CLASPS (CLAS Office of Academic Programs and Services) recommends the following standards and practices for purging paper and electronic undergraduate student file contents: 

• at the time a student graduates or when a student is admitted to a different undergraduate UI college (originally a degree candidate in CLAS and is admitted to Business, Nursing, Pharmacy, undergraduate Medicine, or early admission to Dentistry);

• after a period of one year has passed [one calendar year Jan-Dec or one academic year Aug-May], since the student last enrolled in UI/CLAS, provided the student file does not contain correspondence regarding reports of and sanctions for academic fraud between the College and the reporting department;

• after a period of five years has passed, if the student has not graduated but continues to be enrolled, files containing correspondence regarding reports of and sanctions for academic fraud between the College and the reporting department;

• correspondence between medical providers [e.g., Student Health Service, Student Disability Services, or University Counseling Service] and instructors should not be filed in individual departmental paper undergraduate student folders, but should be kept securely in a separate instructional file and shredded at the close of the semester in which the student has completed the course.  

• letters of recommendation written by faculty for undergraduate students may/should be saved in secured electronic folders after graduation, according to departmental practices and standards.

 
Please note the following:

• The University Registrar is the custodian of all student permanent records and retains an archived degree evaluation for each undergraduate student, whether a student has graduated or has left the University without completing an undergraduate degree.

• Undergraduate students, who have not enrolled in the University for one calendar year or one full academic year, must file a returning student application in the Office of Admission, before enrolling in CLAS/UI.  The returning student application requires each undergraduate student to declare the former or a new major program of study; the student degree evaluation is refreshed to current requirements and the student is eligible to register for classes, after meeting with the academic advisor in the major program of study.  

• Undergraduate students dismissed from CLAS for academic probation or for academic fraud must clear their “not permitted to register” status with CLASPS before filing a returning student application.

• Undergraduate student correspondence between the Office of the Dean of Students and the College or a CLAS department will be retained by the Office of the Vice President of Student Services and purged or shredded by that office.