FERPA And Subpoenas For Student Records

With some frequency, we receive questions in our practice regarding the interplay between the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) and subpoenas or court orders. Many institutions assume that if they have received a subpoena or court order, they are permitted to produce the documents in question without first obtaining authorization from the affected student (or, in the case of a minor, a parent). This assumption is not entirely correct.

As most postsecondary administrators know, FERPA is the primary federal law that protects student education records. The law applies to any institution, public or private, that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education, which includes the vast majority of postsecondary institutions (because, among other things, they participate in the federal financial aid programs).