Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
Student academic records are established and maintained in total compliance with University regulations governing enrollment, completion, and permanent archiving. Academic records considered to be official are maintained by Enrollment Management for all students at the Medical University. This office acts as custodian of these records. Access to student academic records is governed by federal and university policy intended to protect the privacy of students. In the interest of preserving student privacy to the fullest extent, the University will substitute another nine-digit number upon written request from the student for the routinely assigned social security number. However, students receiving government financial loans and grants and/or wishing to claim tuition credit for federal income tax purposes must disclose their social security number to the University to ensure accurate reporting. In general, access to electronic computer files is further guarded by a four-digit student-defined personal number used in combination with the institutional identifier. Web-based information is fully encrypted. Records of applicants are not protected by these policies. In general, access by non-University persons is allowed only upon prior written authorization by the student. However, MUSC routinely releases directory information at any time to anyone unless the student in writing requests Enrollment Management to prevent access to name, address (postal and e-mail), telephone number, digital images, dates of attendance, field of study, degrees received, and most recent previous educational institution attended. Students may examine their own official records either by viewing or receiving photocopies, under this provision: contents of the file may be viewed and/or hand-copied by the student except for confidential letters and recommendations written before January 1, 1975, and/or confidential letters and recommendations for which the students have waived their rights to inspect, and for parental financial information. Students may request contents of the file to be photocopied by Enrollment Management staff at the published fee (delivery within 45 days, by law), except for materials submitted in support of the admission process (e.g., transcripts from other institutions, DAT/MCAT/PCAT/GRE/SAT/etc. scores) and those contents which neither can be viewed nor hand-copied. Federal and state agencies may receive confidential information when it is used to audit, review, and evaluate publicly supported educational programs. Students challenging content of records or provisions of access policy should contact Enrollment Management or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Office, U. S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20202-4605.

Directory Information Withhold Request Form - pdf