FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of students’ education records. It’s designed to establish the rights of students to inspect and review their education records and to provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading data.

FERPA automatically places restrictions on student information the university may share with third parties, including parents. A student must grant permission for his or her parents to be able to access the information.

To release information other than directory information, students must authorize access. The consent must specify records to be disclosed, state the purpose of the disclosure and identify the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure must be made.

myZou

Students can manage their billing and financial aid online through myZou. Parents are not automatically granted access to student myZou accounts. However, students have the option to add authorized users, including parents. Setting up authorized users allows parents and/or others to view the monthly billing statement and make electronic payments on the student account.

To add a user, the student logs onto myZou. Under “Finances,” click “Maintain Authorized Users” and then “Continue.”