In accordance with the Federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 and subsequent amendments, official academic transcripts cannot be released without the written consent of a student or alumnus. Pace University has contracted with the National Student Clearinghouse to handle all official transcript requests for current students, former students and alumni. Students may submit their request online via the Clearinghouse website at www.getmytranscript.com or through the Pace Portal. There is no fee assessed for unofficial academic transcripts which can be obtained via Pace Portal. Official Academic Transcripts are assessed a fee of $7.25 per copy.
Official academic transcripts are sent directly via mail as hard copy or electronic delivery to the entity identified on their request. Please note, official academic transcripts sent via hard copy mail to students are marked "Official Transcript Given to Student in a Sealed Envelope”. The University accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of an unofficial academic transcript after it has been printed.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of a student’s education records, establish a student's right to access and review his or her education records, provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading information that may be contained in those education records, and create a right to file complaints about alleged FERPA violations with the Department of Education.
Once a student reaches 18 years of age or attends a postsecondary institution, the rights created by FERPA transfer from the student’s parents to the student. These rights include:
FERPA protects personally identifiable information in a student’s education records. Education records are defined under FERPA as those records, files, data, video and audio tapes, handwritten notes and other material that contain information that is directly related to a student and maintained by Pace University or a party acting for the University. There are exceptions, however, to the definition of education records. For example, the term education record does not include:
Personally identifiable information includes, but is not limited to:
Under FERPA, a student has the right to have access to and review his or her education records with the exception of the following records:
Any student who wishes to access and review his or her education records must submit a dated written request to the custodian of the record, e.g., the Office of the Registrar, a department chair, a program director, a faculty member. No later than 45 days after receiving the student’s request, the custodian will make arrangements for the student to review his or her education records. A representative of the University may be present during the inspection, and the student may be required to present valid photo identification before accessing the records.
Under FERPA, a student who believes information in his or her education records is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s privacy rights recognized by FERPA, has the right to request that the records be amended. The right to seek amendment of an education record does not include changes to a grade unless the grade assigned was inaccurately recorded, an opinion, or a substantive decision made by the University about the student.
To request an amendment, the student must submit a written request to the custodian of the record. The request should clearly identify the portion of the record the student seeks to have amended and specify the reasons for the requested amendment. If the custodian of the record determines the information contained in the record is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s privacy rights recognized by FERPA, the custodian will amend the record and notify the student of the amendment in writing.
If the custodian determines an amendment of the student’s education record is not warranted because it is not inaccurate, misleading or in violation of the student’s privacy rights recognized by FERPA, the custodian will inform the student in writing of the decision not to amend and will also inform the student of his or her right to a hearing on the matter. The student’s written request for a hearing must be received by the dean for students of the student’s home campus within 30 calendar days of the date of the custodian’s decision denying an amendment, and the hearing shall be held within a reasonable time thereafter. Within 5 business days after receiving the student’s written request for a hearing, the dean for students or his or her designee will appoint a hearing officer to review the matter. The hearing officer must be a University representative with no direct interest in the outcome of the matter.
The hearing officer shall, in his or her sole discretion, determine whether, under the circumstances, the hearing should be conducted in-person or by telephone. The hearing officer shall provide the student and the custodian of the education record at issue with reasonable notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing if it is to be in-person and the date and time if it is to be conducted by telephone. The student and the custodian shall each have the opportunity to present evidence at the hearing in support of their respective positions. The student may, at his or her own expense, be assisted or represented by one or more individuals, including an attorney, of the student’s choice.
Within a reasonable time after the hearing, the hearing officer will notify the student and the custodian of the record in writing of the hearing officer’s decision. The hearing officer’s decision must be based solely on the evidence presented at the hearing and must include a summary of the evidence and the reasons for the decision. If the hearing officer determines the information contained in the record is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s privacy rights recognized by FERPA, the record will be amended. However, if the hearing officer determines the information is not inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights recognized by FERPA, the education record will not be amended and the student has the right to place a statement in his or her record commenting on the contested information and explaining why he or she disagrees with the hearing officer’s decision.
Absent an exception under FERPA, the University must obtain a student’s prior written consent before it discloses personally identifiable information from a student’s education records to a third party. In order to authorize the disclosure of personally identifiable information from his or her education records to a third party, a student must complete, sign and date the Authorization to Disclose Information from Education Records form and submit it to the custodian of the record from which the disclosure is to be made.
FERPA provides a number of exceptions, however, that allow the University to disclose information from a student’s education record without the student’s consent. Circumstances under which the University may disclose personally identifiable information from a student’s education records without obtaining the student’s consent, include, but are not limited to, the following:
FERPA permits the University to disclose directory information to the public without obtaining the student’s prior written consent. Directory information is defined by FERPA as information contained in a student’s education record that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. The University has defined directory information more specifically as:
Students may “opt out” of directory information and request that directory information, as defined above, be withheld, in whole or in part, and released only with the student’s prior written authorization. Students who wish to opt-out of some or all of the directory information must complete and sign a Request to Opt-out of Directory Information form and submit it to the Office of the Registrar on or before September 30 of each year. (Students who transfer to the University in the spring semester or return to the University in the spring semester after a leave of absence must submit a completed and signed Request to Opt-out of Directory Information form to the Office of the Registrar on or before February 15.) Students who wish to revoke their previous request to opt-out of some or all of the directory information must submit a completed and signed Request for Revocation of Opt-out of Directory Information form to the Office of Student Registrar.
A student who believes his or her FERPA rights have been violated or that the University has failed to comply with the requirements of FERPA has the right to file a complaint with the federal office that administers FERPA. Complaints should be addressed be to:
Family Policy Compliance Office
US Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20202-5901
Phone: 202-260-3887
The following U.S. Department of Education publications provide additional information for students and parents about FERPA: Frequently Asked Questions About FERPA, Disclosure of Information from Education Records to Parents of Students Attending Postsecondary Institutions, and FERPA General Guidance for Students.
The following forms can be found here.
Print this page.
The PDF will include all information unique to this page.
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog
The PDF will include all information in the catalog.
The PDF will include all information in the catalog.