Social Security Number Collection and Usage Notification – Students
In compliance with Florida Statutes §119.071(5), this document notifies you of the purpose for the collection and usage of your Social Security Number (SSN) by Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC). To protect your identity, NWFSC will secure your SSN from unauthorized access, strictly prohibit unauthorized access as prescribed by law, and assign you a unique student identification number that is used for all educational purposes at NWFSC. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g et seq., 34 CFR Part 99, and Florida Statutes § 1002.225, also prohibits the College from disclosing your SSN. NWFSC collects and uses your SSN only for the following purposes to perform the College’s duties and responsibilities.
Student Records
Federal law requires that all postsecondary institutions report transactions made during the calendar year to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This IRS requirement makes it necessary for higher education institutions to collect the SSN of every student. A student may refuse to disclose his or her SSN to NWFSC, but the IRS is then authorized to fine the student in the amount of $50.
In addition to the federal reporting requirements, the public school system in Florida uses SSNs as a student identifier (Florida Statutes § 1008.386). In a seamless K-20 system, it is beneficial for postsecondary institutions to have access to the same information for purposes of tracking and assisting students in the smooth transition from one education level to the next.
Financial Aid Department
It is mandatory for the Office of Financial Aid at NWFSC to require students to submit their SSN on various forms in order to correctly identify applicants, match each applicant’s Financial Aid record with the student record, and help to coordinate state aid programs with institutional and Federal Aid programs as authorized by Sections 483 and 484 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.
Outreach Programs
Programs such as the Youth Apprenticeship Grant and the Job Corps Scholars Program are youth outreach projects funded by discretionary grants from the United States or Florida Department of Education. As such, each project is required to exclusively serve eligible participants that are citizens or nationals of the United States or permanent residents of the United States. In order to verify a participant’s project eligibility, it is mandatory that Social Security numbers are collected and also later used when submitting information for the Annual Performance Reports due to the United States or Florida Department of Education.
Workforce Programs
It is mandatory that workforce programs use SSNs as identifiers for program enrollment and completion. Also, SSN is used for entering placement information into either the One Stop Management Information System (OSMIS) or the Employ Florida Marketplace statewide data collection and reporting system. Because these are performance-based contract programs, it is required that all participants and their program-related activities be recorded in the Florida state system.
State and Federal Reporting
The College is required to collect SSNs to periodically report student-employee-level-data to federal and state agencies for research and data collection.