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Student Privacy
Please note that student information cannot be disclosed to anyone except the student.
This is true even for students who are less than 18 years of age. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
requires that we keep this information confidential.
If parents or others request information, please refer them to the Student Records Office at 734-973-3548. If the
student attends Washtenaw Technical Middle College (WTMC), you may refer the parent to their base teacher at
the WTMC.
Student information cannot be posted with any of following: personal identifiers such as Social Security
number or any part of the Social Security number, student identification numbers issued by the College or any
part of the ID number, or student names. Recently, a lawsuit was won by a student when an institution posted
information using only a few digits of the student's Social Security number.
Information with student names and numbers on them, such as class rosters, should be shredded. Please do not
put anything of this nature into a wastebasket.
Ideas for posting confidential student information
After the September e-mail reminder that student information (grades, etc.) cannot be posted with any part of
the student Social Security number or WCC student ID number, faculty contacted me with some ideas on how to
post grades. Following are some of the ideas.
- One method is to pass out 3 by 5 cards at the beginning of the semester and ask students to put a number between 1,000 and 9,999 on them. The students make a note of their choice and the instructor posts grades using those numbers. Because the students choose their own number, this method can be considered random. Of course these numbers should be kept confidential between the instructor and the student. Students should bring the cards to the front as they leave rather than pass them.
- Or the instructor passes out cards to each student with random numbers already assigned to let them know what number or word the instructor has chosen for them. This second method puts the responsibility on the instructor to make sure that the numbers or words were not assigned to students in any pattern but were totally random.
- One instructor is numbering 100 3x5 cards each with a different number, starting at 001 and going to 100.The deck of 3x5 cards is then shuffled, and the students each pick one and sign it as they leave class, making a note of their number before they return the card.
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