SECTION 7.15. Academic Records Maintenance, Protection, and Repository of Last Resort

(a) Maintenance of Records at the Institution

(1) Authorized institutions are required to maintain academic records securely and permanently as required in §7.4 of this chapter (Standards for Operation of Institutions) and must protect the personally identifiable information of enrolled or former students.

(2) At the end of each institution's academic year, an institution shall consolidate copies of all academic records for all former students who have graduated, withdrawn, or otherwise ceased to attend during the previous academic year. These academic records, for each academic year, shall be stored separately in an identifiable and printable electronic record for each student in a format specified by the Board. The files or records are subject to inspection and shall be made available to the Board for inspection upon request.

(b) Transfer and Maintenance of Records Upon School Closure

(1) In the event any authorized institution operating in this state proposes to discontinue its operation, the chief administrative officer, by whatever title designated, of said institution shall notify the Board of its plan to secure and store all student records.

(2) If the institution is part of an educational system which is continuing to operate in other U.S. locations, the academic records shall be maintained at the main campus or corporate location. Contact information so that a student may request an academic transcript or academic records must be provided to the Board and updated as information changes.

(3) If the institution enters into an agreement with another institution to teach out or continue students' degree programs, the institution responsible for accepting the transferring students shall maintain academic records for the transferring students.

(4) If the institution is closing all locations, the academic records shall be transferred to the Board. Such records shall include, without limitation:

(A) academic information as is customarily required by colleges when considering students for transfer or advanced study; and

(B) in the format specified by the Board to ensure a separate identifiable and printable file is provided for each student.

(c) Record Protection--In the event it appears to the Commissioner that any records of an institution that is discontinuing its operations are in danger of being destroyed, secreted, mislaid, or otherwise made unavailable to the Board, the Commissioner may seek, on the Board's behalf, court authority to take possession of such records.

(d) Closed School Repository

(1) The Board shall maintain or cause to be maintained a permanent file of such records coming into its possession from an institution previously authorized under a Certificate of Authority or a Certificate of Authorization in a closed school academic record repository. The Board may specify the required format for records coming into its possession.

(2) Upon request and verification of identity, the Board will provide to a student either a copy of the student's academic record as received from the closed institution or the information contained in the academic record in a standard transcript format utilized by the Board.

(A) The Board will charge a nominal fee to cover the average expense of retrieval, reproduction and mailing of the student academic record.

(B) A statement will accompany the academic record providing information regarding the date of closure, verification the information contained in the academic record is as received from the institution, and no alterations to the information contained in the academic record can be made.

(3) The academic records repository is considered to be a repository of last resort.

(4) The Board may discontinue its maintenance of the repository if adequate funding is not provided for that maintenance.

Source Note: The provisions of this §7.15 adopted to be effective February 28, 2018, 43 TexReg 1077