by Katherine O'Brien, ThD Candidate, Certified College Planning Specialist, Founder of Celtic College Consultants
One trait that distinguishes children from adults is that of being responsible. Age is a factor, but not a determining one.
In the US, there are a number of legal changes that happen when a person turns 18. Accepting these responsibilities is part of becoming adults. Let's look at them from the perspective of the paperwork involved. Please note that, since most of these are specific to the US state, students attending college out of their home state will need some of these documents for each state.
FERPA Release – Once you are a college student, no matter your age, you are an adult!
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s educational records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 or enters a postsecondary school (no matter their age), FERPA rights transfer from the parents to the student.
For more information, please see: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/faq/what-ferpa
Most colleges will invite you to sign a FERPA release. This allows parents to talk with the bursar’s office about the student’s accounts and bills. It also allows people the student designates to access certain academic information or to attend meetings with deans, professors, or advisors. It’s important
Each college or university is required to issue an annual notice, sometimes called the annual privacy notice or annual FERPA notice. These typically appear on the college’s website. These notices tell parents if and in what circumstances colleges may release some information without a student’s consent. This often includes directory information such as the student’s name, graduation year, major, and, possibly, address information. Students in therapy will not find their therapist’s treatment notes, nor law enforcement records, if they were not shared with the college. However, some colleges have a policy that parents will be notified in the event a student is felt to be a safety risk to him or herself or others.
Parents and students need to have a conversation to reach an understanding about what personal educational information students will share in college. The conversation should include grades, continued scholarship eligibility, drugs, alcohol, sex, roommates, finances and more. Students need to take responsibility for reading their email in a timely manner, asking for help as needed to handle the various tasks required of them by their college. Both students and parents need to keep in mind that, from the college’s perspective, the student is the primary person.
This might be challenging since the pandemic restrictions eliminated a number of opportunities for young people to learn and grow and make the kinds of mistakes young people learn so much from.
HIPAA is a federal law (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). HIPAA regulates the disclosure of patient health information. A HIPAA release is a narrow document in that it only permits healthcare providers to disclose your student’s healthcare information to you or anyone they specify.
Once a child turns 18, s/he is a legal adult. Therefore, s/he has privacy rights and healthcare providers are limited regarding their ability to share that information. In short, should your adult child have a health problem and land in the hospital, for example, without a HIPAA release, the hospital is unable to even tell you whether your child is under their care. This document alone will often suffice to get information from the healthcare institution treating your adult child. In a HIPAA authorization or release, young adults can stipulate that they don’t want to disclose information about sex, drugs, mental health, or other details that they prefer to keep private. As with the broader healthcare proxy, a HIPAA release can include a Living Will.
Living Will/ Advance Medical Directive
A living will is a legal document that details how you prefer to receive medical treatment in the event you are not able to make decisions for yourself. This document instructs healthcare providers about your wishes and shields your loved ones from having to make difficult choices about your care. Each state has a living will form or defines specifics to be included in a living will. Abiding by your state's requirements is essential in order to ensure that your living will be enforceable.
Medical Power of Attorney/Health Care Proxy
A Medical Power of Attorney or Health Care Proxy authorizes someone to make medical decisions on someone else's behalf, giving the person appointed access to medical records and the ability to converse with their healthcare providers. By appointing you as their healthcare proxy, your adult child is enabling you to act on their behalf in making medical decisions in the event that they are unable to make those decisions for themselves.
Each state has different laws that govern the execution of a medical POA or healthcare proxy; for example, state laws differ on whether a medical
proxy has to be notarized or merely witnessed. Therefore the legal form
you sign will be specific to the state where it will be used. HIPAA
authorization is rolled into the standard medical proxy form in many states. In
addition, a healthcare proxy can include a Living Will, or you can execute a
separate document stating your wishes for end-of-life medical treatment.
Voting
Now that your child is 18, s/he should register to vote in their state of legal residence. Should s/he choose to vote in their home state and district, register there. Students can alternatively register to vote where they live while at college. Arranging to vote by mail is important.
Traveling
At age 18, a ten-year US passport can be issued. Students who hope to study abroad or go on a mission or service trip outside the US are advised to get a passport when they start college. Getting a passport takes time; it is not a task that can be completed last minute.
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