Dear FERPA Professor,
Dear Dawn,
FERPA does not preclude an institution from providing a student copies of that student’s education records. In fact, an institution may be required to provide copies of the records if the student does not live within commuting distance of the institution and there is no other way to provide the opportunity for the student to inspect and review the records. See §99.10(d) of the FERPA regulations. Providing the student access to the records via an online method, as you suggest, would generally meet this requirement. Also, you note that the student is requesting to view information from Canva but that you do not have access to this information. If records concerning the student are being maintained on/by Canva, then the University would be required to provide the student the opportunity to view those records. You would want to check with whatever staff at the institution can provide this access and let them know of the request.
I hope this is helpful in answering your questions. You can find the above-cited regulation on page 157 of the 2012 AACRAO FERPA Guide.
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