Definitions
Accrediting Organization - The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago (hereafter MBI) considers an accrediting organization to be a formal body of education related assessors whose primary function it is to evaluate programs offered at MBI and provide the evaluation to the public. Note: the FAA is not considered by MBI to be an accrediting organization. MBI accreditation can be found here.
Attendance - MBI considers "attendance" to mean any academic engagement in a course for which a student is registered. This could include physical attendance of a class, teleconference or digital attendance of an online or physical class, paper correspondence, or any other form of engagement with material or other students in the class relating to the subject matter of the course.
Directory Information - See policy for a specific list of items that MBI designates as "directory information." Moody is permitted to release directory information without the student's consent, but only does so when it is expedient to do so. An education verification requested on behalf of a student for the purpose of employment would be one example where we would release directory information. The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago reserves the right to deny any request for information outside of provisions identified by FERPA.
Education Record - An education record is considered to be any information in the possession of MBI that relates to that student (and is not a "sole possession record").
Eligible Student - MBI considers any individual to be an "eligible student" who has been formally matriculated by admissions staff.
Financial Aid - As defined by CFR §99.31 (a)(4)(ii), "As used in paragraph (a)(4)(i) of this section, 'financial aid' means a payment of funds provided to an individual (or payment in kind of tangible or intangible property to the individual) that is conditioned on the individual's attendance at an education agency or institution." However, since this section of FERPA is related to when a disclosure does not require prior consent, this section is conditional, in that a bill-payer (such as a parent) may still be denied access to the student's billing information, even if the scenario fits the definition given above. For MBI staff, prior consent is required as a policy, in order to release billing, financial aid, or any other PII. This would apply to parents, para-church organizations, scholarship organizations, or any other bill payer.
Health & Safety Emergency - MBI considers a "health & safety emergency" to be any situation where there is a potentially significant and credible threat to the general health and safety of its students, staff, or faculty, or other guests in any MBI related physicality/property, event, or digital classroom or environment. Disclosure under the FERPA provisions of a health and safety emergency (§99.36) must:
- Disclose only relevant information
- Disclose only to authorities or appropriate parties
- Only to the general public without PII (generally de-identified)
- Be documented in the students file
Legitimate Educational Interest - MBI considers an educational interest in student information to be legitimate when it relates directly to their job function or assigned duties.
Personally Identifiable Information - All education records related to an eligible student that are not listed as "directory information." This disclosure of PII would be considered potentially harmful to the student.
School Official - MBI considers an individual to be a "school official" who is formally acting on behalf of the school to perform a school related function. This could include anyone formally employed by MBI, contracted for goods or services by MBI, or any third party with a formal relationship to MBI.
Sole Possession Record - A record made only for the purpose of personal memory, so long as it is destroyed and not shared with anyone.