Privacy Statement
The Texas Public Information Act requires disclosure of information by a public body -- unless the law specifically protects the information. Most information kept by a public body is public under the Act. The State Attorney General enforces this Act.
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)
FERPA protects educational records of a student from public disclosure without written permission of the student. Although many exceptions to the Act exist, the exceptions are very limited. The Department of Education enforces this Act.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. These rights include:
- The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day the College receives a request for access. Students should submit to the registrar, dean, head of the academic department, or other appropriate official, written requests that identify the record(s) they wish to inspect. The College official will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the College official to whom the request was submitted, that official shall advise the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed.
- The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that student believes is/are inaccurate. Students may ask the College to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate. They should write the College official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate. If the College decides not to amend the record as requested by the student, the College will notify the student of the decision and advise the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.
- The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic or research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel); a person or company with whom the College has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Regents; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a displinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility. Upon request, the College discloses education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.
- The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:
What FERPA requires Amrillo College to release
Directory information within a student’s record which may be released upon request at the discretion of the College includes:
- Student’s name
- Participation in officially recognized activities
- Address
- Telephone listing
- Electronic mail address
- Photograph
- Degrees, honors, and awards received
- Date and place of birth
- Major field of study
- Dates of attendance
- The most recent educational agency or institution attended.
How to request that your directory information be withheld
If a student does not wish for this public information to be released, he/she is responsible for notifying the Registrar’s Office, located in the Student Service Center, in writing by the 12th class day each regular semester and by the 4th class day of the summer term.
Amarillo College is committed to ensuring the privacy of personal information. We do not actively share personal information gathered from our Web servers. However, because Amarillo College is a public institution, some information collected from the Amarillo College web site, including summary server log information, emails, and information collected from Web-based forms, may be subject to. This means that while we do not share or sell information unless solicited, in some cases we may be compelled by Open Records law to release information.
The Amarillo College web site contains links to external Web sites. The College is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external web links.
Information we gather
The following information is collected and stored automatically from all users accessing the Amarillo College website to browse or download information:
- Type of user agent (web browser) used, software manufacture and version number.
- Type of operating system
- Screen colors (color processing ability of the users screen)
- Javascript support
- Flash version
- Screen resolution
- Network location and IP address
- Can include country, city, state, region, county, or any other geographic data.
- Hostname
- Bandwidth (internet connection speed)
- Time of visit
- Pages visited
- Time spent on each page of the website
- Referring site statistics
- The website (URI) the user came through in order to arrive at this website (example: clicking on a hyperlink from Yahoo.com that took the user to this website)
- Search engine query used (example: typing in a phrase into a search engine like Google, and clicking on a link from that search engine)
This information is used to create summary statistics which are used for purposes such as assessing what information is of most interest to users, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.
This information is not reported or used in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information, and will not be released to outside (third) parties unless legally required.
Personal Information you Provide to Us
Amarillo College does not retain personally identifiable information about you when you visit our web sites unless you choose to provide such information to us (i.e. sending an email, participating in a survey, responding to a request for information or "contact us" form, etc.)
We consider any information that could reasonably be used to identify you as "personally identifying information." This includes, but is not limited to:
- name
- address
- email address
- Social Security Number
- Any combination of data that could be used to identify you such as your birth date, your zip code and your gender.
If you provide personal information in an email or by completing a form and submitting it through our Web site, we may use that information to respond to your message and to help us get you the information you have requested. We do not collect personal information from such communications for any purpose other than to respond to you. We do not collect information for commercial marketing.
If you wish to opt-out of future online communications based on information you provided
Security and Accuracy of Personal and Confidential Information
Although no computer system is 100 percent secure, Amarillo College has deployed extensive security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control.
If you are concerned about the accuracy of information contained in your personal records, you should contact the custodian of the record, which is typically the department that collects and maintains the information. For example, contact the Admissions Office about information collected through the Web application for admission.
Off-Site Links
Links to other organizations within the Amarillo College website are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by Amarillo College, and none should be inferred. Amarillo College is not responsible for the content found at these links.