Parental Access to Student Records
Congratulations! You have achieved a significant milestone. There is no doubt that your family has played an integral part in getting your student prepared to enter University life. As your student begins a new phase in his or her academic career, there are a few changes concerning your right to your student’s records. We know that you provide emotional and financial support and in return expect to be able to find out about your student's academic progress. However, once your student enters college there are new rules concerning grades and transcripts.
FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974) requires that in order for academic records to be given to anyone other than the student, the student must give specific written permission to the university.
If you want to know how your student is doing in a class, just ask him or her!
Generally if students want to know their grades, there are a few things that they can do:
1. Keep track of any grades or test scores that are earned in a course during the semester. Using these scores and course syllabi, estimate a grade. This should give a good idea of what to expect for a final grade. When students tell you that they have no idea how they are doing in a class, you should suggest that they visit with the instructor or their academic adviser.
2. If students are unsure of how a grade is determined for a particular class, tell them to visit with the instructor early in the semester and to ask what the grading policy is.
3. Final grades can be viewed by accessing the ICAN section of the Nicholls website, https://iaweb.nicholls.edu, approximately two days after the instructor deadline for submitting final grades. Students who require an official report of grades may request an official transcript. Final grade reports are not mailed to students.