Data-mining of students raises alarms

[IChing]

Source: Washington Post

By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post | April 16, 2007


WASHINGTON -- Some lending companies with access to a national database that contains confidential information on 60 million student borrowers have repeatedly searched it in ways that violate federal rules, raising alarms about abuse of privacy, government and university officials said.

The unauthorized searching has grown so pervasive that the Education Department is considering a temporary shutdown of the government-run database to review access policies and tighten security.

The letter said the agency was "specifically troubled" that lenders were giving unauthorized users -- such as marketing firms, collection agencies, and loan brokerage firms -- the ability to access the database.

Some financial aid directors say abuse of the database would explain why some students who have taken out loans only directly with the government are deluged by up to a half-dozen solicitations a day from private loan companies.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/16/data_mining_of_students_raises_alarms/