Stanford's Relationship with Students and Their Parents

Stanford’s approach to its relationship with its undergraduates is based on a philosophy that recognizes their status as young adults – even those few who have not yet reached the majority age of 18.  The university’s primary relationship is with the student.  Stanford sees parents as partners:  the parent interacts with the student, and Stanford interacts with the student.  The student is at the center of this partnership.

Parents are given opportunities to be involved with Stanford and campus life.  However, we strongly encourage parents to help their sons and daughters develop into independent adults who take charge of their own lives and make decisions with less parental oversight than before. Among the principles guiding Stanford’s relationship with its students are the following:

• Students are trusted to be able to manage their own affairs, including decisions and responsibilities around academic, financial and personal issues.
• Students are afforded privacy in their academic and personal lives.  They are expected to act responsibly (in accordance with the Fundamental Standard and the Honor Code), and they should expect to be held accountable for their behavior.  When they do make mistakes – and they will – Stanford will try to help them learn and grow as a result.
• Students should and do have available university resources to help them help themselves in their academic and personal development.

Because of these principles, our compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, our Privacy Policy and the practical fact that Stanford is unable to assess the nature of each student-parent relationship, in most cases the university leaves it to each student to decide whether or when to involve parents.  Most academic and personal difficulties are resolved within the academy, without involving parents.  University staff members (for instance, residence deans, academic directors and resident fellows) support students as they work through difficult issues.

The university does recognize, however, that there are situations that may necessitate communication with parents  even without the student’s consent, e.g., when a student’s enrollment status changes (on leave, withdrawn, provisional registration, suspension, etc.), when a student is unwilling or unable to care for him or herself or when a student otherwise engages in behavior calling into question the appropriateness of the student’s continued residency in university housing or enrollment in the university.  In these situations we first encourage students to communicate directly with their parents before sending formal notification from the university.

FERPA also permits the university to notify parents of any student under the age of 21 who violates laws on the use or possession of alcohol or drugs. The university encourages its students and their parents to maintain an ongoing, open dialogue throughout the undergraduate years and to speak frankly about academic progress and personal responsibility, including the use of alcohol and general safety issues.  In many ways, these conversations may prove as valuable to our students as the university’s written policies and its myriad resources.