university sells student information to third party.

#1 12-04-2005, 11:55 AM

The university that I am attending has just outsourced financial aid. Higher One the company that my school has contracted to do this is not a bank only affiliated with one and I have not been able to find them in any BBB database. Some students have but not as members and only since November 29 2005. This is already after the contract was signed. The school gave directory information (legal) but they also gave them every students social security number - even the ones not recieving financial aid. Now to recieve any excess funds we must register a debit card with Higher One and from there we have the "option" to choose which way we recieve our excess from H.O. According to the university they have not sold any information and have not used students in a trial run however Sean Glass one of the founders of H.O. says otherwise. http://electricvoid.tripod.com/files/studentfaq.pdf This is the Q&A the administration sent to the students reguarding the matter. http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/vne....v/SEC/Opinion This is the student newspaper. There are two letters to the editor in which a student and Sean Glass write. The first reply to the student's letter is where the information become contradictory. A lot of students are upset about this. We don't like the fact that our socials were given to this company without our consent and we think it may violate the university's own privacy rules. (link below) What are our options? http://www.ecu.edu/data-fsonline/fac...l/part5/51.htm

#2 01-29-2008, 01:00 PM

#1. Check the schools students privacy policy. If it states yes the school can give out your soc # they 1st need your permission. The school should not, can not be a partner in identity thefy. Identity theft is rampant. Do you have proof that the school gave out the soc #'s?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lnb1009d1

The university that I am attending has just outsourced financial aid. Higher One the company that my school has contracted to do this is not a bank only affiliated with one and I have not been able to find them in any BBB database. Some students have but not as members and only since November 29 2005. This is already after the contract was signed. The school gave directory information (legal) but they also gave them every students social security number - even the ones not recieving financial aid. Now to recieve any excess funds we must register a debit card with Higher One and from there we have the "option" to choose which way we recieve our excess from H.O. According to the university they have not sold any information and have not used students in a trial run however Sean Glass one of the founders of H.O. says otherwise. http://electricvoid.tripod.com/files/studentfaq.pdf This is the Q&A the administration sent to the students reguarding the matter. http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/vne....v/SEC/Opinion This is the student newspaper. There are two letters to the editor in which a student and Sean Glass write. The first reply to the student's letter is where the information become contradictory. A lot of students are upset about this. We don't like the fact that our socials were given to this company without our consent and we think it may violate the university's own privacy rules. (link below) What are our options? http://www.ecu.edu/data-fsonline/fac...l/part5/51.htm