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 data mining and abuse of privacy, government and university officials said.
The improper searching has grown so pervasive that officials said the U.S. Department of Education is considering a temporary shutdown of the government-run database to review access policies and tighten security. Some critics worry that businesses are trolling for marketing data they can use to bombard students with mass mailings or other solicitations. 数据挖掘研究院
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Students' Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and financial information such as loan balances are in the database, which is covered by federal privacy laws.
"We are just in shock that student data could be compromised like this," said Nancy Hoover, director of financial aid at Denison University in Ohio. 数据挖掘研究院
Education Department spokeswoman Katherine McLane said the agency has spent more than $650,000 since 2003 to safeguard the database. The department has blocked thousands of users that it deemed unqualified for access after security reviews, McLane said, and it has blocked 246 users from the student loan industry for inappropriate access. 数据挖掘研究院
In general, the department allows lenders to search records in the database only if they have a student's permission or a financial relationship with the student.
The department has been "vigilant in its monitoring for unauthorized uses" of the database, McLane said.
Concerns about possible abuses of the database are emerging as the student loan industry is under investigation by congressional Democrats and the New York attorney general. Critics say the $85 billion-a-year industry has cozied up to government and university officials who are in the position to help lenders.
Lawrence Burt, director of financial aid at the University of Texas, has been placed on paid leave while UT System officials examine his previous ownership of stock in the former parent company of Student Loan Xpress Inc., one of 20 preferred lenders listed by the university. 数据挖掘研究院
This month, Education Department official Matteo Fontana was suspended after the revelation that he owned more than $100,000 worth of stock in a student loan company while he worked in a unit that helped oversee the industry, as well as the student loan database. The stock holding raised questions about a possible violation of conflict-of-interest rules. 数据挖掘研究院
The database, known as the National Student Loan Data System, was created in 1993 to help determine whether students are eligible for student aid and to assist in collecting loan payments. About 29,000 university financial aid administrators and 7,500 loan company employees have access to it.
In a recent meeting with university financial aid directors, Theresa Shaw, chief operating officer of the department's Office of Federal Student Aid, which manages the database, said lenders have been mining it for student data with increasing frequency, according to three participants at the meeting. 数据挖掘研究院
The department first noticed a problem in mid-2003, when loan consolidation became more popular, an agency official said on condition of anonymity. 数据挖掘研究院
As companies began to aggressively look for low-risk borrowers to target for consolidation plans, they turned to the database for prospective customers, the official said. 数据挖掘研究院
Users on the system can view only one student record at a time, and the department can monitor each time they view an entry. 数据挖掘研究院
"When we see them go in and out very quickly, that's when it raises flags" about data mining, the official said. Such abuse would be a violation of department rules.
Officials grew so concerned that in April 2005, the department sent a letter to database users warning that inappropriate use of the system — in other words, looking for information without authorization — could cause their access to be revoked.
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. 数据挖掘研究院
Through a spokeswoman, Shaw declined to comment. 数据挖掘研究院
After the warnings, inappropriate usage of the system seemed to decline, according to the department official who requested anonymity. But several months ago, top managers learned that the practice had resumed, "a pattern that's very alarming," the official said.
McLane confirmed that the agency is considering a temporary shutdown of access. 数据挖掘研究院
Department officials believe that lenders are using the database for marketing, according to three current and former agency employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some university financial aid administrators suspect that loan companies are targeting students who take out loans directly with the government, known as direct loans. 数据挖掘研究院
"Our students are being inundated with marketing from consolidation companies," said Eileen O'Leary, director of student aid and finance at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. "How else are the consolidation companies getting our students' information?"
