Annual Notice to Students and Employees

Federal regulations governing institutions of higher education require that information on the following data be made available to students and employees annually.

We hope you find this notification to be informative.

Annual Notice to Students & Employees (printable PDF).

The Family Education Rights & Privacy Act

Southeast Community College has developed policies and procedures in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA rights transfer to the student when they reach the age of 18 or when they attend a school beyond the high school level.

FERPA Rights

You have the following rights as an SCC student:

• To inspect and review your educational records;
• To seek correction to your educational records if you believe they are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of privacy rights
• To consent to disclosures of the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) contained within your educational records (except for where the regulations allow disclosure without prior consent)

All requests for student records, amendment of student records, information and/or questions relating to the release of records and disclosure of PII must be in writing and directed to the campus Registration and Records Office.

FERPA rules allow disclosure of PII from a student education record without prior consent in certain cases. In addition to the circumstances noted below, a disclosure may also be made when the disclosure meets other permissible purposes as identified in 34 CFR 99.

• The disclosure is to other school officials who have legitimate educational interest in the records. This may include teachers, staff members, contractors, consultants, volunteers or other parties who perform services/functions on behalf of SCC.
• The disclosure is to officials of another school, school system or college where the student is enrolled or seeks enrollment. The disclosure must be for purposes related to the student’s enrollment or transfer. This would include information released to a high school in the case of a dually-enrolled student (such as SCC’s SENCAP or TSA programs)
• Government agencies for purposes of a school audit, evaluation, or compliance with federal programs
• The disclosure is of directory information, which is information contained in a student’s education record that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed.

Directory information consisting of the items listed below may be released without the student’s consent:

• Student name
• Major field of study
• Dates of attendance
• Enrollment status
• Most recent previous school attended
• Degrees and awards received
• Honors and awards received, including Dean’s List and other academic honors
• Participation in officially recognized co-curricular activities (e.g. music, sports)
• Weight and height of athletic team members
• Parking permit number and auto license number
• Photograph/Video*

When available, your physical address, email address and/or telephone number may be released at the discretion of the Registration and Records Office.

*Use of Photographs/Video:

Photographers/videographers employed or contracted by SCC regularly take photographs/video of people, either individually or in a group, to illustrate or describe various aspects of the College and campus life. These photographs/video will be taken at public venues such as athletic events and concerts, or they may be taken in organized campus photo/video shoots where the subjects will have given verbal consent to be photographed/videotaped. Individuals who are photographed/videotaped while attending a public event or who verbally agree to participate in a photo/video shoot will be understood to have authorized SCC to use their likeness in print and electronic materials to promote the College. The College will retain the usage rights to the photographs/video in perpetuity.

To avoid having Directory Information released, students must submit a written request to the campus Registration and Records Office within 10 classroom/business days, not including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, after initial enrollment in the College. After the initial 10-day period, any new request for withholding of directory information shall require a 10-classroom day (not including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) written notice to the campus Registration & Records Office to become effective.

The Right to File a Complaint

If you believe the school has failed to comply with regulatory requirements and the complaint was not satisfactorily resolved with the school, you have the right to file a complaint with the Department of Education.

For additional information regarding privacy rights, please see the Department of Education’s FERPA website.

Student Right to Know

The Student Right-to-Know Act, passed by Congress in 1990, requires institutions eligible for title IV funding, under the Higher Education act of 1965, to calculate completion or graduation rates of certificate or degree-seeking, full-time students entering that institution, and to disclose these rates to current and prospective students. These general disclosures include:

1. General Institutional Information
2. Financial Aid Assistance
3. Educational Programs
4. Student Outcomes
5. Health and Safety
6. Athletics

Please visit

https://www.southeast.edu/consumer-information/ for more in-depth information on each of the above topics.

To read more about the Student Right-to-Know Act, please visit the National Center for Education Statistics website at http://nces.ed.gov.