Educational Security Incidents (ESI)

The Secure Transcript is the property of Aaron Titus and is published here with permission

Summary
Most universities have moved away from using students' Social Security Numbers as their Student ID, but because the SSN continues to be a convenient identification number, ancillary higher education organizations, such as lending institutions, continue to use the SSN as a universal identification number. As a result, some universities which have otherwise discontinued using the SSN as a student ID, continue to print the student's SSN on academic transcripts and official documentation. Though academic transcripts should be treated as secure documents, students are often required to disseminate dozens of transcripts to entities with which they will have only one-time contact, most of whom have no need for the SSN. Despite the dangers, the national registrar association, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), recommends printing the SSN on transcript, and says that 79% of American colleges did so, in 2003. However, this 2007 survey indicates that now only 26% of US News and World Report's top 126 colleges and universities mandatorily print the SSN on academic transcripts.

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