Privacy Laws Can Keep Parents "In The Dark"

Parents, please make sure to take care of your student's estate planning before sending them off to college. Here's another reason why legal documents should be completed.

On March 8, 2009, University of Kansas Freshman Jason Wren died of alcohol poisoning in an off-campus fraternity house. He had moved there 11 days before after being evicted from his campus dorm, and seemingly did not provide “full disclosure” to his father when questioned about what led to his eviction.

His father called the university to learn of the details of what happened, and the school stated “We can’t tell you because of FERPA”.

FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act which was passed 35 years ago to keep adult student’s academic records private. Unfortunately it seems to be increasingly used to hide student activities.

Eventually Mr. Wren discovered that his son had been disciplined six times for alcohol violations, and his father is left wondering if he could have prevented his death were he notified of these problems.

Here at College Funding Relief, we suggest taking care of these issues before sending your student off to school. Discuss these issues with your child, and suggest they complete a written waiver of the FERPA “shroud of secrecy”.

At the same time, we strongly suggest that you and your newly minted adults consult with an estate planning attorney to create a Health Care Power of Attorney, Living Will, and HIPAA release to ensure that 1) parents can receive the child’s medical information if necessary, and 2) the parents are empowered to make their student’s medical decisions for them should they be incapacitated. Visit www.GolowinLegal.com for more information.

College Graduates Face Low Unemployment Rates

You already knew that getting a college education was important, but the Orlando Sentinel recently reported that “better educated workers fare better than those with less formal schooling – much better”.

Nationally, people with bachelor’s degrees are only facing a 4.4% unemployment rate, which is less than half the national average. However, people without a high school diploma are unable to find work at a 15% rate, which is six points higher than the national average.

Keep your eye on education!