<p>My daughter received a mailing from Colgate today that included a postcard to request additional information. No problem there, but it asked for an (optional) Social Security Number! What were they thinking of? Although I hope most kids these days are savvy about identity theft, why would a college be so ignorant as to request this kind of personal information on the back of a postcard for anyone to see?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many schools do this because they still use the SSN as the identification number for the student's folder. Fortunately, the common app no longer uses the SSN, so hopefully colleges will quickly move from this custom. I wholeheartedly support Wesleyan University's move to provide each student who requests information from their website and each applicant with a "Wes ID Number" which is placed on each piece of the application and every communication to the school and is used to access the on-line website. For now, it is absolutely KEY to tell your kids NOT to put their SSN on these postcards, college websites (they are not secure), etc.</p>
<p>On the Colgate card, I am assuming the mailing actually came from Colgate but the first thing I would do is check the return address on the postcard to see if it is Colgate's to make sure this is not someone's fraud. If it is actually is from Colgate, I would probably send them a note telling them that it was not a wise idea.</p>
<p>if colgate has to be told its not a wise idea?</p>
<p>WHen D was applying to middle schools- one school wanted her ss#. I told them if and when she was accepted, ( & decided to attend) I would give it to them, but not to use as her ID #.
They had a tizzy- it threw off their whole system.
She attended somewhere else
I don't even like to give ss#s to doctors offices because I don't think hospitals should be using that for ID.
D college uses a student number- not ss#</p>
<p>Yes, it was from Colgate and not a fraud, I plan to send them a message with my concerns. I'm not so surprised that they would ask for a SS#, but that they would do so on a postcard. Many other colleges provide a return addressed envelope which at least insures some degree of privacy. I agree with EK4, I always ask why someone needs my SS# and am often looked upon as "difficult", but I think busness need to get with the times and use other identifiers for customers.</p>
<p>I took courses at one of Penn State's satellite campuses years ago. When asked, I refused to give them my SSN number and pointed out that they did not have a valid reason for asking for it. THis was before all of the broo-ha-ha about identity theft. They did not see me as "difficult" and gladly issued me an alternate student ID #.</p>
<p>Colleges in general have a bad track record for protecting students against identity theft. From the current Businessweek:</p>
<p>
[quote]
IDENTITY THEFT
Hacking Into The Ivory Tower</p>
<p>Colleges need a crash course in protecting data. Hundreds of thousands of names and personal data have been hacked in the past year -- sometimes repeatedly. Schools that were struck include Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford, says Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. On Jan. 23 hackers nabbed Social Security numbers, credit-card information, and check images of University of Notre Dame donors. At Kent State University in Ohio, cybercrooks accessed a database containing names and Social Security numbers of 19,000 applicants. And in December, credit-card data and 5,500 Social Security numbers were stolen from Iowa State University's system.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>.... short article continues</p>
<p>* By Mara Der Hovanesian and Bremen Leak</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Don't give your social security number unless you REALLY have to. You will for the finaid applications, for example. DS received a letter this year about identity theft at one of the colleges to which he applied. Apparently someone was "harvesting" SS numbers and using them. He now is on the lookout for any problems.</p>