The Department of Education’s (Education) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) and postsecondary schools collect, use, and share a variety of information— including personally identifiable information (PII)—from students, their families, and others to support the administration of student aid. A review released on December 4 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of selected schools’ policies found that schools did not always include required information security elements, such as assessing risks or designing and implementing safeguards, which raises concerns about FSA’s oversight and how effectively schools are protecting student aid information.
The GAO report can be obtained at http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/688604.pdf.