1. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs Best Practices for Working with Financial Aid Offices while Serving Students & Following Federal Regulations Judy Hernandez, Senior Manager, Joseph Tauber Scholarship Programs 1199SEIU Child Care Corporation

2. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs

3. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Financial Aid Administrators’ Mission & Goals
According to NASFAA include:
To help students achieve their educational goals through financial support and resources
Advocate for students
Remain aware of issues affecting students and continually advocate for their interests at the institutional, state and federal levels

4. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Scholarship Administrators’ Mission & Vision
According to the National Scholarship Providers Association include:
To advance the collective impact of scholarship providers and the scholarships they award
College success for all students through the power of scholarships

5. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
What we all thought…
That a FERPA waiver was enough.
Silly us!!

6. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Under FERPA g 99.30
The written consent must:
Specify the records that may be disclosed;
State the purpose of the disclosure; and
Identify the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure may be made.

7. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Then the guidance changed
Dating back to July 29, 2015, there have been several Dear Colleague Letters and follow-ups
By June of 2017 this led to a white paper & presentation at the NASFAA conference that indicated guidelines that made only a FERPA waiver insufficient for communications directly between colleges and 3rd party scholarship organizations.

8. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
And so - Chaos!

9. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
So let’s go back to the basics.
What are the relevant laws besides FERPA?
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended
Section 483(a)(3)(E) of the HEA provides that the information collected by the FAFSA (and provided to institutions on the ISIR) can be “... used only for the application, award, and administration of aid awarded under this title [Title IV of the HEA], State aid, or aid awarded by eligible institutions ...“
Privacy ACT
The Privacy Act applies to the Department’s student records to prevent the improper release of government held student PII. The Department is prohibited from releasing student records from their systems without prior written consent from the individual to whom the record pertains. However, the Privacy Act allows for the release of data to institutions for the “routine use” for which the data was collected.

10. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
So let’s go back to the basics.
What are the relevant laws besides FERPA?
The Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG)
Agreement between institutions and the Department establishes requirements for the electronic exchange of student data for the administration of the Title IV programs. Under the SAIG agreement, access, disclosure, and use of student data is limited to “authorized personnel.” The Department interprets “authorized personnel” to include anyone who is permitted access to the information under all applicable statutes and regulations, which would capture, for example, FERPA’s school official and studies exceptions
The Gramm Leach-Bliley Act of 1999
Subtitle A of Title V of the Act, captioned “Disclosure of Nonpublic Personal Information,” limits the instance in which a financial institution may disclose nonpublic personal information about a consumer to nonaffiliated third parties, and requires a financial institution to disclose certain information sharing practices.

11. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
All of this was confusing to schools and to scholarship organizations.
By Fall 2017, the buzz was getting louder. Here is the timeline:
October NYSFAAA Conference in Tarrytown NY privacy was the talk of the conference
October 11 - at the National Scholarship Providers Association NSPA Conference in Seattle Washington a popular presentation was called, "Have You Heard? Federal Government Bans Sharing of FAFSA Data with Scholarship Providers" (presenters - Julie Kim UNCF, Mark Kantrowitz Cappex.com and Denise Callahan Ford Family Foundation)
November 17 - NASFAA letter to James Manning, Acting Under Secretary, US Dept. of Ed; Kathleen Smith, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education; Michael Hawes, Director of Student Privacy Policy signed by Justin Drager, President, NASFAA; and endorsed by Hispanic Scholarship Fund, National College Access Network, NSPA and UNCF

12. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
But all is not lost
There has been good news since 2017…

13. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
The "Good" news – “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018” - signed March 23, 2018
(a) Notwithstanding the limitations on sharing data described in paragraph (3)(E) of section 483(a) of the HEA, an institution of higher education may, with explicit written consent of an applicant who has completed a FAFSA under such section 483(a), provide such information collected from the applicant’s FAFSA as is necessary to a scholarship granting organization, including a tribal organization (defined in section 4 of the Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), designated by the applicant to assist the applicant in applying for and receiving financial assistance for the applicant’s cost of attendance (defined in section 472 of the HEA) at that institution. (b) An organization that receives information pursuant to subsection (a) shall not sell or otherwise share such information. (c) This section shall be in effect until title IV of the HEA is reauthorized.

14. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
More "Good" news – "Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019” - signed September 28, 2018
Added improved language.
(a) An institution of higher education may, with explicit written consent of an applicant who has completed a FAFSA under such section 483(a), provide such information collected from the applicant’s FAFSA as is necessary to a scholarship granting organization, including a tribal organization (defined in section 4 of the Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), or to an organization assisting the applicant in applying for and receiving Federal, State, local, or tribal assistance, that is designated by the applicant to assist the applicant in applying for and receiving financial assistance for any component of the applicant’s cost of attendance (defined in section 472 of the HEA) at that institution.
(b) An organization that receives information pursuant to subsection (a) shall not sell or otherwise share such information.
(c) This section shall be in effect until title IV of the HEA is reauthorized.

15. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
What happened???
We adapted…

16. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Let’s take a look at the
Joseph Tauber Scholarship
What did we change?
We did not request for financial aid administrators to fill out a “College Aid Form,” we asked the students to bring the form to a financial aid administrator to fill out.
We also asked for two additional items from the students:
Student Aid Report (SAR)
Financial aid award letter from the college the student attends

17. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Key aspects of the 1199SEIU JTSP application:
Application Form/Waiver
IRS Form W-4
CSS Profile
Student Aid Report *
Financial Aid Award Letter
More on Financial Aid Award Letters Later

18. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Key aspects of the 1199SEIU JTSP application:
In September - applicants send a “Letter of Attendance” (LOA) after classes start showing term dates, that the student is full- time and enrolled at the school they indicated on the application
Meanwhile – we distribute our awards – But…
- We can't know award amounts until distribution
- We can't release awards until after we receive the LOA

19. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Originally
We sent a college aid form to the school with a copy of the FERPA waiver for each student applicant with instructions asking that a financial aid administrator (FAA) fill it out and send them back to JTSP
In the 2017/18 school year...
We still collected a FERPA Waiver from each applicant.
We requested students submit a copy of their 2017/18 SAR
We requested students to submit a copy of the FAAL 2017/18 from the school they attended
We sent a college aid form to each student with instructions to request their FAA school to fill it out and give back to the student to give to JTSP

20. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
2018/19 school year and beyond:
We collected a FERPA Waiver
We requested a SAR
We requested a FAAL
We will send college aid forms to financial aid administrators directly again, but with a copy of the waiver with instructions requesting FAAs fill it out and send back to JTSP or if the school policy dictates to give it back to the student, to send back to JTSP

21. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Q & A

22. Student Privacy, Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs
Thank you for your attention and participation!
Contact Information:
Judy Hernandez
(646)