Texas State hits nearly 7K FERPA connections to facilitate student persistence
Ask any parent of a college student what they want, and the answer is simple: more information. They want to know how their student is doing, what’s next, and when to worry.
But even schools with progressive family engagement strategies run into the same roadblock: FERPA.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the information of students and rightly so, but it can make sharing information with parents complicated.
And with four of the five top information requests from parents being FERPA-protected, it means endless forms, frustrated families, and long days of manual data entry.
When Texas State University partnered with CampusESP in 2019, the goal was simple: make it easier for families to stay informed and for staff to stay sane.
Six years later, that change has transformed how the university connects with families. More than 115,000 parents now receive updates through the Bobcat Family Portal, with over 29,000 FERPA connections powering real-time visibility into students’ progress.
From paper forms to digital effeciency
At Texas State, processing hard-copy “Grant Access to Student Information” forms was slowing everything down. Parents would submit a form at orientation and expect instant access in Financial Aid or Student Business Services the same day.
“Time was of the essence in processing our hard copy forms” said Martha Fraire-Cuellar, University Registrar. “Parents would turn in their form to an office across campus and later visit Financial Aid expecting the form to be in the system that same day! Texas State needed a solution and CampusESP gave us that.”
Fraire-Cuellar led a cross-campus effort with Financial Aid, Student Business Services, and IT to find a better way. That search led them to CampusESP’s FERPA Management, where students could approve access digitally and parents could finally see the information they cared about without extra steps or delays.
Within the first year of launching, it attracted 41,000+ parents and resulted in 3,000+ digital FERPA connections!
Parents want student data … and 95% of students are good with that
Once parents request access to information using the FERPA management tool, students are notified via email and asked to approve any or all of the requests.
From her front-row seat in the registrar’s office, Fraire-Cuellar saw both sides: the hours her team spent processing forms and the parents just trying to stay informed.
“Helicopter parents, lawnmower parents, stealth parents … the names have changed but there has been a growing increase of parent involvement in college students’ day-to-day,” says Fraire-Cuellar. “It can come off as these parents being hyper-involved or even overbearing … but maybe they are protecting their investment in their student’s future and want to help.”
That empathy shaped Texas State’s approach. The team viewed an online FERPA system not as a barrier, but as a bridge — one that gives families clarity and frees up staff time.
And it worked: 95% of students approve their parents' FERPA requests through CampusESP. When that happens, everyone wins — families feel connected, and students are more likely to persist. Research shows that when parents receive regular academic and financial updates, student persistence can increase by up to 20.9%.
Cross-campus collaboration leads to a custom Texas State experience
Parents receive alerts when new data is available, or can access anytime from within the CampusESP parent portal. Texas State’s set-up includes details about many of the tiles, including outstanding steps in the enrollment process.
When Texas State implemented CampusESP, Fraire-Cuellar saw an opportunity to do more than just digitize FERPA. She wanted to create a system that reflected the university’s unique community and the information families truly needed.
Working closely with the Financial Aid, Student Business Services, Veteran Benefits, Admissions, and Parent & Family Relations, and partnering with CampusESP’s Customer Success team, her office spent several months designing a custom experience that went live as the Bobcat Family Portal in February 2020.
Now, once students approve FERPA access, families can easily view:
Financial aid steps and outstanding tasks
Enrollment to-dos, deposit deadlines, and orientation links
Class schedules, GPAs, and credit loads
Holds, balances, and VA benefits
Engagement that keeps growing
Once families had easier access to the information they cared about, the results came quickly. Within the first year of launch, the Bobcat Family Portal welcomed more than 41,000 parents and 3,092 FERPA connections.
By the end of year two, those numbers had surged: more than 63,000 families were receiving updates (a 55% increase) and FERPA connections more than doubled to 6,880 — an impressive jump of 122.5%!
What’s more, families are continually engaged with the communications, alerts, and announcements Texas State is sending via the portal; the average email open rate is 57%.
That awareness has paid off internally, staff report far fewer phone calls from confused or anxious parents.
CampusESP + Texas State: A partnership that keeps getting stronger
As Texas State’s use of the portal has grown, so did its partnership with CampusESP. Fraire-Cuellar’s team has been instrumental in shaping new features, from enhanced admin tools to more flexible FERPA “student tiles”, making the platform even stronger for future campuses.
“I can’t help but think … if we had not launched CampusESP when we did, right before COVID hit, with increasing staff turnover and multiple entry points for the form — the processing delays would have been insurmountable,” says Fraire-Cuellar. “CampusESP and the FERPA management tool helped our office eliminate the form and the workload attached to it.”
For Texas State, what started as a technology shift became a lasting collaboration, one that continues to make both teams better.
