Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records, including financial aid and billing information.
FERPA requires that the student gives written permission for the release of “any personally identifiable information” other than general “directory information.” Exceptions are that school officials with legitimate educational interests can access student education records. For more information on FERPA, visit the Office of the Registrar’s FERPA webpage.
At Baylor, students can provide written permission using the Centralized FERPA Release form in BearWeb. This form enables students to add, edit or delete FERPA releases. The two release types relevant to Baylor One Stop are Financial Aid and Student Accounts. Visit the Office of the Registrar’s FERPA release form instructions to see how to access the form and add, edit or delete FERPA releases.
New Baylor One Stop FERPA Policy will go into effect Jan. 1, 2024
For enrolled students: To ensure the respect of our students' educational privacy, Baylor One Stop enacted a new information policy effective Jan. 1, 2024. A student must have completed a FERPA release form for an individual for Baylor One Stop to be able to share Financial Aid and Student Accounts information with that individual. Parents are not exempt from this requirement. The FERPA form can be completed by students in BearWeb at any time.
For prospective students and families: For financial aid and student account billing purposes, prospective and admitted students who have paid the $500 enrollment deposit are considered enrolled students. After reaching this status, students will then gain access to the FERPA Release Form. Baylor One Stop cannot share enrolled student information with individuals without the release form.
If an individual (such as a parent or spouse) contributes tax information on a student’s FAFSA, financial information related to their FAFSA can be shared with that individual.
Being assigned a Parent BU Financial Aid PIN does not indicate consent to release FERPA protected information. The purpose of PINs is to serve as authentication for electronic signatures.
If a student adds an Authorized User in the E-Bill system that action serves as a student’s written consent that an individual may view account information, make payments on student’s behalf, and communicate with Baylor One Stop regarding the student account. However, Authorized User does not have access to a student’s grades or other academic records. Visit the Authorized User Access webpage for more information on Authorized Users and how to set them up in E-Bill.
To access the E-Bill system, an individual must be made an Authorized User. FERPA release for Student Accounts does not allow individuals to make payments in the E-Bill system, although they can be given information about the bill.