<p>mini, your point about many college students being well into independent adulthood is well-taken. I’m trying to remember how I dealt with this back in the last century. I was married well before finishing my first undergraduate degree, not to mention the second one that came several years later. Certainly my parents were not getting notice of my grades past that point. I guess I just notified the school that I was no longer a dependent. It couldn’t have been a big deal, because I have a good memory and I don’t remember a thing about it.</p>
<p>I think at most schools, it would be logical to assume that most students–at least most freshmen–are still dependents for tax purposes. Hence, default procedure could be sending notice of grades, suspensions, etc. For the non-traditional student, it is not a big thing to fill out a form stating that the folks don’t need to get the grade report.</p>
<p>Other schools, in particular community colleges, would likely find it more practical to have default in the other direction.</p>
<p>Some of you may not understand the situation at large public universities, especially those that are not spoken of often on these boards. Quite a number of students arrive emotionally unprepared, often academically unprepared, and quickly fall into habits that result in digging some very deep academic holes. Such students used to be turned around mid-year, even mid-semester, when parental notification was standard–not because they were threatened with being grounded, etc., but because parents had the opportunity to make it very clear that college was over if the trend continued. Also, I knew more than a few students who straightened out quickly when they realized how embarrassed they were going to be when the grade reports or the warnings went home. The pre-FERPA arrangement saved a lot of heart-ache and disappointment for entire families; it is really a very trying situation when first-generation families proudly tell grannies et al that kiddo is going to college, and then make the shocking discovery in June that kiddo has destroyed all chances of going to med or law school or engineering school or perhaps has flunked out altogether.</p>
<p>To me, the down-side is insignificant.</p>