Legal and Privacy Disclosure

Legal Disclosure

While the Sierra Joint Community College District (District) makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information on this internet site, the District does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information provided on this site. The District is not responsible for and expressly disclaims all liability for damages of any kind, whether direct, indirect, consequential, compensatory, actual, punitive, special, incidental, expectancy or exemplary, arising out of use, reference to or reliance on information provided on this internet site.

Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation or favoring by District. Links provided in this web site to other external internet addresses do not constitute endorsement, approval, certification or control by District for the information at such addresses. District is not responsible for the content of such sites.

Materials on this internet site, including textual, graphic and interactive materials are protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). You may not reuse or redistribute them in any form beyond what is allowed by the fair use doctrine without written permission of the copyright holder. 

Privacy Disclosure

Sierra College does not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our students or former students, without their written permission, to anyone except as absolutely required by law or as needed by our employees to provide services or products to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with state and federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

If you have any concerns about the disclosure of your personal information to third parties, please contact Admission and Records at (916) 660-7340.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA) Guidelines

Sierra College is committed to the protection and confidentiality of student records by adhering closely to FERPA, a federal legislation established to regulate access and maintenance of student educational records.

FERPA affords students certain rights with respect to their education records:

  • The right to inspect their education records (meaning, all records, with certain exceptions, maintained in any medium, which can identify the student).
  • The right to request an amendment of the records the student believes are inaccurate.
  • The right to control disclosures of their records except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent (it is important to note that all rights to access move to the student when that student is in a post-secondary education institution. Parents, spouses, and significant others have no inherent right to access student educational records).
  • The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged violations of FERPA rights.

As provided for in FERPA, a student’s personal information cannot be released to any other person without the written consent of the student. Photo identification will be required to access information. The Office of Admissions and Records maintains official student records.

Under Section 76230 of the Education Code, current and former students have an absolute right of access to their own records. One exception, under Section 76231 of the Education Code, is that students may waive their right of access to confidential reference letters.

Under Section 49061 of the Education Code, parents of community college students do not have a right of access to their children’s student records, regardless of whether the student is under the age of 18. Also, under federal law (Section 1232g, of Title 20 of the United States Code) there is a general right of parental access to student records, but not for college students, regardless of age.

Under Section 76244 of the Education Code, a District must make a reasonable effort to notify a student in advance of the production of their records under subpoena.

The Federal Solomon Act requires colleges to release full directory information to the U.S. Armed Forces.

For further information on FERPA please visit the U.S. Department of Education FERPA Guidelines

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999

Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, financial institutions must provide their customers with a “clear and conspicuous” notice about their privacy policies and practices; the conditions under which they disclose nonpublic personal information about consumers to nonaffiliated third parties; and how consumers can prevent the disclosure of their information.

Following the passage of this legislation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued detailed rules on these privacy notices, including to whom they should apply. In those rules, the FTC defined “financial institutions” to include all those who provide “financial or investment advisory services.” In turn, the FTC rules chose to broadly interpret “financial or investment advisory activities” to cover Universities and Colleges that award Federal Financial Aid.

In compliance with the FTC rules, review Sierra College’s current Privacy Disclosure Statement (above). Please do not hesitate to contact Sierra College with any questions about this notice.