Social Security numbers are extremely confidential and Texas A&M considers protecting any that must be collected and used extremely important.
The general university policy is the prohibit the collection and storage of Social Security numbers. However, the university provides a means to request and exemption from this -- meaning you can collect and use SSNs if permission is granted.
If your group in the College of Education and Human Development needs to collect Social Security numbers from students or external people, please contact the CEHD Information Security Officer (currently Arlen Strader, strader@tamu.edu). the following page shows the documentation required to request an exemption.
http://cio.tamu.edu/Risk_Management_Policy/Risk_Management_and_Compliance/Risk_Management/SSN_Exception_Requests.php
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