Sophomore

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (sometimes referred to as the Buckley Amendment) was designed to protect the privacy of educational records and to establish the rights of students to inspect and review their educational records.  It also provided control over the release of educational record information.  The original intent of this legislation was to keep elementary and high school records private and to give parents access to their child’s school records.

At College Parents of America, we strive to provide valuable resource information to our members, as well as vigorous advocacy.While many of my recent columns have centered around some of the key advocacy issues that we are focusing on – to serve you – here in Washington, DC, we also work to benefit you with resource information that hits home wherever you live.One of those key resource areas involves the question of academic preparation for college, not just what it takes to get in to school, but what it takes to succeed.

Presidents of colleges and universities love to talk.They love to talk about the schools they lead, and why they are great. They love to talk about problems facing America and the world, and how U.S. higher education is producing the next generation of leaders to solve those problems. And they love to talk about the federal government, and how it is not spending enough money in support of colleges and universities.Actually, college presidents love to talk most of the time. When it comes to certain subjects, they grow quiet.

Not too long ago, the role of college parents at the start of a school year was akin to employees at a moving company: fill up station wagon, drive to appointed destination, unload items and leave town.Now, thanks to a growing recognition by colleges and universities of the changing roles and expectations of incoming college parents, these one-time pack mules for their children's belongings are beginning to feel more like invited guests to a command performance.

Your child has dedicated a large amount of time and effort to his/her college education and experience, and accomplished a great deal. You know it. Your family knows it, but when it comes to landing that first job or internship, your child needs to make sure the recruiting director knows it!

Not only should all colleges and universities - public and private - be financially accountable, they should also be to prove that accountability and to demonstrate it to all of their constituencies, including their parents.Several groups specializing in academic finances are advising higher-ed institutions to adopt provisions that mirror those targeted at publicly traded corporations in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the federal law that was designed to better police corporate governance.

College students' finances are of "extreme" or "great concern" to nearly half of the 1,727 respondents to the Second Annual National Survey on the Current College Parent Experience, which was conducted online from February 23 through March 5, 2007.Approximately one-half of the respondents were made up of those of you who receive this weekly e-mail and who reside in the College Parents of America database. The other half of respondents came from parents who are part of the Student Advantage, LLC database, a College Parents of America partner since 2005.

We've all seen the bumper stickers. "My child is honor student at fill-in-the-blank middle school."Some of you may have even had the chance to slap one of those bumper stickers on your own car fender.When it comes to honors in high school and college, however, the bumper stickers get fewer and the standards get stricter.College Parents of America thought you would find it useful to learn more about college honor societies and how you – and your child – can judge their credibility.

Over the course of the past decade, the concept of parent involvement in American secondary and higher education has evolved considerably, from occasional, mostly ceremonial activities for a small percentage of parents to carefully conceived and widely available goal-oriented activities that are geared to supporting student success.

The school year is now at least a few weeks old for the vast majority of colleges across the country, though some on the quarter system may just be getting started this week or next.If your child is still in secondary school, you've probably remarked to each other how difficult it is, with today's busy lifestyles, for him or her to actually find time to study.But study time is critical, and it gets even more important when the young adults in your household go off to college.