Academic Resources

FERPA

Lourdes University is in full compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 as amended (FERPA), which is designed to protect the confidentiality of student records maintained by educational institutions and to give students access to their records to assure the accuracy of their contents. A student is any person who attends or who has attended the University. An educational record is a record maintained by the University which is directly related to a student, with the following exceptions:

  • Records made by University employees which are kept in the sole possession of the maker, are used only as a personal memory aid, and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a temporary substitute for the maker of the record;
  • Employment records unless the employment is contingent on the fact that the employee is a student;
  • Clinical records made, maintained and used by professionals or paraprofessionals (e.g. physician, counselor) only in connection with treatment of the student and disclosed only to individuals providing the treatment;
  • Alumni and development records containing information about individuals after they are no longer students at the University.

FERPA affords students certain rights with respect to their education records including:

(1) The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day Lourdes University receives a request for access, provided the student has not waived this right.

A student should submit to the Registrar a written request that identifies the record(s) the student wishes to inspect. The Registrar will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.

(2) The right to request amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes are inaccurate.

A student who wishes to ask the University to amend a record should write the Registrar and clearly identify the part of the record the student wants changed and specify why s/he thinks it is inaccurate.

If the University decides not to amend the record as requested, the University will notify the student in writing of the decision and the student’s right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.

(3) The right to provide written consent before the University discloses personally identifiable information from the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.

One exception permitting disclosure without consent is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic, or staff position (including health services); a person or company with whom the University has contracted as its agent to provide a service instead of using University employees or officials (e.g. an attorney, auditor, National Student Clearinghouse); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; volunteers performing institutional functions and services; and students conducting University business (e.g., serving on official committees, working for the University, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks). A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities.

Upon request, the University may also disclose education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.

Lourdes University may disclose information about a student without violating FERPA if the disclosure is of “directory information.” Lourdes University designates the following categories of personally identifiable student information as “directory Information” and may disclose or publish such information at its discretion: student’s name, address, telephone listing, electronic mail address, photograph, date and place of birth, major field of study, dates of attendance, grade level, enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate or graduate; full-time or parttime), participation in officially recognized activities/sports, weight and height of athletic team members, degrees, honors and awards received, and the most recent educational agency or institution attended.

A currently enrolled student has the right to withhold disclosure of directory information by submitting written notification to the Registrar within 14 days from the first day of each semester.

Lourdes University representatives may take photographs and videos of students participating in academic or extra-curricular activities and use them for University purposes. Students who have questions or who do not wish their name or likeness to be used, should notify the Director of Marketing & Communications in writing that the student wishes to withhold permission to publish certain information.

(4) The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the University to comply with the requirements of FERPA.
The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:

Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20202-5901

You may, at your discretion, grant the University permission to release information about your student records to a third party by submitting a completed Student Information Release Authorization. You must complete a separate form for each third party to whom you grant access to information on your student records. The specified information will be made available only if requested by the authorized third party. The University does not automatically send information to a third party.

Directions to complete the FERPA online:

  • Log on to your Lourdes portal. This can be done by navigating to https://mymaillourdes.sharepoint.com/sites/luportal.
  • Student will select ‘Student Web Self Service’ and choose to login. Please log in with your Lourdes email and password.
  • Select ‘My Profile’ and then ‘My Ferpa’.
  • You will need to first select ‘Optin’ from the drop down. Please select ‘check all’ if you plan to allow anyone to access any information. Please save after selecting.
  • You will then select ‘Consent’ from the drop down. Select ‘add person’ and complete the information for the individual you would like to have access to your information. You will select each type of information you would like that individual to have access to. Options are:
    • Grades
    • Status
    • Holds
    • Schedule
    • Financial Aid
    • Ledger Card
  • Make sure to save all information.

If you would like to remove someone from having access to your information, please follow the above steps, navigate to ‘consent’, select ‘edit’ next the individual you would like to remove, uncheck all and save.

Please note, we will not be able to release any information to anyone but you the student without this.

If you have questions, please contact the Registrars Office at 419-517-7449 or registrar@lourdes.edu

Please note that your authorization to release information has no expiration date; however, you may revoke your authorization at any time by sending a written request to the same address. It is University policy not to release certain aspects of student records (e. g. registration, grades, GPA) over the phone or via email.

More details regarding FERPA guidelines for parents can be found here.