Statement of Confidentiality and Access To Records

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, as amended (also sometimes referred to as the Buckley Amendment), is a federal law regarding the privacy of student records and the obligations of the institution, primarily in the areas of release of the records and the access provided to these records. Any educational institution that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S. Secretary of Education is bound by FERPA requirements. Institutions that fail to comply with FERPA may have funds administered by the Secretary of Education withheld.

Protection of a student’s information: 
The access and release of a student’s nonpublic (nondirectory) information or any personally identifiable information contained within a student’s financial aid record without the student’s prior consent is prohibited under federal law. However, federal law permits access to such information without a student’s prior consent under certain circumstances or to certain individuals. These include the following:

• Officials of the University who have a legitimate educational interest in the information that falls within the scope of their regular duties and responsibilities
• Officials of other schools in which you seek or intend to enroll, on the condition that the student (upon request) receive a copy of what was transferred and have an opportunity to (upon request) challenge its content
• Persons, companies or agencies with whom the University has contracted to provide services that the University, itself, would otherwise have to provide (such as attorney, auditor, collection agent, security service or other service provider)
• Federal, state, and local officials, authorities, or their agents as required by law or for the purpose of audit, program and institutional evaluation and improvement, and legal compliance with federally supported education programs
• Financial aid information to the extent necessary for such purpose as determining eligibility for financial aid or determining or enforcing the terms or conditions of the financial aid
• The University or its agents to the extent necessary to resolve any outstanding financial obligation to the University
• Accrediting organizations in order to carry out accrediting functions
• A student’s parents, if the student is a dependent as defined by the Federal Government
• Appropriate parties in a health or safety emergency
• Officials of the military for recruitment purposes
• By judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena
• Any other condition or individual not named here but for a legitimate purpose within federal law
  

Information collected and disclosed about a student:
The Office of Financial Aid does not disclose personal or account information to any individual acting on behalf of the student, unless the student is present at the time of disclosure.  The Office of Financial Aid will only provide account information to individuals with the consent of the Release Form filed in their financial aid records.

To maintain optimal security of student’s personal information, we restrict access to student’s personal and account information only to federal, state and appropriate institutional authorities.

Current and former students have the right to inspect financial aid records that relate directly to the student.  The Financial Aid Office will respond to a student’s formal request to review their financial aid records within 45 days of receiving the request.  Students may make a formal request to inspect their student financial aid records by submitting a signed written statement to the Financial Aid Office.  Requests made by email via the LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport email exchange account are acceptable. Students requesting documentation from their files in person must provide a pictured ID.

A student classified as independent for financial aid purposes may give access to their financial aid records to individuals of their choice by completing the RELEASE OF INFORMATION CONSENT FORM.  The release is valid until the student completes his or her degree program at LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport. The student may revoke the release at any time by notifying the Financial Aid Office in writing.

Students classified as dependent:
Student financial aid information for students classified as dependents can be released to the parents whose financial information is listed on the students’ FAFSAs.

Release of Information Consent Form