Students often express concern about receiving unsolicited mail and telephone calls at home, particularly from credit card companies.  This web page explains why the University must release a student’s name, address and telephone number upon request, even to commercial entities in most cases.  It also explains steps students can take to prevent release of that information. 

UNC Charlotte complies with a federal law called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  You can find out more about this law from the Schedule of Classes or the University Catalog or from the resources on the Office of Legal Affairs' FERPA website.  Basically, FERPA permits the University to release your “directory information” (your name, local and permanent address, email address, telephone number, date and place of birth, major field of study, class, dates of attendance, enrollment status, degrees and awards [including scholarships] received, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended) unless you have completed a form in the Registrar’s Office directing the University not to do so.  If you have not completed this form, then another law, the North Carolina Public Records Law, requires that we treat the directory information as a “public record,” which must be released to “any person” on request.

You can complete the form requesting that the University not release your directory information and submit it to the Registrar’s Office at any time that you wish to prevent future disclosure of your directory information outside the University without your consent.  To prevent your directory information from being published in future editions of the “Campus Directory,” your completed form must be received in the Registrar’s Office by the end of the second week of classes in the Fall term.  You can download the form and submit it to the Registrar’s Office, or stop by the Registrar’s Office for assistance in completing it. 

UNC Charlotte accepts no liability for honoring your instructions that your directory information be withheld.  There are some cautions on the form about negative effects that may result from blocking access to your directory information.  You should consider those cautions before you decide to submit the form.

Your request not to release your directory information lasts indefinitely, and you must submit a written release to the University to allow disclosure of your directory information. The University will not contact you for subsequent permission to release your directory information.

Please feel free to contact the Registrar’s Office and ask to speak to the Student Services Supervisor if you have further questions about FERPA.