Privacy Policy and Resources

• VSAC Notice of Privacy Policy

• Privacy Laws

• VSAC Web site policy

• Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) site on how to avoid, detect, and deter identity theft (external link)

VSAC NOTICE OF PRIVACY POLICY

Protecting the privacy of your personal information is important to us at Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (“VSAC”). You have given this information to us so that we may provide you with financial and other forms of assistance as you pursue your post-secondary education. We understand that you trust us to keep your personal information confidential as required by law.

Federal and state laws require VSAC to provide you with this notice of our privacy policy.

The Notice describes VSAC’s privacy policy in accordance with federal law and the terms of our agreements with you. These authorize VSAC to disclose certain personal information about you or your account in order to approve your application, service your account, locate you, provide other specified services to you, improve the quality of services to you and for other reasons outlined in our agreements with you.

This Notice uses the term “nonpublic personal information.” This means personal information about you which identifies you, and that is not available from public sources.

VSAC Privacy Policy

1. VSAC collects nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:

   • Information we receive from you on grant applications, loan applications, promissory notes and other applications, surveys and forms
   • Information about your transactions with VSAC and its agents and subcontractors
   • Information received from credit reporting agencies and the U.S. Department of Education
   • Information received from schools you are attending or to which you have applied for admission

2. VSAC does not disclose any nonpublic personal information about you or our other customers to anyone, except with your consent, at your request, or as permitted by law.

3. VSAC restricts access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees, agents, subcontractors, organizations, and schools who need to know the information to provide the services or products that are the basis of the customer relationship between you and VSAC. VSAC maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

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PRIVACY LAWS

Two important privacy laws govern the collection of information at VSAC:

• Privacy Act of 1974
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102) of 1999

Privacy Act of 1974

If you apply for a Vermont grant, section 7(b) of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 522a) requires that when any federal, state, or local government agency requests an individual to disclose his/her Social Security number, that individual must also be advised whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other authority the number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it. Accordingly, grant applicants are advised that disclosure of their Social Security number is and has been since 1966 a requirement and condition for participation in the grant program.

VSAC uses the Social Security number of the applicant to identify the applicant, to ensure the information concerning the application is properly placed in our files, to certify attendance and status at college, and to identify the student for making grant program payments.

Section 7(a)(2) of the Privacy Act provides that an agency may continue to require the disclosure of an individual’s Social Security number where the agency required this disclosure under statute or regulations prior to Jan. 1, 1975, in order to verify the identity of the individual. Since 1966, applicants have been required to provide Social Security numbers, and all subsequent application forms have required applicants to submit their Social Security numbers. On Nov. 1, 1974, the VSAC Board of Directors adopted regulations that authorize the grant program to withdraw a student’s application from consideration for failure to provide required information.

In addition, based upon the same authority, VSAC also requires parents’ Social Security numbers on the grant application. The parents’ Social Security numbers are used by VSAC to verify parents’ income with the Vermont Department of Taxes as required in 16 VSA S2843(b) or to obtain copies of U.S. income tax returns as authorized by the parents’ signature on the Vermont Grant Application.

If you apply for an education loan through VSAC, the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires that the following notice be provided.

The authority for collecting the requested information from and about you is Section 484(a)(4)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended [20 U.S.C. 1091(a)(4)(B)]. You are advised that participation in the Federal Family Education Loan Program is voluntary, but the requested information is necessary for participation.

The principal purpose of this information is to verify your identity, to determine your program eligibility and benefits, to permit the servicing of your loan(s), and, in the event it is necessary, to locate you and to collect on your loan(s) if it becomes delinquent or defaulted.

The routine uses of this information include its disclosure to federal, state, or local agencies, to private parties such as relatives, present and former employers, business and personal associates, to guaranty agencies, to credit bureau organizations, to educational and financial institutions, and to agency contractors in order to verify your identity, to determine your program eligibility and benefits, to permit the servicing or collecting of your loan(s), to counsel you in repayment efforts, to investigate possible fraud and to verify compliance with program regulations, or to locate you if you become delinquent in your loan(s) payments or you default.

You must provide all of the information requested in order to have your application processed.

Section 7(b) of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a note) requires that when any federal, state, or local government agency requests an individual to disclose his/her Social Security number, that individual must also be advised whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other authority the number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it.

Section 7(a)(2) of the Privacy Act provides that an agency may continue to require the disclosure of an individual’s Social Security number where the agency required this disclosure under statute or regulations prior to Jan. 1, 1975, in order to verify the identity of the individual.

Disclosure of your Social Security number is required to participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). The US Department of Education has, for several years, consistently required the disclosure of individuals’ Social Security numbers on application forms and other necessary FFELP documents adopted pursuant to published regulations.

Your Social Security number will be used to verify your identity, and as an account number (identifier) throughout the life of your loan(s) in order to record necessary data accurately. As an identifier, the Social Security number is used in such program activities as determining your program eligibility, certifying your school attendance and student status, determining your eligibility for deferment of payments, determining your eligibility for disability or death claims, and for tracing and collecting from you in case you become delinquent in your loan payments or you default.

Under the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3401-3421), the US Department of Education will have access to financial records in an individual’s student loan file maintained by the lender in compliance with the administration of FFELP loans.

If you apply for a VSAC-assisted scholarship, section 7(b) of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 522a) requires that when any federal, state, or local government agency requests an individual to disclose his/her Social Security number, that individual must also be advised whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other authority the number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it. Accordingly, scholarship applicants are advised that disclosure of their Social Security number is and has been since 1966 a requirement and condition for participation in VSAC-assisted scholarship programs.

VSAC uses the Social Security number of the applicant to identify the applicant, to ensure that information and documents associated with the application are properly entered and filed, to certify attendance and status at college, and to identify a scholarship recipient for disbursing the scholarship.

Section 7(a)(2) of the Privacy Act provides that an agency may continue to require the disclosure of an individual’s Social Security number where the agency required this disclosure under statute or regulations prior to Jan. 1, 1975, in order to verify the identity of the individual. Since 1966, scholarship applicants have been required to provide their Social Security number, and all subsequent application forms have required scholarship applicants to provide their Social Security number.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102) of 1999

On November 12, 1999, President Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102). This law, also known as the Financial Modernization Act, changed large parts of the financial services regulatory structure in the United States.

An important section of the law limits the instances in which a financial institution may disclose nonpublic personal information about a consumer to nonaffiliated third parties. It also requires a financial institution, including agencies such as VSAC, to disclose to all customers privacy policies and practices concerning information-sharing with both affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties.

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VSAC WEB SITE POLICY

This is the Web site of the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. (VSAC). Our postal address is:

VSAC
PO Box 2000
Winooski, VT 05404

We can be reached via e-mail at info@vsac.org or by telephone at 800-642-3177.

For each visitor to our Web page, our Web server automatically recognizes and collects the visitor’s domain name, but not the e-mail address. We receive weekly reports from our server’s host company listing which domain names accessed which pages. This information helps us in determining what kind of information is most useful to our Web visitors. Your accessing our Web site does not enable us to add your e-mail address to a database for future use.

If you send us e-mail by writing to us at info@vsac.org (e-mail contact links on our Web site use this address), we are automatically given your e-mail address so we can respond to you by e-mail. We do not rent, sell, or trade e-mail lists.

Any information you provide is kept confidential and is not forwarded to, shared with, sold, or traded to any other organization or Vermont state agency. We use the information you provide only to respond to your request for information from VSAC. The information you provide is retained by us so we can continue to provide you with additional information.

Information accessed through our Online Services is encrypted before it is transmitted over the Web. See our Security Policy for more information about this protection.

Cookies are identifiers we send that your browser then stores. We use cookies to collect information about your use of our web site, such as particular pages visited, so that we can understand how you and other customers navigate our site, improve your experience with our site and landing pages, and facilitate application processing. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies, but you may set your preferences to refuse cookies or alert you when cookies are being sent. Please note that name, mailing address, and other nonpublic personal information are not stored with cookies.

Our Web site contains both "internal" links (links to other parts of the VSAC Web site), and "external" links (links to other sites on the Web). Our privacy policy covers only the VSAC Web site. Other sites to which we link may have other privacy policies. Check each site to determine what those policies are.

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