The record is yours
Once you are enrolled — at any age — the federal privacy law (FERPA) makes your education record yours, not your parents'. The university generally cannot release grades, your schedule, account details, or conduct information to anyone, including a parent, without your written authorization for a stated purpose.
Who can see it without your permission
University employees with a legitimate educational need (an instructor for their class, your adviser, financial aid for your file) may access the parts they need for their role. Beyond that, disclosure requires your consent, a health-or-safety emergency, a valid subpoena, or one of a few narrow legal exceptions.
Directory information
A limited set — typically your name, enrollment status, dates of attendance, major, degrees and awards, and participation in activities and sports — is designated "directory information" and can be released without consent (for a dean's list announcement, a degree verification, a team roster). You can restrict all of it with a directory-information hold in MyPorter, but be aware that also blocks things like enrollment verifications to an employer until you lift it.
Giving someone access
To let a parent or another person discuss a specific area — usually billing, or your general academic standing — you name them as an authorized party in MyPorter, for the areas you choose. It is not all-or-nothing; you can authorize billing and not grades. You can add or remove an authorization any time.
Everyday practice
Staff verify your identity before discussing your account, avoid leaving grades or schedules visible, post grades by an ID rather than a name, and use authorizations instead of assumptions. If a staff member shares your information with someone you did not authorize, that is a FERPA concern you can raise with the Registrar.
Seeing and correcting your record
You have the right to inspect your own education record and to ask for a correction if something in it is factually wrong (not to dispute a grade — that is the grade-appeal process). Requests go to the office that holds the record; the Registrar can point you to the right one.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.