National Student Clearinghouse and Its Commitment to Uphold FERPA

Creating Opportunities Instead of Risk When Processing Student Data

Navigating the complex landscape of data sharing and student privacy can be challenging for educational institutions. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) plays a crucial role in ensuring the privacy of student data. Following FERPA regulations is essential for educational institutions that handle student data, and the National Student Clearinghouse enables them — and data requestors — to remain in compliance.

Understanding FERPA

FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of education records. It grants specific rights to students and their parents regarding access to these records and sets strict guidelines on how schools can disclose personally identifiable information.

Under FERPA, educational institutions must obtain consent before disclosing personally identifiable information, PII, from education records, or the disclosure must fall under an exception to the consent requirement. PII includes information that can be used to distinguish or trace a person’s identity, both directly and indirectly, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Institutions must ensure that any data sharing that they do meets the compliance obligations of FERPA to avoid penalties. As a school official, as designated by the institution, the Clearinghouse’s role is to ensure that our processing and disclosure of data meets those compliance obligations.

The Role of the National Student Clearinghouse

FERPA is multi-faceted, and while institutions must contend with all facets, some parts of the regulations do not pertain to the work of the Clearinghouse. For example, the Clearinghouse does not process student medical and disciplinary records. The Clearinghouse’s business relies on understanding students’ privacy rights in their education records. This includes knowing how, under FERPA, enrollment and degree records can be processed and disclosed.

“That’s what the [Clearinghouse] does every day, and it’s what the schools trust us to know,” explained Rita Hazlett, Senior Assistant General Counsel at the Clearinghouse. “The Clearinghouse has a specific type of agency relationship where the Clearinghouse is acting in the school’s shoes as a school official and disclosing information to third parties as directed by the schools, in compliance with FERPA and according to our agreements with the schools.”

The Clearinghouse helps institutions maintain compliance through our products and services that are created to securely share and process data. The types of products and services include research products for educational institutions and organizations, enrollment and degree verifications, transcript ordering, and financial aid reporting. The Clearinghouse also has practices in place to ensure that our products and services are FERPA-compliant.

Creating Opportunities Instead of Risk

Whenever the Clearinghouse develops a new product or service, our in-house legal team is a part of the process. As experts on student privacy under FERPA, Clearinghouse attorneys perform an extensive review starting with the product design process and tracking it through to production to ensure that it meets compliance requirements.

Key areas that our legal team looks at include: restrictions resulting from the data source, including contractual obligations; how the data will be processed and redisclosed through Clearinghouse applications; any restrictions on the purpose for which the data can be disclosed; and ensuring that contracts with data recipients protect student privacy after it is disclosed.

With these practices in place, both participating institutions and data requestors can trust that data-sharing through the Clearinghouse is FERPA-compliant. These parties can focus on creating opportunities when it comes to data use rather than the potential risks.

“Participating institutions trust that we’re going to meet all of their requirements and not expose them to risk,” added Hazlett. “Data recipients trust that we have the authority to send them the data properly and that we’re not opening them up to risks when they receive and use that data.”

Debunking a Common Misconception

Does the Clearinghouse “sell” student data? This is a common misconception. The answer is simple: we do not and cannot sell student data. This would be considered a drastic misuse of data.

“The Clearinghouse does not legally have any ownership rights to the data, and does not buy or license data from schools. The Clearinghouse is acting as the institutions’ authorized agent,” explained Hazlett. “The institutions still own the data, and we are disclosing data as the school would be authorized to do under FERPA and at the institution’s direction.”

Maintaining Trust Within the Education Community

The Clearinghouse’s commitment to protecting data privacy has not waivered since our founding in 1993. Our education partners across the nation continue to trust the Clearinghouse and our products and services because they understand the validity and seriousness of our commitment to student privacy.

By working with the Clearinghouse, participating institutions and data requestors can confidently process student data — and students and their families can trust that their information is processed securely.

“The Clearinghouse’s business relies on understanding students’ privacy rights in their education records. This includes knowing how, under FERPA, enrollment and degree records can be processed and disclosed.”