Student Information Release Authorization

Overview

In compliance with FERPA, JHU may not disclose personally identifiable information from the education records of a student without the prior written consent of the student, except in limited circumstances including the following:

• to university and school officials who have legitimate educational interests;
• if the disclosure is information the University has designated as directory information;
• to a contractor or other party to whom the University has outsourced institutional services/functions and is considered a university or school official performing an institutional service/function for which the University would otherwise use employees and is under the direct control of the university with respect to use and maintenance of education records;
• to officials of another educational institution in which the student seeks or intends to enroll, or where the student is already enrolled so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student’s enrollment or transfer (copies of the disclosed records will be made available to the student upon request);
• to authorized representatives of the U.S. comptroller general, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, the attorney general of the United States, or state and local educational authorities;
• to organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of, the University for the purpose of developing, validating, or administering predictive tests, administering student aid programs, and improving instruction;
• to accrediting organizations to carry out their accrediting functions;
• to parents of a dependent student (defined in sec. 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986);
• to parents of a student under the age of 21 the student’s violation of any federal, state or local law, or of any rule or policy of the University governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance, where the University determines that the student has committed a disciplinary violation;
• to comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena, with the condition that the University makes a reasonable effort to notify the student of the order or subpoena in advance of compliance so that the student may seek protective action, if applicable;
• in a health or safety emergency if knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals;
• in connection with a disciplinary proceeding at an institution of postsecondary education; and
• in connection with financial aid for which a student has applied or which a student has received.

FERPA imposes limitations on the redisclosure of personally-identifying information from education records. JHU may disclose personally identifiable information from education records only on the condition that the party to whom the information is disclosed will not disclose the information to any other party without the prior consent of the eligible student, and that information disclosed from the records may be used only for the purposes for which the disclosure was made.

Procedures

In compliance with FERPA, JHU must obtain written consent before disclosing non-directory information from a student’s education record. Non-directory information includes, but is not limited to, grades, disciplinary records, tuition and fees assessments, admission records, and financial aid.

Students who wish to authorize JHU to release non-directory information from their education record must submit a Student Information Release Authorization form. Students must submit a separate form for each third party to whom they grant access to their records. Students must also identify the specific information that should be released. Except in limited circumstances, the information specified will be made available only if requested by the authorized third-party designee.

The authorization form allows students to indicate their consent for three types of records: (1) Financial aid records; (2) Conduct records; and (3) Other education records. This allows for proper routing of authorization forms to the correct university staff. When “Other education records” is selected, please note that students should be as clear as possible about the specific education records/information they are providing consent to release.

Students may elect to include an expiration date on the authorization form, or they may revoke the authorization at any time by submitting a Request to Revoke Release Authorization form. Completed authorization release forms will be in effect indefinitely if the student does not elect an expiration date or submit a Request to Revoke Release Authorization form.

Form Links

Student information release authorization form

REQUEST TO REVOKE RELEASE AUTHORIZATION form

Please note, students who do not authenticate using an active JHED ID when submitting FERPA request forms will be contacted to schedule a virtual appointment during which they will be asked to display a valid photo ID as proof of identity. JHU cannot move forward with requests until identity is verified.