The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law regarding the privacy of student records and the obligations of the institution, primarily in the areas of release of the records and the access provided to these records.

By completing a restriction form with the Office of the Registrar, students can elect to have certain parts of their education record that are normally considered directory information excluded from public release. A student may file a formal restriction on the release of all or some of his/her directory information at any time. Once a restriction is filed, the affected directory information becomes confidential, and an indicator that exclusions have been made is attached to the student's record in SIS.

Identifying FERPA Restrictions

In SIS, the privacy shade icon is used to indicate that all or part of a student's directory/public information is restricted. When you see this icon on any page, it indicates that the student has requested that at least some of his or her directory information be restricted from release to third parties. In order to find out what information is releasable, click on the privacy shade icon.

Note: If the student is an employee of the university, the notation "Employee" will appear to the left of the FERPA shade in the top image, like so:

If the FERPA shade is present on the student's record, it is a good business practice to refer the person requesting the information to the Office of the Registrar by e-mail at registrar@iu.edu or via telephone at (812) 855-2654.