FERPA stands for Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (also known as the Buckley Amendment.) FERPA governs disclosure of student education records and grants five specific rights to current and former students who have reached the age of 18 OR are attending a postsecondary institution (college):

• the right to inspect their own education records;
• the right to prevent disclosure of their own education records;
• the right to seek amendment to their own records if they are inaccurate or misleading, and in certain cases append a statement to their records;
• the right to be notified of their privacy rights under FERPA; and
• the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington concerning an alleged failure by the college to comply with FERPA.

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