Thursday, November 20, 2025
11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET

Staff Training On Critical Concepts & Requirements

Everyone on campus who deals with any kind of student records — whether academic or not, formal or informal, permanent or temporary, paper or electronic, centrally or locally stored, and even including email — should have an understanding of FERPA. Making assumptions about its scope and provisions can lead to mistakes, non-compliance and legal complaints – but knowledge is power.

Using case studies and scenarios drawn from common, real-life situations, this webinar will provide a solid grounding in FERPA’s most important requirements and exceptions, as well as practical steps and solutions for dealing with common FERPA issues.

Join us on November 20, 2025, when FERPA expert, Steve McDonald, will explore FERPA through substantial case studies to address real-life scenarios, pose discussion questions and offer a counsel’s perspective on how the situation should go. This webinar will present a thorough, plain-English outline of the most important FERPA concepts and requirements.  

The number of people on campus who need to understand – and be able to apply – FERPA to student situations is great. Student workers in campus offices need a certain amount of knowledge. Faculty, administrators, public safety, support staff and others all need to be in the know, too. But, FERPA doesn’t need to be so scary or complicated. Arm your key staff members will all of the information and tools they need to make appropriate decisions. 

Topics Covered

Get crucial, actionable takeaways that will help you:

• Recognize what is and what isn’t subject to FERPA — train everyone on campus who deals with any kind of student records properly and alleviate a FERPA violation.
• Apply this nuanced piece of legislation to realistic case studies — gain practice exploring the nuances of this complex legislation to make it user-friendly and easily understandable in a way that can apply to different learning styles.
• Apply key disclosure exceptions – know when and how to disclose to avoid compliance problems.
• Identify and understand FERPA’s “forgotten” parts — students’ rights to “inspect and review” and “seek amendment of” the records that pertain to them.
• Incorporate new ideas and practical steps to adapt and enhance your campus FERPA compliance — comprehend current FERPA compliance standards and learn about impending developments to adapt on your campus.

Presenter

Steven J. McDonald is the recently retired General Counsel at Rhode Island School of Design and previously served as Associate Legal Counsel at The Ohio State University. He is the editor of The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: A Legal Compendium; the author of articles on FERPA for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, and other publications; and a frequent speaker on FERPA. Click here for full bio.