School Shares Student Records with Employer

Student records contain far more than grades. Transcripts, disciplinary records, mental health counseling notes, special education evaluations, financial aid information, family background data, and attendance records together paint an intimate portrait of a young person's development, struggles, and circumstances. When educational institutions share this information with employers, the consequences can follow a student for years — shaping hiring decisions, promotions, and professional reputation based on information that was gathered in an educational context and was never meant to serve as an employment vetting tool. FERPA — the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — was enacted in 1974 specifically to give students and parents control over educational records. It requires schools that receive federal funding (virtually all public and most private colleges and universities) to obtain written consent before disclosing education records to third parties. Employers, background check companies, and other non-educational entities cannot receive student records without either student consent or a specific statutory exception. The administrator's statement that it is 'not your business' what the school does with your records reflects a fundamental misunderstanding — or deliberate disregard — of FERPA's central premise: the records belong, in a meaningful legal sense, to the student (or parent, for minors), not to the institution. Students have the right to inspect their own records, request corrections, and consent to or withhold consent for most disclosures. Note: State law may provide additional protections beyond the federal baseline described here — many states have enacted their own student privacy laws that exceed FERPA's requirements.