But the ss# is on the common app and Grinnell is not saying right now what has been compromised in the admissions files. I’m calling on Monday.
^^ @homerdog did you end up calling? If so, did you learn anything of interest?
@thebearo i called the number provided in the email, and the person was clearly from a call center. She had nothing new to say, literally mispronounced the school name, read the same wording from one paragraph of the email that had already been sent, and had to call me back to get more info from me (because i asked for a call back about security of SSN numbers)
When she called back to ask for my home address (for tracking and to “file a case,”) it was a phoenix number.
I did not get a call back with more information after that. Not impressed.
Thanks for posting @MidwestMomTo2
Must be a lot of people affected to have to hire a call center. Not cool they can’t tell you anything.
Please everyone keep posting what you learn. My D applied for class of '22 and her info was stolen as well…
@AlmostThere2018 i am thisclose to freezing my D’s credit and putting a fraud alert on her info but it’s such a pain … she’s a minor and you have to supply copies of lots of stuff, confirm your own identity etc. i looked it up today and it doesn’t look particularly easy or fun
Not so bad for minors over age 15 if they do it themselves.
Kid received Grinnell email that a snail mail letter was sent 3/25, we are still waiting to receive. The email confirmed that the SS# was compromised, and snail mail letter will give us information on monitoring service.
Yep, my kid got the same. She’s going to freeze her credit. Sigh. The thing about this that irks me is these numbers are out there forever, and these kids are at the start of their lives. What’s to keep this number from floating around the dark web for years and decades to come? So what’s a person to do? Apply for new SSN number? Argh.
S19 didn’t get an email. Wonder what that means. Only some numbers compromised? And I thought SS #s were encrypted! Ugh.
@AlmostThere2018 Freeze is the way to go. I recently unfroze 4 of mine to get a new CC. Took a few minutes, but no biggie. Frozen again the next day. I find credit card companies, auto lenders etc are now pretty used to being asked which bureaus they use and so need to be thawed for the inquiry to go through.
FYI there are 6 to freeze -
Experian
Transunion
Equifax
Innovis
Chexsystems (for checks)
Lexis Nexis
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/3-reports-havent-frozen-yet
Best to keep an eye on the tax return also.
What if S19 has no credit. Zero. Only has a checking account and that’s all. Does anything need to be done?
D didn’t have any credit when her info was breached at Equifax. But an SS is a key chunk of info that can be used to open a NEW credit account.
Honestly I’d suggest everyone freeze their credit . If your info hasn’t been in one breach it’s probably been in another, or will be. That’s just the nature of things now. And freezes are now free by law.
@OHMomof2 Good info. Thanks.
I wonder how to coordinate the freeze with the student loan? Not sure how that works, but we will find out.
@DoinResearch I don’t think Direct federal loans involve a credit check. Everyone qualifies for that if their school says so.
My daughter applied for class of 2022. We received a letter and several emails that her information was stolen including her SS#. She received the offer to monitor her credit for 2 years. So she gets 2 years of “free” credit monitoring but will likely have to mentor her credit for the rest of her life? Nice.
Again, I suggest ditching the monitoring and going right to freezing. @Veryapparent
But I’m sorry all your kids are going through this 
In the tech community, there’s a lot of talk about how SSN’s are “usernames” not passwords. It’s a shame they are used as some secret thing and there is hopefully enough support to lobby the government to get rid of SSN’s current uses within the next few decades as we digitize more. At the very least there needs to be a way to change/refresh your SSN 
My daughter hasn’t received any email which confirms her info was stolen from Grinnell. Still she needs to do ‘fraud alert’ or ‘credit freeze’? Either one?? both? Parents should do too??
I’m seeing recommendations that everyone put a freeze on their credit regardless of whether they’ve been effected by a security breach. A fraud alert is useful to flag problems that were initiated before the freeze took effect. Once the freeze has been in place for a while, the alert won’t be needed.
All adults and teens should know how to freeze and when to unfreeze their credit, and how to regularly pull their free credit reports. Incidents like this which are reported are almost certainly just the tip of the iceberg. It only makes sense to assume and act as if your data was stolen long ago (because it probably was) and assume that it will be stolen again many more times.