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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) – student rights

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine is subject to provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment) that affords students certain rights of access to educational records and imposes obligations on the school in the release and disclosure of those records to others. Regulations allow the school to provide academic progress reports and other academic information to parents if you are their dependent as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Download confidentiality/FERPA information.

Student rights under FERPA include the right:

  • To review your education records at your request. Contact the registrar’s office at 570-504-9668.
  • To amend inaccurate information contained in your records by contacting the registrar’s office at 570-504-9668. If your request is denied, Geisinger Commonwealth allows the student to request a hearing to challenge the contents of your education record.
  • To have the right to provide consent for the disclosure of your education record by completing and submitting the FERPA form found in the registrar’s area on the Geisinger Commonwealth portal.
  • The registrar’s office will send you, the student, this notice of your FERPA rights on an annual basis. Notice of your FERPA rights is also located in the registrar’s area on the Geisinger Commonwealth portal.
  • The registrar’s office will maintain a record in your student file listing the names of persons to whom your personally identifiable information was disclosed. (This does not apply to school officials with a legitimate educational interest or to directory information). Refer to the registrar’s office area on the Geisinger Commonwealth portal under FERPA for a complete description of rights and directory information.