Accessing Your Student's Information and FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. All educational institutions that receive federal funding must comply with FERPA.

Once your student turns 18 or attends a school beyond high school, you can no longer access his or her records without consent. If you want to access your student's APSU records, he or she must complete the FERPA: Student Release of Confidential Information form. Your student can submit the form through their OneStop Web Self Service.

OneStop FERPA release instructions

FERPA Exceptions

Without your student's consent, FERPA allows us to release information to you if at least one of these statements applies:

Your student is considered a “dependent” for tax purposes for the most recent tax year. You must verify this with a copy of your most recent tax return.
Your student is under age 21 and has violated any law or university policy concerning the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance.
A health or safety emergency involves your student.
The information an official is sharing is based on personal knowledge or observation of your child and is not based on information in an education record.

For more information, see the U.S. Department of Education's website.

FERPA FAQs

Yes. Austin Peay State University is permitted to disclose information from education records to parents if a health or safety emergency involves their son or daughter.

Yes. APSU is permitted to inform parents of students younger than the age of 21 of any violation of law or policy concerning the use or possession of alcohol or any other drug.

Austin Peay may disclose information from “law enforcement unit records” to anyone — including parents or federal, state or local law enforcement authorities — without the consent of the eligible student. Many colleges and universities have their own campus security units, just as Austin Peay State University does. Records created and maintained by these units for law enforcement purposes are not considered education records and therefore are exempt from the privacy restrictions of FERPA and can be shared with anyone.

Under FERPA, schools may release any and all information to parents, without the consent of the eligible student, if the student is a dependent for tax purposes under the IRS rules or if the student voluntarily provides the University with a waiver providing parents access to educational records.

FERPA does not prohibit a school official from sharing with parents information that is based on that official’s personal knowledge or observation and that is not based on information contained in an education record. Therefore, FERPA would not prohibit a professor or other school official from letting a parent know of his or her concern about the student based on his or her personal knowledge or observation.

Enrollment Verification

If your insurance provider requires verification that your student is enrolled at APSU, you must have your student request an enrollment verification through AP OneStop. Once logged in to OneStop, your student should access Web Self Service and then the student section. They will select "Student Records", "Request Enrollment Verification" and fill in the requested information. It will take about 2-3 business days to process.