What is a Student Record?

by Isabella Janovick, Marketing  Manager, Anacomp, Inc.

Student records are maintained by the educational institute and governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.  The records include, but are not limited to, transcripts (grades), exam papers, test scores, evaluations, and financial aid records.  Confidentiality and protection of student records is the responsibility of a records manager and the rights of a student under federal law.  These records need to be available at any time for review, inspection, amendment and to prevent disclosure.  The personal identifiable information that is contained within a record can include social security numbers, address, birthdates and name.  Other types of confidential information contained within a student record are grades, schedules, disability status, academic status and student ID numbers.

The following items are NOT considered part of a student record under the FERPA regulations:

• Applicant information
• Campus police records created for law enforcement purposes
• Health records created and maintained solely for treatment purposes
• Employment records
• Alumni information generated or received after the individual is no longer a student

The format of student records includes paper, microfilm/fiche, digital images and other types of electronic media.  The need to access these records can come from organizations with a legitimate interest, including law enforcement, current and potential employers, mental and professional health providers and higher education facilities.  The release of this information can only be provided with the consent of the student, judicial order, school officials and parents of dependent students.

How are Student Records Managed?
The ability to manage the records in their various formats and locations, the process of tracking and keeping a chain of custody and applying proper access control and retention schedules to the various document types by records managers and administrator are of the utmost importance.

A well-planned and deployed content management system provides secure business process solutions that improve a record manager’s efficiency and control of the records.  In addition to traditional on-premise service delivery, a student records CMS can also be deployed as an on-demand Cloud-based delivery tool and online document repository. A cloud-based solution,  offers secure, anytime, anywhere access to hosted information, empowering  records professionals to manage a student record’s entire activity from initial capture, through its  life cycle and business purpose, and ultimately, to archiving.  

Benefits of a Hosted and Cloud-based Solution

• State-of-the art technology without the expense, maintenance or obsolescence risk of owning your own hardware or software.  
• Accelerates mission-critical business processes
• Reduces costs in acquisitions, operations and support
• Improves the quality of, and access to, your data 
• Simplifies compliance fulfillment requirements
  

Student Records and Security
The security of the student’s data should be paramount to any solutions provider.  The security of the CMS is not the only consideration, but also the security of the paper and micrographic records during the conversion process.
​
Having been entrusted with countless highly sensitive data conversions, Anacomp Inc. has invested in the technology, tools and processes that meet the most stringent standards for data security, redundancy and chain-of-custody control. We continually invest in our equipment and performance management systems to ensure that we not only have the fastest, most accurate solutions in the market, but that we are at the forefront of new security developments.
 
** For more information on Anacomp’s Accreditations and Certifications please click here.
​​