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College Aid Group Sold Private Information To Marketers

January 14, 2005
The National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA), a non-profit corporation set up to help students apply for college, has settled a suit with 41 states to resolve charges it violated students' privacy.

Without notifying students, teachers and parents, the center sold survey information it collected from high school students to profit-making companies, which then used the same information for commercial marketing purposes.

The agreement requires the Missouri-based NRCCUA to "clearly and conspicuously" disclose why it collects student information, and with whom the information will be shared. In addition, NRCCUA must pay a total of $300,000 to the 28 states who took part in original settlement negotiations to fund consumer awareness programs.

"This is an important agreement for all New Jerseyans, and particularly for young people who are confronting --or one day soon will confront - the difficult decision of choosing a college or university, or selecting a career path," said New Jersey Attorney Geneeral Peter Harvey. "Each year -- based on their trust in the representation that it could expand their higher education or career options - high school students in New Jersey take time out from the school day to fill out NRCCUA surveys that ask for their grade point averages, religious affiliations, social views, and other personal information. We are committed to ensuring these young people are not exploited in return for their trust."

An investigation into NRCCUA's practices by various state attorneys general began in late 2001. The investigation determined that NRCCUA has, each year since at least 1988, been collecting personal information from millions of high school students across the nation via a free student survey it calls a "Post Secondary Planning Survey." Typically, investigators say, the free surveys are distributed by NRCCUA to high school teachers and guidance counselors, who in turn invite students to fill them out. Students can also complete the survey online at NRCCUA's Web site.

"This agreement is all about requiring a company to respect the privacy interests of students and parents. It clarifies the company's obligation to disclose how information will be used, and to give students and parents a clear right to keep student information private." Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said

Miller said that parents of high school and junior high school students should be aware that their children may be asked to complete surveys like those of NRCCUA and others.

"Federal law allows parents to tell schools not to give certain surveys to their children," he said. He said the same right to opt out of completing the surveys is given to high school students aged 18 and older," Miller added.

In reaching settlement with the States, NRCCUA made no admission of wrongdoing. Attorney General Harvey said that, in addition to agreeing to "clearly and conspicuously" disclose its reasons for collecting information and the types of entities it will share that information with, NRCCUA has agreed to:

• Make "clear and conspicuous" disclosures in all of its privacy disclaimers and in all questionnaires, survey instruments and other documents;
• Cease all future use of survey data collected from a student if a parent (in the case of a minor student) or adult high school student requests that the student be opted out of completing the survey, or that NRCCUA stop using previously collected information;
• Supply -- in cases where NRCCUA is using, or permitting others to use, its survey data for non-educational purposes -- each school that has been sent an NRCCUA survey packet with a notice form advising parents (and adult-age high school students) that the survey may be administered, and explaining how to opt out of completing it. NRCCUA is to request in each case that the parental notice form go out at least 30 days prior to the survey being administered.

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July 9 2008

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