SOC 2 for EdTech

Education technology companies face a multi-framework compliance environment. K-12 districts require FERPA compliance and increasingly ask for SOC 2 or equivalent third-party attestation before onboarding any tool that touches student data. Higher-education institutions are similar.

SOC 2 for EdTech maps well to FERPA because both frameworks address access controls, audit logging, and breach notification. The Privacy trust service criteria (P1–P8) align with FERPA's notice, consent, and disclosure requirements — many districts will specifically ask about these if they don't see a FERPA attestation letter.

For tools serving under-13 users, COPPA creates additional requirements around parental consent that must appear in your privacy notice and be addressed in your SOC 2 system description. Auditors will probe how you verify user age and what happens to data when a user is found to be under the age threshold.

Common EdTech SOC 2 gaps: no formal data retention and deletion schedule for student records, sub-processors (analytics tools, video hosting) not covered by data sharing agreements, audit logs for student data access not retained for the required period, and no formal vendor approval process before new SaaS tools are adopted by the team.