Private student information compromised on some scholarship notifications

Scholarship day at Southwestern College is one of the happiest times of the year for recipients. This year’s announcement, however, was alarming for at least four students after their personal information was shared in a mass email.

Scores of students had access to social security numbers and home addresses of the four scholarship recipients after a document said to be secure was not.

Scholarship recipients are required to complete a W-9, an IRS form documenting income from a third party, before their money can be released. Completed W-9s were to be uploaded to a secure server, according to the email. Students opened the document to fill in their information and discovered the document was accessible and could be edited by anyone sent the Google Docs link. Their data was live for 16 hours before officials were notified and disabled the link.

SWC Foundation Executive Director Sofia Robitaille said she accepted responsibility for the situation.

Robitaille said Foundation staff tried to use Google Forms to expedite scholarship deliveries. Their intention, she said, was to have students download the Form W-9 from the live document, but they did not consider the possibility that students would be accessing the same document.

John Doe, whose name has been changed for privacy, said he feels insecure about his data being exposed to dozens of people.

“That’s my SSN and my home address,” he said. “That’s more than enough (for someone to steal my identity).”

Doe said he was filling out the information until he saw three other students’ information frequently popping up on the same document. He deleted the document once he realized his information was being seen by others.

Some students had an unpleasant Scholarship Day in November 2018 when college officials claimed the students won “too many” and threatened to take some away. Multiple complaints by faculty and students to responsible administrators saved the scholarships.

Robitaille said she contacted students who may have accidentally filled out the live form and is offering identity theft resources paid for by the college.