FERPA Q&A

Q: Can I email students with 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. If you are using Moodle or Canvas, encourage students to look up grade information securely using those systems. Students can obtain their overall course grade information in MyU once it has been posted. For additional information on the safe handling of grade information, visit the ASR website.

Fall grades due by December 28

The final grades for fall are due December 28 at 11:59 p.m. This may be a challenging time for some, but please encourage instructors to submit grades as early as possible. For support regarding grades, contact ASR Training and Support at srhelp@umn.edu or 612-625-2803. Resources are also available on the ASR website.

Incomplete contract form is available

The Grading and Transcripts policy indicates that the assignment of an Incomplete or “I” grade requires a written agreement between the instructor and student. If your department does not have an existing contract, you may use the Incomplete Grade Contract form for fall 2017 grades. If your department already has a contract or process for documenting such agreements, you may continue with that process.

Limited hours for some One Stop offices

Due to staff events and office renovations, certain One Stop Student Services offices will be temporarily closed during the times below:

• Tuesday, December 5, closed from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
• West Bank, St. Paul, University Veterans Services
• Thursday, December 14, closed for the day at 1:30 p.m.
• West Bank, St. Paul, University Veterans Services
• December 22—January 12, 2018, closed for renovations
• West Bank

The East Bank One Stop Student Services office (333 Bruininks Hall) will remain open as usual during these times. See One Stop Student Services hours.

New Apostille request form

The Office of the Registrar (OTR) created a new form for students to request Apostille for their student records. You can find the form on the One Stop website forms page, in the “Student records and personal information” accordion.

The Notarization and Apostille page on One Stop has also been updated to reflect the new request process. While students are able to obtain Apostille themselves, OTR can facilitate the process which may make it easier for students. For questions about the Apostille request process, contact otr@umn.edu.

FERPA Q&A

Q: Can you discuss a student’s behavior or mental health with their parents if the student granted them parent/guest access?

A: If granted, parent/guest access allows us to respond to the parents’ inquiries on specified topics. It does not allow us to reach out to the parents. If there is an urgent concern about a health or safety emergency (posing a threat to campus or to the student), there is an exception under FERPA. In these cases, there are several resources on campus for assisting students in distress.

New GPA calculator

A new GPA calculator launched last week that was modeled after Rochester’s calculator. Reach the calculator at gpacalc.umn.edu or by visiting One Stop and navigating Academics > Grades and transcripts > Viewing grades. Students can either manually punch in their information, or Twin Cities/Rochester students can log in to have the calculator pull their information from PeopleSoft.