Students attending, or who have attended, the University of Virginia are given certain rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 as amended (20 U.S.C. 1232g) and Rules of the Department of Education (34 C.F.R. Part 99) implementing this Act.
UVA's policy, STU-002: Rights of Students at the University of Virginia Pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), provides a list of information that UVA has defined as "Directory Information", as well as more details regarding your rights under FERPA and the procedures UVA has established to help you exercise your rights. Please consult this policy for more information.
Student rights under the Act and Rules may be summarized as follows:
- inspect and review their content;
- submit a written request for an explanation of them;
- request a hearing to challenge their content;
- expect UVA to protect their confidentiality - neither your records nor your personally identifiable information contained in them, except for Directory Information (see below), will be released without your permission to anyone other than those parties specifically authorized by FERPA;
- refuse to permit the release of your Directory Information;
- exercise all rights on your own behalf, regardless of your status as a dependent for tax purposes; and
- file complaints with the Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) of the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by UVA to comply with FERPA requirements. Complaints may be submitted to:
Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO)
United States Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20202-5920
UVA does not publish student Directory Information publicly. UVA shares Directory Information with third parties as part of enrollment or degree certification processes, or when required to do so under state and federal laws.
If you wish to prohibit the University from sharing your Directory Information, you may ask the Office of the University Registrar (UREG) to place a FERPA restriction on your SIS academic record. Please consider very carefully the impacts of any decision to withhold Directory Information. If you choose to notify the University to withhold this information, any future request from non-institutional persons or organizations will be refused unless your written consent is provided with the request. Please be aware that this includes verification of education/degrees earned at UVA.
For more information about the impact of placing a FERPA restriction on your education record, please consult UREG's list of Frequently Asked Questions.