Student Privacy

Message to parents

Parents are important members of the Calvin family and essential partners towards maximizing the lifelong benefits of Christian higher education. Most parents desire to continue providing that support and involvement during the college years.

The college years are an exciting time of personal development and change. Calvin's philosophy of student development is based on the belief that college students are most successful in their transition towards becoming responsible Christian adults when the college or university interacts with them accordingly.

Calvin’s operational policy regarding university/student communication is that the primary communication link from the university is through the student.

The Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 helps protect the privacy of student records. The act provides for the right of the student to inspect and review education records, the right to seek to amend those records, and to limit disclosure of information from the records.

FERPA states that parents may gain permission to access student records if the student is currently claimed as a dependent for income tax purposes and the student has granted permission. Parents may request access to those records and statements through the student who would then authorize that the requested information be released to the parents. Access to the student records is granted by students using the third party poxy. See calvin.edu/go/workday for more information.