Privacy Policy and Release Form

This Privacy Policy is in place to ensure compliance with FERPA and GLBA as well as to protect the personal and financial information of students.

The BYU-Idaho Accounting Services Office adheres to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records. The Student Records and Registration Office maintains this policy. FERPA provides that information in a student’s educational record cannot be shared with a third party without the student’s authorization.

The BYU-Idaho Accounting Services Office also adheres to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), a federal law that requires financial institutions to explain how they share and protect their customers’ private information. GLBA provides that customers’ information is private, and that financial institutions must apply specific protections to customers’ private data in accordance with a written information security plan.

A student who wishes to share their personal account information with a third party may do so through any combination of the following:

1. A student may send an invitation to a third party that grants them online access to the student’s financial account information. The third party will have their own login and can make payments toward the student’s account. They will also be able to view details of the student’s financial account including charges, payments, financial aid, tax forms, and statements. The student may revoke this access at any time by cancelling the invitation in their student financial portal.
2. A student may submit an online Privacy Release Form which grants the third party ongoing authorization to speak with BYU-I Accounting Services regarding the student’s financial account. BYU-I Accounting Services is not able to disclose financial aid information to a third party without the student present. This authorization will remain in effect unless and until the student formally revokes that permission using the same link to the online form.
3. A student may verbally authorize BYU-I Accounting Services to speak with a third party who is with the student, either in person or on the phone. This one-time authorization does not carry forward or give BYU-I Accounting Services permission to speak with a third party about a student’s account information outside of their presence.

A person inquiring about a student’s account will be given general information only. If a third party wants to make a payment on a student's account and the third party is not on the student's Privacy Release, or the student is not able to give verbal approval, the third party will not be provided with an account balance. They will need to specify the amount they want to pay and to which charges the payment should be applied.