Personal Privacy

As a postsecondary institution, Cuesta College is committed to the standards established through the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protect students' rights to access their educational record and limits our ability to share educational record information with third parties. The essence of FERPA grants the following rights to our students.

• Right to inspect and review their own educational record.
• Right to seek to amend their own educational record. The student must make
  a written request to the Director of Admissions and Records at the San Luis
  Obispo campus and provide the names of the records they wish to review or
  amend. The administrator will respond with the timeframe and location for the materials to be reviewed.
• Right to have some control over the disclosure of information from their educational records. One exception that permits disclosure without consent is the disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. See below for the definition of a school official.
  
• The right to file a claim with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

The FERPA guidelines apply to individuals who are enrolled at Cuesta College regardless of the age of the student. Under FERPA, schools may, but are not required to, provide parents of students who are dependent for tax purposes access to the student's educational records. Cuesta College does not release information to parents without the written consent of the student, regardless of age.

FERPA regulations may be found in the Cuesta College Catalog, printed class schedules and/or on the Cuesta web site.

School Officials Defined:

School officials with a "legitimate need to know" that require student information in order to carry out their responsibilities, may request and receive student information from the Office of Admissions and Records. A school official is defined as a person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position; a person or company with whom the College has contracted as its agent to provide service instead of using College employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or students serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an educational record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for the College.

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Directory Information:

At its discretion, Cuesta College may provide "Directory Information" in accordance with the provisions of FERPA. Directory information from a student's educational record that may be disclosed without the student's written permission is defined as, "information contained in an education record of a student which would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed." Personal identifiers, such as student identification numbers or social security numbers, race/ethnicity, gender, religious preference, grades and GPA may never be designated as directory information. Cuesta College has identified the following elements as directory information:

• Name
• Dates of Attendance
  
• Field of Study
• Level of Enrollment (# of units-full Degrees and Certificates Earned time/part-time)
  
• Participation in officially recognized activities & sports

Directory information may not be given out for students who have a Directory Hold in place. As a general rule, NO additional information beyond Directory Information should ever be released to any party beyond Cuesta College staff and faculty without the specific written consent of the student.

Cuesta College Identification Number:

Upon admission to Cuesta College, students are provided with a unique student identification number. This number is randomly generated and assigned to each student to be used to conduct business at Cuesta College. The Cuesta ID is not to be used in place of a social security number, but is solely for use at Cuesta College. Students should keep this number safe as it does relate to their
educational business at Cuesta College.

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Student Identity:

Students may have only one identity with Cuesta College. The admission application should contain consistent information including student name, date of birth, social security number, and contact information. Applicants who submit inconsistent information on the admission application, either CCCApply or the paper application, will be required to provide evidence of the correct information which will cause their processing to be delayed. In the case of differences with contact information, the original information will be used and the student will be required to either change their address online or through the Admissions & Records office.

Accessing Information In Person:

Students who request their record information in person must provide a photo I.D. and their Cuesta ID number, or social security number, to receive information.

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myCuesta Login:

Cuesta College provides a unique user name and temporary password so that students may access their educational records through myCuesta. As each student logs in with the temporary password they must then enter their own personal password to continue. Users are required to develop their own questions to support security around password retrieval. Students are encouraged to not share their user name, password and questions with anyone else.

Course web sites:

Distance education and the use of web sites to support courses taught through distance education are held to the same FERPA standards. Only Directory Information may be available on a public web site. A student's "block" of Directory Information must be recognized and their information may not be included.

Printed Personal Information:

Printed material that includes personal identification or contact information should be kept secure. Printed material that contains personal information must be shredded. Cuesta College officials are required to shred printed material that includes personal information.