Dates and deadlines are located on the Academic Calendar [3].

There are two periods a semester in which students may register for Hampshire and Five College courses: preregistration and add/drop. At preregistration, students register for courses for the upcoming semester. Before or during this period, students must meet with their advisors to discuss plans and obtain advisor authorization, which is required to participate in preregistration.[1] Students may register and drop courses on TheHub [4] during preregistration and again during the add/drop period at the beginning of the semester. There are two deadlines during the add/drop period: the last day to add a class on TheHub; and the last day to drop a class on TheHub and to submit paper registration forms to Central Records. No record of courses dropped during either preregistration or add/drop will appear on student transcripts. Note that courses will not be removed from the transcript after the drop deadline at the beginning of the semester has passed.

Students who have not registered for courses they are attending by the end of the add/drop period should contact Central Records to petition for late registration.

Students may withdraw from Hampshire and Five College courses between the drop deadline and the published course withdrawal deadline in November for a fall course and April for a spring course. A "W" for course withdrawal is recorded on student transcripts. Note that only successfully completed co-curricular courses appear on student transcripts. Students may not withdraw from courses after the course withdrawal deadline. Failure to withdraw from a course by the deadline could result in a “no evaluation” notation for a Hampshire course or an “F” for a Five College course.  Students with documented medical reasons or other verified, unforeseen grounds of personal or family hardship may contact the Center for Academic Support and Advising [5] to request an exception to this policy. Any request for an exception to registration policy must occur by the drop deadline in the semester after the course in question.

In some cases, faculty may grant students an extension for completing work. See the policy for incomplete courses [6] for more information.

Students who withdraw from the institution or take a medical leave during a semester should refer to the information on academic work in the leave policy [7].

The need to observe religious holidays will be honored by arrangement with individual faculty members. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts statute ensures that any student who is unable, because of religious beliefs, to attend classes or to participate in any examination, study, or work requirement on a particular day shall be excused and shall be provided with an opportunity to make up such examination, study, or work requirement that may have been missed because of such absence on any particular day, provided, however, that such makeup shall not create an unreasonable burden upon the College. No adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to the student.

For more information about course registration, please visit the Central Records webpage [8].

[1] Some holds will prevent students from participating in preregistration. Students should check the "Approvals and Holds" page on TheHub [4] for information on holds.

What is FERPA?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, commonly known as FERPA, is a federal law governing the privacy of education records. It grants specific rights to current and former students and sets restrictions on how schools may handle education records. It is College policy to keep student academic records confidential, with the exception of public information, which may be released at the discretion of Hampshire College officials.

FERPA requires that schools obtain written permission from students before releasing education records. Exceptions to this include emergency situations in which the health and safety of the student is involved, to provide information to schools to which a Hampshire student is transferring, in certain student conduct cases, and in other circumstances described in FERPA. In addition, in well-defined circumstances, some information may be released without written permission from the student. College officials with a legitimate educational interest may also have access to a student's education records without prior consent.

What is an education record?
The definition of an education record under FERPA is broad. It refers to any record that is directly related to a student and that is kept by the College or someone acting on behalf of the College from which an individual student, or students, can be personally (individually) identified. Records can include: files, documents, and materials maintained by the College in any medium.

FERPA gives each student the following rights:

• The right to inspect and review education records the school is keeping on the student within 45 days of making a request.
• The right to consent to any disclosure of those records, unless disclosure is permitted under FERPA.
• The right to seek amendment to those records.
• The right to file a complaint with the FERPA Family Policy Compliance Office in Washington, D.C.

Note: When a student reaches the age of 18 or begins attending a postsecondary institution regardless of age, FERPA rights transfer to the student.

Public Information
The items below are considered public information and may be released to third parties at the discretion of Hampshire College officials. Students may request that public information be withheld. Since there are important consequences of such a request, students must consult with the director of central records.

• Name
• Campus box number and phone
• Campus email address
• ID photo
• Pronouns
• Dates of attendance
• Field of concentration
• Name of advisor
• Participation in officially recognized activities and sports
• Dates, titles, and committees of Divisional projects
• Most recent educational institution attended

Privacy of Records
Students complete an annual 'privacy of records' form on TheHub [11] regarding parent or guardian access, which they may change at any time. Ordinarily, students themselves share evaluations and Five College grades with others. In some cases, however, parents, guardians or individuals acting as parents in the absence of a parent or guardian, may request information from advisors, faculty, or staff. Students indicate whether the College may release to these individuals general information on academic progress and financial matters and/or copies of academic contracts, and whether, upon request, the College may send them copies of evaluations.  Other third parties may obtain non-directory information if the student has granted specific permission to do so.

Privacy rights apply only to currently enrolled students and former students; Hampshire applicants are not covered. These rights pertain to any education records in whatever form maintained by the College.

Telephone inquiries for information on alumni are answered by the Alumni and Family Relations Office [15], which releases this information only to other alumni, Hampshire and Five College faculty, and other inquirers expressly authorized by the alum. Hampshire students interested in contacting alums are encouraged to email alumni@hampshire.edu [16] with their requests.

 The following are not considered “education records” and access will not be provided:

• Personal files kept by a College staff member if the record is not revealed to others and is kept in the sole possession of the staff member
• Records maintained separately from education records solely for law enforcement purposes
• Medical records maintained by the College’s student health clinic
• Parents’ financial records

Access to student education records may be provided without prior written consent where such disclosure involves:

• Hampshire College officials who have a legitimate educational interest in the record.  A school official is a person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); a person or company with whom the College has contracted as its agent to provide a service instead of using College employees or officials (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the board of trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a student conduct or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing their tasks.
• Officials of another school in which the student seeks or intends to enroll
• Federal, state, and local agencies and authorities as provided under law
• Parents of an eligible student if the student is claimed as a dependent for income tax purposes
• Organizations conducting studies for or on behalf of an educational institution, where such studies will not permit personal identification of students or their parents by those other than the representatives of such organizations
• Appropriate parties in a health or safety emergency
• Compliance with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena, where reasonable effort has been made to notify the student in advance of compliance
• Disclosure of final results of certain Formal Conduct Process proceedings (described in FERPA regulations) when there is a determination that a student committed a violation of its rules or policies with respect to the crime
• Disclosure to a parent of a student’s violation of a federal, state or local law or any rule or policy of the College governing the use or possession of alcohol or controlled substances
• Other circumstances permitted by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), as amended

The following College personnel have access to student files: staff of central records, dean of faculty, center for academic support and advising, admissions, and student life; offices of the College with responsibility for academic programs; the student’s advisor; current and potential divisional committee members; College employees gathering data for legitimate college purposes; or any College official with a legitimate educational interest in an education record. To qualify as legitimate and educational, an interest must be related in a clearly discernible way to the conduct of the normal business of the institution or to the educational welfare of the individual student or of other students. Exceptions to this policy may be made in individual cases with the permission of the director of central records, provided that the exceptions are consistent with applicable law.

Request for Amendment to Educational Records
Generally, students resolve minor inaccuracies in their narrative evaluations without a formal process. Requests for amendment to records are not used in cases where the student is disputing a faculty member’s judgment of academic work. Refer to the section on Evaluation of Educational Activities [17] for information on requesting changes to narrative evaluations.

If an eligible student believes information contained in their education record is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s privacy, the student may request a review of the record and its amendment.  Requests to amend record may not be considered beyond 60 days after the student’s final semester of attendance. 

Requests for amendment will be reviewed within a reasonable time and if appropriate college officials so decide, the record will be amended. If the College decides not to amend a record, the student will be notified and informed of the right to a hearing.

Many members of the Hampshire community use names other than their legal names to identify themselves. As long as the use of this different name is not for the purposes of misrepresentation, Hampshire acknowledges that a preferred first name and pronoun may be used wherever possible in the course of a student’s education. The preferred first name is used except where the legal name is required, such as payroll records and student transcripts.

Students should give serious consideration to the request to use a preferred first name and/or pronoun, as this choice will be permanently reflected in the narrative portions of the academic transcript [18]. Although students are generally free to determine the preferred first name they wish to be known by, inappropriate use of the preferred first name policy (including but not limited to avoiding a legal obligation or misrepresentation) may be cause for denying the request. The College reserves the right to remove a preferred first name if it is used inappropriately.

Preferred first name requests are entered via the directory. Students have a choice of displaying their preferred first name instead of their legal first name, or in addition to their legal first name. Authorized changes to preferred first names will be almost immediate in some locations; others may take additional time based on system configurations. 

In addition to the preferred first name, students may select a pronoun from the list provided in their directory preferences [19] to be displayed on TheHub and Moodle.  Pronouns are viewable to members of the Hampshire community who have a login to the directory. If no pronoun has been selected "not set" will be displayed.  When writing evaluations, faculty use the pronoun entered on the directory. 

Changes to a current student's legal name can only be made in the central records  [1]office [1] and require a court order and social security card as supporting documentation. Students with legal name changes may request that their narrative evaluations be amended to reflect their gender identity. Such amendments can take up to 45 business days to process.

Disclaimer: This policy does not form a contract of any kind and may be modified, changed, altered, or rescinded at the discretion of Hampshire College.

The first page of the transcript includes the following:

• Divisional titles and dates of completion
• Hampshire and Five College course numbers and titles
• Five College grades
• Completed co-curricular activities
• Terms of enrollment (including semesters of field study and exchange programs)
• Last date of attendance for uncompleted terms
• Students degree status
• Transcript key

Note: Hampshire courses that are not successfully completed, incomplete, or audited are notated accordingly.

Evaluations and other documents included in the transcript completed by the transcript issue date:

• Division II evaluation, which Includes certification of the Community Engaged Learning (CEL-2) requirement  and the Multiple Cultural Perspectives requirement.
• Division III evaluation, which Includes evaluations and/or grades for the two Advanced Educational Activities.
• Evaluations for successfully completed Hampshire courses.
• Field study and exchange program evaluations and international transcripts.
• Special Project, Learning Activity, and Five College evaluations when submitted to central records by the student.

Note: If a student studied at another U.S. institution before or during enrollment at Hampshire, the transcript should be ordered directly from the institution attended. This includes transcripts for study abroad programs that are issued by a U.S. school of record institution.

Requesting a Transcript
Students request transcripts using a form on the Hampshire website. Go to "Transcript Requests and Information [20]" It can take up to 10 business days for The Central Records Office to produce a transcript so please plan accordingly.

Cost
Students are billed a one-time transcript fee, which entitles them to request transcripts both while enrolled and in the future at no additional charge. Students are responsible for expedited shipping costs.

Maintenance of Student Files
Students should inspect their academic records before leaving the College. Academic records are scanned for permanent archiving after students leave the College.  Requests for changes to academic records may not be considered beyond sixty (60) days after the student’s final semester of attendance. 

Transcripts/Outstanding Obligations

• Students who have outstanding financial obligations to the College may not receive official transcripts, nor will transcripts be issued to a third party. 
• Transcripts will not be issued for any student who has defaulted on any federal student loan until the College has been notified by an agency that the student is no longer in default. 
• If a student has not fulfilled any student conduct sanctions imposed through the Formal Conduct Process [21], the degree will be withheld and official transcripts will not be released.

Students who have not fulfilled obligations as described above may be issued one unofficial transcript that will be stamped with “issued to student” and “outstanding obligation.” Transcripts will not be issued to a third party.