Online Privacy Policy

Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority, a subsidiary of the Utah State Board of Regents

Protecting the privacy of your nonpublic personally identifying information (“Personal Information”) is important to us at the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority (UHEAA). We respect your right to privacy and recognize our obligation to keep your personal information secure and confidential. Information collected and used in connection with this Site, and all other sites of UHEAA with authorized links to this policy, is governed by this online privacy policy. Please review our Privacy Policy. If you have objections to the Privacy Policy, you should immediately discontinue use of the Site and the products and services enabled by the Site. Submitted information in some cases may be covered by the Privacy Act, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act; and subject to the Freedom of Information Act. A discussion of your rights under these laws can be found at the following links:


 
 

Information We Collect

As a visitor to this Site, you can engage in many activities without providing any personal information. If you choose to provide personal information to us, such as by sending a message to an e-mail address on our Site or by filling out a form and submitting it through our Site, we will use that information to respond to your message or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication.

 

We collect personal information about you in order to identify you as our customer, to establish and manage your accounts, to complete your transactions, to provide information to you about our products and services, and to comply with legal and regulatory requirements. The types of nonpublic personally identifying information that we collect can include:

 

  • Your Social Security Number, name, contact information, birth date, assets, and income.
  • Your transaction history, account balances and payment history.
  • Your credit history and credit scores.

We collect personal information about you from sources that include, but are not limited to:

  • Information we receive from you or your representative on applications, promissory notes, forms, and through other communications. For example, when you take out a loan, send us an email, or open an online account on our Site.
  • Information about your transactions with us or others, including lenders, schools, or the U.S. Department of Education. For example, when you make a payment or finish school.
  • Information we receive from consumer credit reporting agencies or public records.

In compliance with the United States Department of Education requirements under the Higher Education Act, UHEAA is required to collect and disclose the Social Security Numbers of applicants for Federal student loans. The primary use of this information is to verify customer identity, determine program eligibility and benefits, permit the servicing of financial aid, and certify attendance and status at an approved higher education institution. Disclosure of your Social Security Number is mandatory for participation in Federal student loan programs under the Higher Education Act. For information on how the Department of Education treats the privacy of Social Security Numbers, please link to the following website to see the Department of Education’s privacy policy:

 

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/privacy.htm.

Information We Share

We do not disclose any personal information about you, whether you are a current or former customer, to anyone, except as permitted by law. We do not sell or otherwise share information about you with outside marketers.

 

Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), UHEAA will not knowingly collect or retain information submitted by children under the age of 13. If we learn that we unknowingly collected personally identifying information from children under 13 years of age, we will immediately take all reasonable measures to delete the information from our computer systems and all other data systems.

 

UHEAA shares your non-public information in the following instances:

 

  • For our everyday business purposes – such as to process your transactions, maintain your account(s), or report to credit bureaus, etc.;
  • Consistent with student loan industry practice, we share your personal information with industry aggregators for the benefit of students. Such industry aggregators include the National Student Clearinghouse, and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS);
  • As required by court order or subpoena, pursuant to state, local, federal or international statute, regulation, or mandate, and in cooperation with law enforcement agencies;
  • or for being In compliant with United States Department of Education requirements under the Higher Education Act, UHEAA is required to collect and disclose the Social Security Numbers of applicants for Federal student loans. The primary use of this information is to verify customer identity, determine program eligibility and benefits, permit the servicing of financial aid, and certify attendance and status at an approved higher education institution. Disclosure of your Social Security Number is mandatory for participation in Federal student loan programs under the Higher Education Act. For information on how the Department of Education treats the privacy of Social Security Numbers, please link to the following website to see the Department of Education’s privacy policy: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/privacy.htm.

 

You have the ability to authorize the disclosure of information to a third-party or to provide products and services that you request.

Information Security

To protect your personal information from unauthorized access and use, we employ management, operational and technical security measures that comply with federal law and regulations to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information. These measures include computer safeguards, access controls, data storage procedures, secured facilities, and periodic testing of safeguards. We restrict access to your personal information to only our employees who we have determined have a legitimate business need for the information in order to provide our products and services.

Site Management Data

UHEAA protects the privacy of your personal information on our Site using the same standards and care used for all UHEAA communications and transactions.

 

If you visit our Site to read or download information, we collect and store the following information about your visit:

 

  • The name of the Internet domain (for example, “xcompany.com” if you use a private Internet access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you are connecting from a university’s domain)
  • The IP address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet) from which you access our site
  • The type of browser and operating system used to access our site
  • The date and time you access our site
  • The Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our site
  • The pages you visit and the information you request.

We may also use HTML encoding to record aggregate information about the usage of UHEAA Sites and whether emails that we send have been accessed or acted upon.

 

This information is primarily collected for statistical analysis and technical improvement to the Site. Our computer system uses software programs to create summary statistics, which may be used for such purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas. In certain circumstances, however, we may take additional steps to identify you based on this information and we may share this information, including your identity, with other government or law enforcement agencies.

 

Information is obtained by UHEAA via session cookies to enhance the delivery of products, services, and information on our Sites. A cookie is a small file that UHEAA transfers to your computer hard drive. Cookies enable us to ensure that only your web browser may exchange information regarding your account with UHEAA’s servers, and to automatically terminate an online session if you forget to log out. UHEAA’s use of session cookies enables you to avoid being asked to provide the same information repeatedly while you navigate our Site. Session cookies are temporary files that are erased when you close all web browsers. You can set your browser to notify you before accepting a cookie, so that you can decide whether to accept or reject the cookie.

 

UHEAA also uses persistent cookies for your online protection, as part of our Site’s authentication technology. Persistent cookies assist UHEAA in verifying your identity when you attempt to log into your account.

 

For site security purposes and to ensure that our Site remains available to all users, our system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise causes damage. When you use this Site, you expressly consent to such monitoring and are advised that if such monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, such evidence may be provided to appropriate law enforcement officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this server are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996.

 

UHEAA provides links from its Sites to other vendors and third party sites. Because we cannot guarantee how these third parties collect or use personal information, you are encouraged to fully review the privacy statements of these other websites to determine whether or not your use of these websites comports with your desire to maintain the privacy of personal information.

How to Contact UHEAA

If you have any questions, concerns, or if you desire additional information regarding the UHEAA Privacy Policy, please contact us using the form on the UHEAA Contact Us page.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy replaces all prior Online Privacy Policies issued by UHEAA. We reserve the right to modify our Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you if we make changes to our Privacy Policy that significantly impact how we collect, use or protect your personal information through indications on this Privacy Policy.

UHEAA Privacy Policy was last updated on April 15, 2011.