Help with Higher Education Records Retention

Which Retention Schedules Does Higher Education Use?

1. State Government General Records Retention Schedule v.6.3 (October 2024)
2. Central Washington University Records Retention Schedule v.1.10 (October 2024)
3. Community and Technical Colleges Records Retention Schedule v.2.1 (December 2022)
4. Eastern Washington University Records Retention Schedule v.1.4 (October 2023)
5. Law Enforcement Records Retention Schedule v.8.0 (February 2022)
6. The Evergreen State College Records Retention Schedule v.1.0 (December 2015)
7. University of Washington Records Retention Schedule v.2.31 (February 2025)
8. U.W. Medicine Records Retention Schedule v.2.2 (February 2025)
9. Washington State University Records Retention Schedule v.1.9 (February 2025)
10. Western Washington Records Retention Schedule v.3.3 (June 2021)

Click to expand each topic...

Basics of Records Retention...

• What Are Records Retention Schedules?
• What Are Records Series?
• How Are Records Retention Periods Determined?
• What is an Archival Record?
• What is a Non-Archival Record?

Help Finding the Right Retention...

• How to Navigate Records Retention Schedules
• How to Determine the Correct Records Series
• How to Choose Between Multiple Records Series
• Searching Techniques for Records Retention Schedules Video (3 minutes)

How Long to Keep...

• Appointment Letters
• Audit Trails
• Backups
• Chat/Instant Messaging
• COVID-19 Pandemic Records
• COVID-19 Contact Tracing Logs and Screening Records
• COVID-19 Vaccination Verification Records
• Data Entry Records
• Database Records
• Drone Operation Records
• Drone Recordings
• Emails

• Individual Meeting Members' Notes/Recordings
• Meeting Recordings
• Migration Process Records
• Public Records Request Logs
• Public Records Requests
• Recruitment Records
• Social Media "Likes"
• Social Media Posts
• Text Messages
• Voicemails
• Volunteer Records

Strategies for...

• Applying Retention Schedule Updates
• Applying Retention to Subject Files
• Managing Chat/Instant Messaging Retention
• Managing Sensitive Payment Cardholder Data
• Managing Social Media Records Retention
• Managing Voicemail Retention

Transitory Records...

• Examples of Common Records with Minimal Retention
• What Does "Until No Longer Needed for Agency Business" Mean?
• Why Isn't There Just One "Transitory" Records Series?

Other Advice...

• Are Student Emails Public Records?
• Impact of Public Records Requests on Records Retention
• What are Personnel Files?
• What To Do With Non-Work-Related Appointments in Calendars
• What To Do With State Publications
• Which Litigation Case Files are "Significant"?

Training...

• Basics of Managing Records Training
• Basics of Managing Community and Technical College Records Training
• Retention Schedules "Demystified" (Recorded Webinar - April 2015 - 40 minutes)