Please review Clarkson University’s policy related to compliance with FERPA privacy laws via the links below.
Family Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): Annual Notification to Students and Information on Directory Information
Please note, Clarkson University will release directory information about an individual student upon request (example to friends, prospective employers, insurers); however, we do not release data (for example all students’ address information) to any commercial organization, nor is any such data sold. Since academic information such as grades is not directory information, this is never released outside the University without a specific student release.
If you wish to have any Directory Information withheld from release, you need to complete the Request to Prevent Disclosure of Directory Information form and submit it to SAS to formally make this request. A FERPA hold will then be placed on your account. When a student has a FERPA hold on their Clarkson account, the FERPA hold remains on a student’s account even after graduation. If you wish to have a hold placed on your account, please submit this form by Friday, September 9.
What does it mean if the FERPA hold is still on after graduation?
Degree verification is now done through the National Student Clearinghouse. What this means is companies will be calling or inquiring electronically to the Clearinghouse to verify your degree from Clarkson based on the information we have provided the Clearinghouse. This is a 24/7 service for companies which provides almost immediate verification of a student’s degree. This is a great service to the companies and to our students who need degree verification done right away especially if it is outside of our business day.
Regardless of what the FERPA hold is, the Clearinghouse will NOT have permission to verify your degree. Clarkson would need to be contacted directly, during our business hours, and thus could delay the verification process. To remove this hold at any time, you will need to provide us with a written request (with your signature on it) to remove the hold. If you do not want your cell phone number released, you always have the option of having it removed from PeopleSoft.
Within the University, education record information may be accessed by university officials with legitimate educational interests. A “university official” is a person employed by the University in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); a person or company with whom the University has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another university official in performing his or her tasks. A university official has a “legitimate educational interest” if he, she or it needs to review an education record in order to (a) perform a task specific to his or her job description or his, her or its contractual duties to the University, (b) perform a task related to the student’s education (including without limitation discipline of the student), or (c) provide a service or benefit relating to the student or the student’s family.
The complete University policy can be found in the Clarkson Regulations: https://www.clarkson.edu/student-administrative-services-sas/clarkson-regulations