Privacy of Student Records

Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (FERPA)

Annual Notice

Notice of the Annual Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), is forwarded to the students via their University assigned email account.  Students are directed to this document in the College catalog and required to verify receipt. , 

The entire  FERPA Policy is detailed in Appendix A of the University Catalog. FERPA (Page 139 of the 2018/19 catalog)

If you wish to designate the release of your educational records to another individual you may do so by filling out and submitting a Waiver Form found in Registrar's Office of the TouroOne Portal. 

General Policy

Students have a right to review their educational records. Students who wish to review their educational records must submit the request in writing with the Registrar. Students must review educational records in the presence of the Registrar or Assistant to the Registrar. Students who request to review their academic record will be notified within 5 to 7 business days of an appointment date, place and time to review their academic record. The office of the registrar has 45 days to comply with the request.

Touro University may exclude from the review certain confidential letters and or letters of recommendations under U.S.C. 1232g(a)(1)(C)
Students wishing to amend their records must submit a written appeal to the registrar and Dean of Students Services for review. There are three reasons in which a record may be amended.

  1. Incorrect information
  2. Misleading information
  3. Violation of the Privacy act

A written request to amend a record must be submitted to the Registrar with a detailed explanation of what information the student is requesting to amend and why. The request will be reviewed within 14 business days by the Registrar.

Under the Federal Family Educational and Privacy Act of 1974 (FEERPA) and provisions of state law relating to public disclosure, Touro University California policies applying to the disclosure of information from students' records and the California campus's implementation of that policy assure Touro students the following rights:

  1. To inspect and review their student records.
  2. To have withheld from public disclosure, absent their prior consent, personally identifiable information from their student records.
  3. To inspect records maintained by campus offices concerning disclosure of confidential information from their student records.
  4. To seek corrections of their records through a request to amend the records, or a request for a hearing to challenge the content of their records, or to include a written statement therein.
  5. To file complaints with the Office of the Provost or with the U.S. Department of Education regarding violations of the rights accorded by Federal Law or University Policy.

Campus policy defines “public records” which may be released without prior student consent, describes the record access rights of applicants who have not been admitted or enrolled at the California campus, and describes the conditions under which students may waive the right of access to their records. Copies of the campus policy are available in the Office of the Registrar and the Office of Student Services. Each campus unit which maintains student records has available written procedures indicating the types of student records maintained, the officials responsible for their maintenance, the procedures for granting access to records, the procedures for reviewing and correcting and/or challenging the content of records, the cost (if any) charged for copies, the categories of information made available as public information, and the manner in which students may request that information about them not be released as public information.

Under 34 C.F.R. 99.36(c), the DOE states that health and safety issues are best made by the individual institution on disclosing personal identifiable information to appropriate parties, based on the information available at the time of the determination.

The campus maintains various types of student records in various locations throughout the campus. Information about these records may be requested from the Office of the Registrar. Copies of the Federal Act may be reviewed at the Office of the Registrar.

Official University Notice

Patriot Act Changes to FERPA
In response to the terrorist attacks on the United States that took place on September 11, 2001, Congress made changes to FERPA. Section 507 of the USA Patriot Act amended FERPA, which now contains 16 exceptions to the general rules.
Public Law 107-56; DCL April 12, 2002

Touro University complies with the changes made to FERPA as a result of the USA Patriot Act as outlined in DCL April 12, 2002.