Admission to Palm Beach State College

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requires each institution to determine "directory information" that may be released without the student's consent, unless the student has specifically requested that some or all of the information not be released. Palm Beach State has classified the following as directory information:

• Student name
• Personal e-mail address (non-institutional)
• Dates of attendance (session dates only)
• Major field of study
• Weight and height of members of athletic teams
• Degrees and awards received
• Educational institution attended

If a student does not wish to have the directory information released, the student must go to their Workday Student profile. Please follow the instructions provided in this Non-Disclosure Opt-in document.

College Catalog

In compliance with FL Statute 119.071(5), Palm Beach State College issues this notification regarding the purpose of the collection and use of your social security number.

Palm Beach State collects your social security number for use in performance of the College's duties and responsibilities. To protect your identity, Palm Beach State will secure your social security number from unauthorized access. Palm Beach State will never release your social security number to unauthorized parties, and each student at Palm Beach State will be issued a unique student identification number. Your unique ID number is used for all associated educational purposes at Palm Beach State such as registration, access of your online records, etc.

Specifically, Palm Beach State collects students' social security numbers for the following purposes:

Admissions
Federal legislation relating to the Hope Tax Credit requires that all postsecondary institutions report the social security number of all postsecondary students to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This IRS requirement makes it necessary for community colleges to collect the social security number of every student. A student may refuse to disclose his or her social security number to the College for this purpose, but the College is authorized by IRS to fine the student $50.

In addition to the federal reporting requirements, the public school system in Florida uses social security number as a student identifier (section 1008.386, F.S.). In a seamless K-20 system, it is beneficial for postsecondary institutions to have access to the same information for purposes of tracking and assisting students in the smooth transition from one education level to the next. All social security numbers are protected by federal regulations and are never released to unauthorized parties.

Financial Aid
A student's social security number is required for the following financial aid purposes: The United States Department of Education's (USDOE) Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) requires all applicants to report their social security number to be used for all federal financial aid programs as a student identifier for processing and reporting. In addition to its use by USDOE as a student identifier, the social security number is required in order for the Department of Homeland Security to investigate citizenship status, for the Federal Work Study Program, and is required on all loan applications for use by the lender/servicer/guarantor.

Palm Beach State collects a student's social security number on certain institutional scholarship applications for student files and federal and state audit/reporting purposes.

If you are a recipient of a State of Florida grant or scholarship such as the Florida Student Assistance Grant, Florida Work Experience or Bright Futures the State of Florida Department of Education will require the use of the social security number on their grant/scholarship disbursement website and for reporting purposes.

Veteran Services
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs utilizes social security numbers as an identifier. In order for the College to certify veterans for VA educational benefits, it is necessary to obtain the veterans; social security numbers to match the veterans with the records maintained by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Outreach Programs
The College Reach-Out Programs are youth outreach (intervention) projects funded by discretionary grants from the US or FL Departments of Education. In order to verify a participant's project eligibility, social security numbers are required and also later used when submitting information for the Annual Performance Reports due to the US or FL Departments of Education.

Workforce Programs
These programs, funded through the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI), use your social security number as an identifier for program enrollment and completion. Also, it is used for entering placement information into either the OSMIS or the Employ Florida Marketplace statewide data collection and reporting system. Because these are performance based contract programs, AWI requires that all participants and their program related activities be recorded in the Florida state system.