<p>As I'm about to fax my most revealing financial documents to three or four colleges this week, I'm concerned about security. I am careful with my personal information and sending tax returns to a machine somewhere just seems dangerous to me, but the colleges are clear that faxing is the preferred method. Can anyone offer assurances - or horror stories?</p>
<p>Faxing seems much safer than mailing hard copies. Last fall, an entire package of tax forms, college fin aid forms and Profile forms that I mailed USPS never arrived, necessitating a second mailing. Who knows who has all of our personal financial info now?</p>
<p>I was comfortable e-mailing or faxing tax forms directly to the colleges to a specific name. I was not comfortable sending that type of information through a third party like College Board.</p>
<p>I have no problem with faxing, as the schools have secure faxes located in areas that take precautions with this sensitive data. I would rather fax than send through the mail. When I did send tax info by mail, I used priority mail & paid for tracking. These days, though, most schools do not use SSNs, so you can black out the SSNs on the return, and even the addresses (we don’t need the address unless folks have to prove that they were legally eligible to be married & file as head of household, which among other things requires separate addresses).</p>