At the University of West Florida, the privacy of academic records is also protected by Florida Statute Section 1002.22 (2007). The U.S. Department of Education summarizes the rights afforded to students by FERPA as follows:

• The right to inspect and review educational records within a reasonable period of time and no more than 45 days after the institution has received the request
• The right to request to amend inaccuracies in their educational records
• The right to limit disclosure of some personally identifiable information
• The right to file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office if they feel their FERPA rights have been violated.
• FERPA requires universities to provide students with annual notification of these rights. UWF's annual notification appears in the undergraduate and graduate catalogs. Students who suspect that a FERPA violation has occurred, should contact Student Affairs or theFamily Policy Compliance Office within the U.S. Department of Education.

An education record is any record directly related to a student that is maintained by an educational agency or institution, or by a party acting for the agency or institution.

Examples of an academic record include, but are not limited to:

• Biographical information including date and place of birth, gender, nationality, information about race and ethnicity, and identification photographs
• Grades, test scores, evaluations, courses taken, academic specialization and activities, and official communications regarding your status
• Coursework including papers and exams, class schedules, as well as written email or recorded communications that are part of the academic process
• Disciplinary records
• Financial aid and financial aid records
• Internship program records

Academic records do not include:

• Sole possession records that are used only as memory aids and not shared with others
• Law enforcement unit records
• Employment records, unless the employment is dependent on the employee’s status as a student (such as evaluations of graduate assistants)
• Medical records
• Records that only contain information about an individual after he or she is no longer a student at that agency or institution

If a student is attending a postsecondary institution - at any age - the rights under FERPA have transferred to the student. However, in a situation where a student is enrolled in both a high school and a postsecondary institution, the two schools may exchange information on that student. If the student is under 18, the parents still retain the rights under FERPA at the high school and may inspect and review any records sent by the postsecondary institution to the high school. Additionally, the postsecondary institution may disclose personally identifiable information from the student’s education records to the parents, without the consent of the eligible student, if the student is a dependent for tax purposes under the IRS rules.

Yes.

Under the provisions of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), you have the right to withhold disclosure of the information listed below. The following items are designated as "Directory Information" and may be released by this University to non-institutional persons or organizations:

• name, address, telephone number, dates of attendance, e-mail address;
• most recent previous institution attended, major field of study, awards, honors (including Deans' list), degrees conferred (including dates);
• past and present participation in officially recognized sports and activities, physical factors (height, weight of athletes), date and place of birth;
• Commencement Program (name and degree at time of graduation);
• news releases (at time of graduation).

Your request to withhold directory information will be honored. The University will not assume responsibility to contact you for subsequent permission for release of these items. The University assumes no liability for honoring your request that such information be withheld.

Yes. If you have indicated Privacy in the Contact and Privacy Information app in MyUWF, we cannot print your name in the program. You will need to uncheck that box and save very early in the semester of your graduation to ensure that your name will be printed.