.004 (in Chapter 26) — statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Ohio Revised Code § 3319.321 — codes.ohio.gov
- RCW 28A.605.030 — app.leg.wa.gov
LawJustic is for educational purposes only and does not provide legal advice. Student records law combines federal rules with state law and each school’s own policies, and enforcement practices are changing. If your records were shared or you were denied access, talk to a parent or trusted adult and consider contacting the Student Privacy Policy Office or an education attorney. Last reviewed: October 2026.