Attention, Parents: It’s Time to Chat About Important Family Decisions with Your College-Bound Student
Let’s chat for a minute about what happens when your student heads off to college and inevitably turns 18. Aside from having a party and celebrating the momentous occasion of emerging adulthood, you’re going to need to consider what it means for them to have achieved adult status. Their new status allows them to vote, serve in the military, serve on a jury, sign a contract, and get married without your consent. They can be on the hook for loans or lines of credit (credit cards) that they take out. This is the time to talk to your student about credit cards, loans, financing, repayment, credit scores, etc. - all the fun things that come along with officially becoming an adult!
Did you know that your legal right to access protected information comes to a screeching halt when your student reaches the age of 18? At age 18, students’ education records, including student health clinic records, belong strictly to them. There’s a bit of a balancing act that needs to happen; students should be afforded some privacy and autonomy, but you will likely continue to pay or contribute to their bills and need to be involved in emergency situations. You may think that, in a pinch, your student may be able to call you up and authorize you to speak with their health provider or account representative, but some health care providers or representatives interpret privacy information more strictly and may not be comfortable vetting parents over the phone. So, what should you do? Be proactive, speak to your student about what this means, and consult an attorney to execute legal forms. Once you know where your student will be attending school, research the state-specific forms that are needed (the school can be a great staring point as a resource). It may take time to get everything in order, so start thinking about it now. Once kids take off for this new chapter, it may be more difficult to get their attention and complete these, so be mindful of that as the summer progresses.
Important Acronyms
FERPA: FERPA is the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Any educational institution that receives federal funding must comply, and the Act says that you no longer have access to your child’s grades once they turn 18. Again, even though you may be the one signing their tuition checks, the register will be prohibited from sharing transcripts with you. A signed waiver can authorize you to access transcripts, GPA, academic probation, disciplinary records, and anything else that falls under the financial aid umbrella.
HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prevents disclosure of sensitive patient health information. A release executed by your student allows physicians to share students’ information and medical records with you. This is a more narrow document than the HCP below; it merely permits healthcare providers to disclose health information to anyone that’s been specified. Additionally, in a HIPAA authorization, a young adult can stipulate that they don’t want to disclose information about sex, drugs, mental health, or other details that they prefer to keep private. This is another one of those uncomfortable but necessary conversations you need to have with your students before sending them off to college.
HCP: A Health Care Proxy form gives permission to a third party to make medical decisions for someone who's incapacitated or in a mental state that would invalidate informed consent. An example of this would be if your student became unconscious or in a coma and couldn’t articulate what healthcare decisions they would make. Again, it does not matter that you cover their health insurance and that you pay the bill. At age 18, health decisions belong to only that individual person, unless an HCP document is executed. In many states, the HIPAA authorization is rolled into the standard health care proxy form.
POA: A Power of Attorney enables a designated agent (likely in your case, a parent) to make financial decisions on the student’s behalf. The POA can provide that the power vests in you immediately after signing the document, or that it vests only if your child becomes incapacitated. The POA enables the designed agent to, among other things, sign tax returns, access bank accounts, pay bills, make changes to your child’s financial aid package, or figure out tuition problems. Note – this is especially important if your young adult studies abroad!
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