A reminder that the undergraduate and graduate regular session grading due date is 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 23, 2025. Faculty and staff can find grading due dates for other careers and sessions on the ASR Due dates for grades webpage.
A grade entry best practices email will be sent to faculty and instructors on December 3 with more information.
Q: Can a student challenge a grade by using their FERPA right to request an amendment to their student record?
A: No. The right to amend a student record is for information that is inaccurate or misleading due to a recording error; it does not apply to a substantive decision, such as what grade was awarded. Students do have the right to receive an explanation for their grades under University policy and can seek assistance from the Student Conflict Resolution Center if needed.
User guides for grading are available on the ASR website. The resources include final grade entry, due dates for grades, and safe handling of grading information.
Q: May a faculty member include a student’s grade in an email if the email is sent to multiple students?
A: Suppose a faculty member needs to communicate midterm grade information to two of their students, Mary and Bob. The faculty sends an email, with both students' email addresses on the “to” line, and in the body of the message gives information about Mary’s grade and Bob’s grade. This would violate FERPA because it discloses private student data. Faculty and staff should take care to only include private student data in an email when the recipients are allowed to view that information. Incidents such as these can be referred to security@umn.edu.
Q: Can a student challenge a grade by using their FERPA right to request an amendment to their student record?
A: No. The right to amend a student record is for information that is inaccurate or misleading due to a recording error; it does not apply to a substantive decision, such as what grade was awarded. Students do have the right to receive an explanation for their grades under University policy and can seek assistance from the Student Conflict Resolution Center if needed.
Q: Can I email a student their final exam or paper grade?
A: Yes, provided you are sending to the individual student’s umn.edu email account and no other students are copied on the message. You may also wish to review additional information on the safe handling of grading information. If you are using Canvas, encourage students to look up grade information securely there. Once you submit final grades in the Faculty Center, students will be able to view them securely in MyU.
A reminder that the undergraduate and graduate regular session grading due date is 11:59 p.m. on Friday, December 29, 2023. Faculty and staff can find grading due dates for other careers and sessions on the ASR Due dates for grades webpage.
A grade entry best practices email will be sent to faculty and instructors on December 7 with more information.
Q: May a faculty member include a student’s grade in an email if the email is sent to multiple students?
A: Suppose a faculty member needs to communicate midterm grade information to two students. The faculty sends an email, with both students' email addresses on the “to” line, and in the body of the message gives information about both students’ grades. This would violate FERPA because it discloses private student data. Faculty and staff should never share information like this with multiple email recipients. Emails with private student data should only be sent to that particular student. Incidents such as these can be referred to abuse@umn.edu.
