Can a student file a suit under § 1983 for a FERPA violation?

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), students do not have the right to file a suit under § 1983 for violations. This is primarily because FERPA itself does not create any individual rights that can be enforced through a lawsuit. Instead, it is a federal law that provides guidelines for educational institutions on how to handle student records and grants certain rights to parents and students regarding their educational records.

In practice, if a student believes that their FERPA rights have been violated, they can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Family Policy Compliance Office instead of seeking redress in the courts. Therefore, the correct understanding here is that while FERPA establishes certain protections for student records, it does not give students the legal standing to claim violations through a § 1983 lawsuit, which is specifically meant for violations of constitutional rights.