School Policies

Aiken Technical College is an equal educational opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. Aiken Technical College complies with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Sections 503/504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Vietnam Era Veterans Re- adjustment Assistance Act, as well as other applicable federal and state laws. The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the college’s non-discrimination policies:

For employee inquiries, contact:

Sylvia Byrd
Vice President, Human Resources
Aiken Technical College
P.O. Drawer 696
Aiken, SC 29802
(803) 508-7494
Office Location: Suite 121

For student inquiries, contact:

Chad Crumbaker, J.D.
Vice President, Academic and Student Affairs
Aiken Technical College
P.O. Drawer 696
Aiken, SC 29802
(803) 508-7244
Office Location: Suite 1014-A

or

Director, Office of Civil Rights
Department of Education
Washington, DC 20201

 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, as amended, describes the conditions under which information about a student can be released. It is the policy of Aiken Technical College to follow these guidelines to protect the privacy of students. The following student rights are covered by the Act and afforded to all eligible students of the College:

  1. The right to inspect and review information in the student’s educational records.

  2. The right to request amendment of the contents of the student’s educational records if believed to be inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy or other rights.

  3. The right to prevent disclosure without consent of personally identifiable information from the student’s records (with certain exceptions).

  4. The right to secure a copy of the College’s policy.

  5. Parents who can establish proof of dependency by presenting a copy of their tax return to the Registrar or designee may view the records of a dependent without the written consent of said dependent.

The right to file complaints with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the provisions of the Act. Each of these rights, with any limitations or exceptions, is explained in the College’s policy statement which may be obtained from the Enrollment Services Center. A form authorizing parents or others to review student financial aid or student services files is available in the Enrollment Services Office.

Aiken Technical College will disclose personally identifiable information (PII) from a student's education records only when the eligible student has provided written consent to the College with the following exceptions:

  1. To school officials who have a legitimate educational interest in the records and have a need to know. A school official is:

    1. A person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic, or support staff position, including student employees.

    2. A person employed by or under contract to the College to perform a special task, such as the attorney or auditor.

  2. Authorized representatives of the following government entities, if the disclosures is in connection with an audit or evaluation of federal or state supported education programs, or for the enforcement of or compliance with federal legal requirements that relate to those programs:

    • Comptroller General of the U.S. Secretary of Education

    • U.S. Attorney General

    • State and local educational authorities

  3. Agents acting on behalf of the institution (contractors, consultants)

  4. Schools in which the student seeks or intends to enroll.

  5. * A party, such as the Department of Veteran's Affairs or an employer, providing financial aid to the student.

  6. * Organizations conducting studies for or on behalf of educational institutions.

  7. * Accrediting organizations for accrediting purposes.

  8. Appropriate parties if a health or safety emergency exists and the information will assist in resolving the emergency.

  9. * An alleged victim of a crime of violence when the disclosure is the results of a disciplinary hearing regarding the alleged perpetrator of that crime with respect to that crime.

  10. The Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement for purpose of complying with Request Form ICE relative to the institution's participation in SEVIS.

  11. Military recruiters who request "Student Recruiting Information" for recruiting purposes only.

  12. * The Internal Revenue Service, for purposes of complying with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.

  13. Anyone, when the disclosure concerns information provided by sex offenders required to register under state or federal law.

  14. Parents of dependent students.

  15. Parents when their student (under 21) is found to have violated the alcohol or drug policy of the institution.

  16. To comply with judicial order or subpoena, including ex parte orders under the USA Patriot Act.

* Additional conditions may exist. Contact the Enrollment Services Office for additional details. Students have the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-5901

The College may provide directory information in accordance with the provisions of the Act without the written consent of an eligible student, unless that student requests in writing that such information not be disclosed. The items listed below are designated as directory information and may be released on any student for any purpose at the discretion of the College unless a written request for non-disclosure is on file: name, address, e-mail, telephone number, dates of attendance, major field of study, awards, honors, degree(s) conferred and previous institution(s) attended. Photographs, video recordings.

A student who wishes to request nondisclosure of the above items may submit a written request to the Enrollment Services Center. Please download the Directory Information Non-Disclosure Form and submit the completed form to the Enrollment Services Center. The College may not provide the parent of a student over eighteen years of age any information about the student’s progress without the explicit written consent of the student or a copy of IRS tax forms indicating the student is a dependent of the parent seeking such information.

Any student who believes that an error has been made in the assignment of a grade should contact the faculty member involved as soon as he or she receives the grade report. Failure to act within 10 working days of the next semester disqualifies the student from further consideration of a grade change.

Please direct all FOIA inquiries to:

Aiken Technical College
Office of the President 
P.O. Drawer 696 
Aiken, SC 29802 
ATCFOIA@atc.edu

Aiken Technical College complies with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); this Act was amended on Friday, May 19, 2017.

Aiken Technical College will attempt to provide comprehensive and expedient public access to records in accordance with the requirements of state law. Pursuant to section 30-4-30 (c), a response to a written FOIA request must be made within 10 working days (Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are excluded) of receipt of the written request, and the documents will be produced no later than 30 calendar days after the response date. If the documents requested are more than two years old, the response time is 20 days, and the documents must be produced no later than 35 calendar days from the response date.

Fee Schedule

  • Hourly Rate (dependent on the actual position of required staff to fulfill the request): The fee for the search, retrieval or redaction of records shall not exceed the prorate hourly salary of the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skills and training to perform the request. This charge will be calculated by multiplying the hourly rate of the employee by the amount of time needed to locate and produce the records.
  • Black/white copy rates: $.10/copy
  • Color copy rates: $.15/copy

Please note: An hourly fee may apply to transferring documents in electronic format. A deposit of 25% of anticipated costs may be required.

Unless you provide additional information, Aiken Technical College collects only the following information when you browse our website:

  • the type of browser you use to access the world wide web;
  • the date and time of your visit;
  • the pages you visited; and
  • the address of the website you visited immediately before visiting our website.

Aiken Technical College collects this information for statistical purposes only in an effort to evaluate the site’s usefulness to visitors. Any electronic information or inquiries that Aiken Technical College receives from a website user shall be considered public information, unless otherwise required by law.

If you send an e-mail message to Aiken Technical College or complete a questionnaire, form, or other online survey found on our website, Aiken Technical College will maintain the information in accordance with applicable federal law.

Aiken Technical College does not disclose, give, sell or transfer any personal information about our visitors unless required for law enforcement or otherwise required by law.

This site is maintained by the Office of Information Technology of Aiken Technical College, and is protected by various provisions of Title 18, U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.

Use of Cookies: Certain Aiken Technical College webpages may use “cookies,” which are small amounts of information stored by your web browser software on your workstation. In most cases, this information is temporary in nature (called session cookies) and is deleted as soon as you leave Aiken Technical College website. The use of temporary cookies is solely for the purpose of allowing the user to interact with our website in an effective manner.

Aiken Technical College provides access to resources and other information on this website as a public service. Although reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that all electronic information made available is current, complete and accurate, Aiken Technical College does not warrant or represent that this information is current, complete and accurate. All information is subject to change periodically, without notice.

The information and materials on this site could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. However, neither the State of South Carolina nor Aiken Technical College make any representations or warranties with respect to any information, materials, or graphics on this site. This information is provided strictly "as is," without warranty of any kind or nature whatsoever. The State of South Carolina and Aiken Technical College expressly disclaims all warranties with regard to information, materials or graphics on this website. We expressly disclaim any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Any claim with respect to the materials contained on this website shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of South Carolina. Jurisdiction of any dispute shall be vested in the courts of Richland County.

Under no circumstances shall the State of South Carolina, Aiken Technical College, its employees, agents, or representatives be liable under any theory of recovery at law or equity for any damages including but not limited to, special, direct, incidental, consequential, punitive arising out of or in any manner connected with the use of information or services or the failure to provide information from this website.

Unless otherwise noted on an individual document, file, web page or other website item, Aiken Technical College grants users permission to reproduce and distribute all information available on this website for non-commercial purposes and usage, as long as the contents remain unaltered and as long as it is noted that the contents have been made available by Aiken Technical College.

The inclusion of, or linking to, other website URLs does not imply our endorsement of, nor responsibility for, those websites, but has been done as a convenience to our website visitors.