Parent and Guardian Access
As a parent or family member of a Texas A&M student, you may be wondering how to gain access to your student's information, including their grades, tuition and billing, tax information, and other items related to their student experience. Access to this information will likely be different now that your student is in college.
FERPA, or the Family Education Rights Privacy Act, is federal legislation that gives ownership of records to the student at the college level. Texas A&M will not provide access to your student’s information without prior and explicit approval from your student. You can learn more about FERPA at Texas A&M by going to https://registrar.tamu.edu/about-us/policies/ferpa.
As a best practice, we recommend having a conversation with your student about expectations around communication of their progress in their coursework and financial information. However, there are also processes for you to obtain access to your student’s information.
Bill Payment Suite
This allows students to provide access to view billing history and make payments. Your student must first permit access as an authorized user so that you can view and pay a bill as a family member, spouse, or partner. To do this, your student must be logged into their Howdy Portal, click on the Payment/Refund icon, go to “My Account,” and then Authorized Users. From there, your student can add you as an authorized user to access their account via your unique login. Alternatively, your student can grant you access to communicate with the university to access their account.
Grades and Academic Information
To allow parents or guardians to view their student's grades, the student must grant access through the Parent/Guardian Access channel on the "My Record" tab in Howdy. They need to select the "Financial Aid, Academic Record, and Tax Forms" link, click "Add or Edit Access," and check the "Academic" box. The student will receive a confirmation email with instructions to inform their parent/guardian to check their email for a link and a "token" number to activate their account within two weeks. After activation, the parent/guardian will receive an email to set up their NetID, and access to Howdy should be available within 24 hours.
Financial Aid, Dining, Parking, Tax Forms
Your student can grant you access to other aspects of their educational records, such as Financial Aid, Dining, Parking, and Tax Forms. They can do this by logging into the Howdy Portal, clicking on the "My Record" tab, and then using Parent/Guardian Access. They will select all relevant boxes. The student will receive a confirmation email with instructions to inform their parent/guardian to check their email for a link and a "token" number to activate their account within two weeks. After activation, the parent/guardian will receive an email to set up their NetID, and access to Howdy should be available within 24 hours.