Parent Access to Student Accounts | Parents and Families

Throughout your student’s K-12 experience, you likely had access to your child’s records, assignments, and grades. In college, however, students have full control of their educational records. What this means to parents is that you do not have full access to your student’s account, and they will have to grant you access to the information they would like you to see.

Parent Tips and Conversation Starters

FERPA, the federal law that grants students rights to their educational records, is not meant to cut parents out of their students’ lives and does not have to be a barrier. While staff and faculty cannot discuss most aspects of your student’s education with you, including grades, course schedules, disciplinary actions, and financial information, they can help you understand what is going on with your student by discussing policies and procedures. We encourage you to have conversations with your student regarding FERPA, your expectations, your student’s responsibilities, and what information your student will release to you.

Tips

Your student can grant you guest access to parts of their account through eServices, including final grades, schedules, and billing.
In most cases, staff will be able to answer your questions without violating federal laws by explaining policies and procedures.
Before calling an RIT department to discuss classes, grades, or other FERPA-protected information, try talking to your student.
Have a conversation with your student about why you’d like access to their account—try to respect their independence while expressing your expectations.
Encourage your student to keep all passwords private, including from you.

Conversation starters

Let’s talk about your account, and why I’d like you to grant me access to these parts.
Did you know you will have to grant me access to receive and pay the bill?
How will you share your course progress and grades with me throughout the semester?

Details and Resources

FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) governs who has access to students’ educational records. Under this law, students enrolled in a postsecondary institution at any age are in control of their records and must grant access for others, including parents, to view these records. Educational records include academic records, testing data, disciplinary records, and financial information.

Students can sign a release form that allows parents to access records. Without the form, staff can offer parents general information about RIT policies and procedures that may help answer questions about a student’s situation. Further, many RIT staff members will ask that conversations with parents also include students, opening the communication to all involved parties.

Parent Access

Students can grant access to aspects of their eServices account, allowing you to:

View and pay tuition statements
View financial aid information
View FINAL grades and class schedule
Request a payment plan

Your student can initiate this process on their eServices account. Once they add you as a third party, you will receive an email to the account your student provided directing you to complete the process.