The educational rights of students—including the privacy of grades and other student records—are governed by federal law. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, known as FERPA, gives students the right to control access to their educational records and to review and correct those records. For detailed information, see the UT FERPA website.
In general, parents, guardians, spouses, and other family members do not have the right to access student records without the student’s consent. Parents of dependent students, as defined by Section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, can view their student’s educational records by filing proof of dependency. We recommend that you talk directly with your student about their grades and other educational records.
Academic records: Academic FERPA allows authorized users to order an official transcript and visit the University in person to view academic records. Regardless of consent, official grades cannot be released over the phone or via email. Student authorization is only valid for one year. Students must reauthorize on an annual basis. Students can grant access by going to the MyUTK portal and choosing “FERPA Academic Release” in the Academic Support menu on the main page. The form requires the name of the person(s) to whom consent is given and a password that can be used to verify that person’s identity.
Financial information: In addition to allowing the university to disclose financial information to an authorized user, this financial release grants the authorized user access to view the student’s account information with their own login ID and password, receive electronic statements, enroll in a deferred payment plan, view 1098-T records, and make payments on the student’s behalf. Students decide which information can be viewed by a third party by responding yes or no to the three levels of access; however, this is only for purposes of logging into the system. Authorized users can access a student’s financial account information across the university. The authorization lasts for 10 years unless the student revokes access. Students can grant access by going to the MyUTK portal, choosing “Pay Fees/Account Balances” and selecting the Authorize Users tab under My Profile Setup .