Student Records
Penn State recognizes the privacy of individuals and the confidentiality of student records as described in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Critical points of this policy are:
A. The following items are considered directory items and may be released without your permission:
- Name
- Address (local, permanent, and e-mail)
- Telephone number
- Date and place of birth
- Major
- Student activities, including athletics
- Weight and height (athletic teams)
- Dates of attendance
- Enrollment status (full-time, part-time, or not enrolled)
- Date of graduation
- Degrees and awards received and where received
- Most recent educational institution attended
- Name and address of parents, guardian, spouse
B. To request that these items NOT be publicly released, contact the University Registrar. You will be asked to complete a Request to Withhold Directory Information form (Adobe PDF file; download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Please be prepared to provide personal identification.
Current or previously enrolled students are entitled to request that this information not be made publicly available.
Requests filed 10 days or more after registering for a World Campus course will be effective only with respect to the release of information prepared after receipt of the request.
To remove your confidentiality request, contact the University Registrar. You will be asked to complete a Request to Release Directory Information form (Adobe PDF file; download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Please be prepared to provide personal identification.
For more information on the University's policy on confidentiality of student records, click here.
Academic Records
Students have the right to access information regarding their course lesson submissions, reported grades for those lessons, course grades, GPAs, and other academic information that will be used on the official University record. This same information, however, cannot be released to parents, spouses, professional supervisors, or other parties without the expressed written permission of the student associated with those records. Students may permit particular parties to have access to confidential academic records by completing a Consent to Release Educational Records to a Third Party form and submitting it to Student Services to add to your records.
