Privacy & Security Information
Privacy Policy and Privacy Impact Assessment for FAFSA4caster
Thank you for visiting our FAFSA4caster Web site. Our privacy policy is simple: We collect no personal information about you unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell or transfer any personal information to a third party except as permitted under the Privacy Act as a "routine use."
Below you will find an explanation regarding how your information will be safeguarded.
Non-personal information we record
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web site, read pages, or download information, our Web site's operating system will automatically record some general information about your visit.
During your visit, our Web operating system will record:
- The Internet domain for your Internet service, such as "xcompany.com" or "xcompany.net" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a college or university domain.
- The type of browser (such as "Netscape version X" or "Internet Explorer version X") that you are using.
- The type of operating system that you use (such as Macintosh, Unix, or Windows).
- The date and time you visit our site, and the Web pages that you visit on our site.
- The address of the previous Web site
you were visiting, if you linked to us from another Web site.
We use this information for statistical analysis, to help us make our site more useful to visitors. This tracking system does not record information about individuals.
Security and Intrusion Detection
For security purposes and to make sure this service remains available to all users, we use special software programs for monitoring network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise to cause damage to this government computer system. These programs collect no personally identifiable information, but they do collect information that could help us identify someone attempting to tamper with this Web site.
Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, we make no other attempts to identify individual users or their usage habits. We only use raw monitoring data logs for determining trends in usage patterns and in diagnosing system problems.
Information from e-mail you send to us
If you decide to send us an electronic mail message (e-mail, which includes information you send to Customer Service regarding a problem or feedback you provide on a Customer Survey), the message will usually contain your return e-mail address. In limited circumstances, including requests from Congress or other parties, we may be required by law to disclose information that you submit.
E-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, or includes personal information such as data from your tax return or student loan account, you may prefer to mail it by postal mail to:
Federal Student Aid Information Center
P.O. Box 84
Washington, D.C. 20044
Information collected if you complete a form on our Web site
On this Web site, we offer an interactive form that allows you to calculate your estimated eligibility for federal student financial aid. The Office of Federal Student Aid will maintain a record of your calculation.
We collect personal identification data on the FAFSA4caster such as your name, Social Security Number (SSN) and date of birth. Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended we are allowed to ask for the information on this form so that we can determine whether you are eligible for federal student financial aid. We will share the information with the Social Security Administration, to verify your identity. The U.S. Department of Education's (Department's) legal right to request your Social Security Number (SSN) is found in section 484(a)(4)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The Department is authorized to collect all other information under sections: 483 and 484 of the HEA.
Your rights under the Paperwork Reduction Act
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, you are not required to complete a government form unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for the FAFSA4caster and FAFSA is 1845-0001. It should take you twenty to twenty-five minutes to complete the FAFSA4caster, thirty to forty minutes for the FAFSA, twenty to twenty-five minutes for the FAFSA that is pre-popluated with prior year data, including reading instructions, gathering information, filling out the application, and reviewing it. If you have any comments regarding the accuracy of this time estimate or suggestions for improving this application, please write to:
Federal Student Aid Information Center
P.O. Box 84
Washington, D.C. 20044
More about privacy and your student aid records
When you complete a FAFSA4caster to calculate your estimated eligibility for federal student financial aid, the Office of Federal Student Aid is authorized to maintain a record of your calculation.
We may disclose the information you provide on your FAFSA4caster to the following entities under the following conditions:
Without your consent, the Department may disclose your information to third parties under a published "routine use."
The Department will send your information to the Social Security Administration through a computer matching program to verify your identity, check your eligibility for federal student financial aid, and minimize and prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the federal student aid programs.
We may send your information to members of Congress if you ask them to help with federal student aid questions, and to your parents or your spouse if they provided information on your form.
The Department may disclose your privacy protected information from your FAFSA4caster record to authorized employees under contract with the Department to operate a system of records to accomplish Departmental functions. The Department will require the contractor to establish and maintain the safeguards required under 5 U.S.C. 522a(m,) of the Privacy Act with respect to the records.
The Department may disclose records to the Department of Justice and the Office of Management and Budget if the Department determines that the disclosure would help in determining whether records are required to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The Department may disclose records to a qualified individual researcher to carry out specific research and only that research related to functions or purposes of the FAFSA4caster. The researcher will be required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to the disclosed records.
Select this link to review the System of Records notices, which list the authorized disclosures and the safeguards for the Office of Federal Student Aid systems under the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.
