FERPA Education Records Processing

This question asks whether your software handles student education records or data from educational institutions. FERPA protects student privacy for any school receiving federal funding. The question means: 'Could schools or universities use your platform to store or process information about their students?' This includes grades, enrollment info, schedules, or even email addresses with .edu domains in some contexts.

FERPA compliance is absolutely mandatory for selling to educational institutions. Without proper FERPA compliance, you're locked out of the entire education market - from K-12 to higher education. This represents billions in potential revenue. Schools can lose federal funding for FERPA violations, so they won't even consider vendors who can't demonstrate compliance. Proper FERPA compliance includes specific contract terms, access controls, and data handling procedures.

Many companies mistakenly believe FERPA doesn't apply if they're not explicitly an 'education technology' company. However, if a school could use your general-purpose tool (like project management or communication software) for student-related work, FERPA may apply. Another critical mistake is agreeing to be a 'School Official' under FERPA without understanding the significant legal obligations this creates.