How's this for lunacy?

[Hazel]

As I've posted before, we're in the process of negotiating the terms of college support. It's been standard practice for many years that in order to receive college support, the student has to forward all report cards and transcripts to the paying parent(s).

Well, our attorney told us yesterday that in the lovely state of Illinois, some judges aren't granting this stipulation because the children in college are adults, and therefore, giving this information to the paying parent(s) would be an invasion of their privacy!!!

If she's an "adult" and thus has no responsibility to show us her grades, then she can pay for her own education.

Sheesh... This country we're living in gets more ridiculous by the minute.

[patton]

I happen to work at a college in another state.  It's NOT a state law anymore but a FEDERAL law.


But you can get the student to SIGN the FERPA CONSENT FORM

It should have the college's letterhead at the top and say the following:

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) was disignated to protect the privacy of student's educational records and to establish the rights of students to inspect and review their educational records.  In accordance with FERPA, a student must sign a consent form if information from their educational records is disclosed to a third party.

I hereby consent to disclose of any informaiton from my educational records to ____________________ (name of person) for the purpose of facilitating my discussion with the College representative.

Dated this___________________ day of ______________200_

Student's Name___________________________________

Student's Name Printed____________________________

Student's ID number_____________________________


I can even tell you WHY this became such a "big deal", even though it seems unfair to parents who really do acutally pay the students bill.

Student's were taking out Federal Loans for college and the some of the parents were taking the "extra" money out of their accounts.  Leaving the student basically desititue for the semesters.  These were parents that did not get a long with their kids.  But the now the students are responsible for paying the money back.

So students now have the option of signing this form and they can also BLOCK anyone from accessing their accounts on campus or their educational records.

There are lots of students here that pay their own way, and the parents feel they can have access to that inform, which if the student desires to make that change they can do so.

You would be surprised what some parents do with their "kids" college monies that are Loans to the students.

[Hazel]

What I don't understand is, if we have the legal right to make a "C" GPA and full time student status requirements for our support, then how do we verify this without access to the student's school records?

We have a non-cooperative relationship with both BM and SD, and we live several states away.

[Genie]

was he just making a statement on how other judges think?  Does he agree with this?

I'm assuming BM & SD do not think SD should show grades right?  I know that the college won't give the information to the parent even if paying b/c she is an adult so you can call them and request the information.  

Sucks. Never had to deal with this yet so I can't give much advice. Hopefully things won't end up that way.

[Hazel]

Thanks.  It actually was our attorney who's told us this.  Opinions vary  greatly between judges, from what I understand.

It's very hard to get info on this topic, because it's all changing very rapidly and there are no hard and fast rules.  It's quite frustrating!

:)

[patton]

If it is in the court order and you can prove you are paying.  I would call the attorney for students at the colleges.  I think they all have one.

Ask what their advice would be?  Get their opinion.  Attorney for Students is usually a free service the  students have access to or if the parents need to ask a legal question concerning the student.

[Hazel]

Thanks for that info.  There's no court order as of yet, we're still in the negotiating stage.  College will start in the Fall of '05.  Do community colleges usually have an Attorney for Students as well?

I really appreciate your advice!

[patton]

nm