Online Applications and Security Concerns

An interview with: Mark Maine, Program Administrator, Regional Occupational and School-to-Career Programs for Pomona Unified School District, Pomona, California

The growing number of students applying to colleges and universities electronically prompts some serious, thought-provoking security concerns. Hobsons’ Student Union asked Mark Maine, Program Administrator, for the Regional Occupational and School-to-Career Programs for Pomona Unified School District located in Pomona, California, to give students some advice about completing electronic college admission applications. Maine makes the following suggestions to students who are interested in applying to college via electronic application:

• Look for the little lock on the browser window. This will indicate that the Web site is running on a secure server.
• Read privacy policies on sites that ask for personal information.
• Ensure proper encryption methods for storage and transfer of data are being used.
• Review policies about releasing personal information to third parties. Is your express permission required before a company releases your personal information to a third company?