FERPA and Person Proxy Access

RELEASE OF STUDENT INFORMATION

Proxy Access Information

Bergen Community College students have the ability to grant or rescind access to only their own records’ specific types such as billing information, financial information, or grades.
That is made possible through the Proxy Access process.
Students must initiate the proxy access process and fulfill each required step in order for the designated proxy to gain access to the Bergen Portal/Self-Service.
The required steps to establish Proxy access and consent are necessary to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
After students complete the required steps, the designated proxies will receive a confirmation email with next steps.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) governs access to and release of information from student academic records.
Under the provisions of the Act and College policy, Bergen Community College grants students the right to inspect and review their education records and to request amendment of records that they believe are inaccurate.  As a general rule, the contents of students’ educational records will not be released to third parties without the written consent of the student.
Once a student reaches 18 years of age or attends a postsecondary institution, he or she becomes an “eligible student” and all rights formerly given to parents under FERPA transfer to the student. The Act specifies a number of exceptions to this rule, the most important of which concerns the concept of “Directory Information.”

FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR 99.31):

  • School officials with legitimate educational interest
  • Other schools to which a student is transferring
  • Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes
  • Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student
  • Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school
  • Accrediting organizations
  • To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena
  • Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies
  • State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law

“Directory” Information

Bergen Community College may disclose “directory” information which includes:

  • Student’s full name,
  • Institutional email address,
  • Field of study,
  • Degree or certificate received,
  • Last term of attendance, and
  • Enrollment status.

However, Bergen will notify students about directory information requests to provide a reasonable amount of time for students to request not to have their directory information disclosed.
For “Directory” information assistance or questions, reach out to Registrar’s Office

Person Proxy Registration Process

Students and proxies should carefully review the Person Proxy Access Process instructional videos for more information and complete the following steps in this order:

Step 1: To be initiated by the Student

  1. Log on the Bergen Student Portal (my.bergen.edu)
  2. Locate and click on your username to open a drop-down menu (Tip: next to a human icon – upper right corner of the screen)
  3. Select/click on “Add/View Proxy” menu option
  4. Follow the instructions and complete the Add Proxy process
  5. Click “Submit” button.

After the Proxy Registration is successfully initiated by student, both the student and the Person Proxy will be notified about the next steps.

Step 2: To be completed by the Person Proxy User

Once the Proxy Registration initiated by the student has been processed, the Person Proxy is expected to:

  1. Review/refer to the ” …you now have access to...” invitation communication from the College to complete the process
  2. Log on the Bergen Student Portal (my.bergen.edu)
  3. Locate and click on your  Bergen Portal Username to open the drop-down menu (Tip: next to a human icon – upper right corner of the screen)
  4. Select/click on “Proxy Registration” menu option
  5. Enter/Input the “Invitation Code” and click “Submit” button to access and complete the the Proxy Registration request process.

If the students who want to grant or rescind access to only their own records are unable to initiate the Proxy registration process, for in-person assistance, the students can go to the Registration Office/One Stop Center, Pitkin Education Center (1st floor), at the College’s main campus in Paramus, NJ.