FERPA Compliance for Online Education Platforms

When you run an online course platform, FERPA compliance, the federal law that protects student education records in the U.S. is not optional—it’s the baseline for trust. Also known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, it applies to any school or platform that receives federal funding and handles student data, including names, grades, attendance, or even discussion posts linked to a learner’s identity. If your platform collects, stores, or shares any of that information—even indirectly—you’re already in scope.

FERPA compliance isn’t about locking down everything. It’s about control: who can see it, when, and why. For example, if a student submits an assignment through your platform and their name is attached, that’s an education record. If you use a third-party tool to grade it and that tool can see the student’s name without consent, you’re violating FERPA. The same goes for analytics dashboards that show which students are falling behind, or email notifications that include their grades. You don’t need to be a school to be bound by this law—you just need to handle protected data.

Related entities like student privacy, the right to control access to personal learning data, and educational records, any information directly tied to a student’s academic performance or enrollment are at the heart of this. These aren’t abstract ideas—they show up in your Terms of Service, your data storage setup, and how you handle user authentication. If you offer certificates, track progress, or allow instructors to comment on student work, you’re already handling educational records. And if you’re selling access to your platform or partnering with schools, you’re likely required to comply.

Many platforms skip FERPA because they think they’re too small to matter. But one complaint from a parent or student can trigger an investigation. Worse, it breaks trust. Learners don’t care about legal jargon—they care if their grades are safe. If you’re building tools for online learning, FERPA isn’t a hurdle—it’s your credibility shield. The posts below show you exactly how to handle this in practice: from setting up secure access controls to writing clear privacy notices, from choosing compliant tools to training instructors on what not to share. You’ll find real examples of what works, what gets you in trouble, and how to make sure your platform doesn’t just look professional—it actually protects people.