Office Overview

 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.

The ETSU Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships must have permission from the eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

  • School officials with legitimate educational interest;
  • Other schools to which a student is transferring;
  • Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
  • Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
  • Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
  • Accrediting organizations;
  • To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
  • Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
  • State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law

ETSU's First Mate

ETSU's First Mate allows you to grant your parent, spouse or another person view-only access to specific GoldLink pages that you authorize. Your First Mate can login using their own email address and password to see only the GoldLink pages that you select. These pages can include: financial aid information, course schedule information, etc. You choose which pages your First Mate has access to view. In addition to allowing First Mates to see what you see in GoldLink, registering them in this system acts as a personal information release so that they can contact the university on your behalf via phone to help you navigate through any issues with your ETSU account. Login to goldlink.etsu.edu and from the default Student page locate the First Mate link listed under the expandable Records panel.

Student Complaints

Students with a complaint about the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships should refer to the ETSU Complaint Policies and Procedures for Students. Click here for the complaint form.

Federal Student Aid recently launched a new online feedback system.  The new online portal will allow students, parents, borrowers, and others to:

  • Submit complaints and compliments;
  • Report allegations of suspicious activity related to their experience with federal student aid programs;
  • Receive timely, meaningful resolution to their issues

The feedback system can be found at - studentAid.gov/feedback.

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