FERPA is a Federal law that is administered by the Family Policy Compliance Office (Office) in the U.S. Department of Education (Department). 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99.

Educational agencies and institutions must annually notify parents and eligible students of their rights under FERPA. Specifically, Hawaii Medical College understands that it must notify parents and eligible students of the following rights: to inspect and review education records and the procedures to do so; to seek amendment of records the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate and the procedures to do so; to consent to disclosures of education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent; and to file a complaint with SPPO concerning potential violations.

The regulations are specific that all postsecondary institutions are only required to notify eligible students of their rights under FERPA.34 CFR § 99.7

Once a student reaches 18 years of age and makes an application to attend Hawaii Medical College [HMC], he or she becomes an “eligible student,” and all rights under FERPA transfer to the student.

The eligible student has:

• the right to have access to his or her education records,
• the right to seek to have the records amended,
• the right to have control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the records (except in certain circumstances specified in the FERPA regulations, some of which are discussed below), and
• the right to file a complaint with the Department. The term “education records” is defined as those records that contain information directly related to a student and which are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution.

FERPA, by definition, generally prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education records. Thus, information that a Hawaii Medical College employee or official did, does, or obtained through personal knowledge or observation, or has heard orally from others, is not protected under FERPA.

Therefore, HMC, under the FERPA requirements, notifies each eligible student that he or she has the right to request that inaccurate or misleading information in his or her education records be amended. While HMC is not required to amend education records in accordance with an eligible student’s request, HMC does recognize that it is required to consider the request. If HMC decides not to amend a record in accordance with an eligible student’s request, HMC will inform the student of his or her right to a hearing on the matter. If, as a result of the hearing, HMC still decides not to amend the record, the eligible student has the right to insert a statement in the record setting forth his or her views. That statement must remain with the contested part of the eligible student’s record for as long as the record is maintained.

Under FERPA, HMC may not generally disclose personally identifiable information from an eligible student’s education records to a third party unless the eligible student has provided written consent. However, there are several exceptions to FERPA’s prohibition against non-consensual disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records. One of the exceptions to the prior written consent requirement in FERPA allows “school officials,” including teachers, within a school to obtain access to personally identifiable information contained in education records, provided the school has determined that they have “legitimate educational interest” in the information.

FERPA also permits HMC to disclose personally identifiable information from education records without consent when the disclosure is in connection with financial aid for which the student has applied or which the student has received, if the information is necessary for such purposes as to determine the eligibility for the aid; determine the amount of the aid, determine the conditions for the aid, and/or enforce the terms and conditions of the aid. With respect to this exception, the term “financial aid” means payment of funds provided to an individual (or payment in kind of tangible or intangible property to the individual) that is conditioned on the individual’s attendance at a school.