Privacy Statement

1. Transparency Regarding the Use of Your Personal Data

As part of our commitment to protecting your privacy, this statement provides you with information regarding how the UC Santa Barbara Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (OFAS) collects and processes the information you share when you: (1) use our website (https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/) and/or each of its associated domains (together, the "Sites"); (2) utilize our services (which include applying for financial aid, accessing, and managing your financial aid information, or asking about your financial aid information); or (3) otherwise communicate with the OFAS. This statement is only applicable to individuals using the OFAS services who are located in the European Union ("EU"), United Kingdom ("UK"), or European Economic Area (“EEA”).

For purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the data controller is the Regents of the University of California, with a location at 1210 Cheadle Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2014.

2. Your Personal Data We Use

Information you provide directly to UC: The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships collects personal information about you (“Personal Data”). Your Personal Data is collected when you apply for financial aid or fill in a form for Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Services, or contact the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. This includes information you provide when you use the online queue service, attend an Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships presentation, or manage your financial aid information. Depending upon the specific Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Service you use, the information you give us may include your name, address and telephone number, e-mail address, student identification number, family and household information, financial information, course enrollment information, as well as any information about you that is associated with or linked to, or could be linked to, any of the foregoing data.

Log, Cookie and Device Data: We also collect log data, which is information collected whenever you visit a website. This log data includes your Internet Protocol address, browser type and some settings, the date and time of your request, how you used the Service, and cookie data. Depending on how you are accessing the Services, we may use “cookies” (small text files stored by your computer when you visit our website) or similar technologies. For more detailed information about how we use cookies, please review our Cookies Policy or contact the UC Privacy Official identified below. In addition to log and cookie data, we also collect information about the device you’re using to access the Services, including what type of device it is, what operating system you are using, device settings, unique device identifiers and crash data. Whether we collect some or all of this information often depends on what type of device you are using and its settings. For example, different types of information are available depending on whether you are using a Mac or a PC, or an iPhone or Android phone. To learn more about what information your device makes available to us, please also check the policies of your device manufacturer or software provider.

Information from Other Sources: We also obtain information about you from other sources and combine that information with information we collect from you directly. For example, we collect financial aid application information from the Department of Education. The information we obtain from other sources includes your name, address and telephone number, e-mail address, student identification number, family and household information, financial information, course enrollment information, as well as any information about you that is associated with or linked to, or could be linked to, any of the foregoing data.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data and the Lawful Basis for Such Processing

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships processes your Personal Data for the following purposes and bases:

  • Assessing and communicating any requirements you need to complete to receive financial aid at UC Santa Barbara. This is a requirement of federal and state law to award financial aid to students;
  • Evaluating your eligibility for financial aid at UC Santa Barbara. This is a requirement of federal and state law to award financial aid to students;
  • Awarding and distributing financial aid funds to students at UC Santa Barbara. This is the primary function of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships;
  • Providing you with information regarding UC Santa Barbara events and initiatives. We will generally only do this where it is in our legitimate interest and where you have not objected or withdrawn any prior given consent;
  • Processing and dealing with any complaints or inquiries made by you or legally on your behalf. We do this because it is in our legitimate interest as part of the services UC offers to you;
  • UC may also be required to disclose your Personal Data to authorities who can request this information by law that is binding on UC;
  • Utilizing sensitive personal data in connection with the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Services, with your consent.

4. Recipients of Your Personal Data

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships may share your Personal Data with the following recipients:

  • Other UC locations or departments: Other UC locations or departments in order to provide you with a UC Service or where it is in UC’s legitimate interests.
  • Service Providers: Vendors that need access to your Personal Data in order to provide the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Services. For example, your Personal Data is provided to CampusLogic to assist in the process of providing documentation to verify information from your financial aid application.
  • Public and Governmental Authorities: Entities that regulate or have jurisdiction over UC such as regulatory authorities, law enforcement, public bodies, and judicial bodies. Additionally, we may be required to share your data with other Governmental Agencies in an effort to validate your eligibility for Federal, State, and Institutional aid. Examples of such agencies include the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), and the California Student Aid Commission.
  • Corporate Transactions: A third party in connection with any proposed or actual reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of UC’s business.

If your Personal Data is shared with a third party, UC will require that the third party use appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality and security of your Personal Data.

We may also need to share your Personal Data as required to respond to lawful requests and legal process; to protect our rights and property and those of our agents, customers and others, including to enforce our agreements and policies; and in an emergency, to protect UC and the safety of our students, faculty and staff or any third party.

5. Security

UC takes appropriate physical, administrative and technical measures to protect Personal Data that are consistent with applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations. For more information about how UC protects data, refer to UCSB Privacy and Security.

6. Retaining and Deleting Your Personal Data

UC will only retain your Personal Data for the duration necessary for the data collection purposes identified above, unless there is a legal requirement to maintain it for a longer period. In general, the OFAS will retain your Personal Data for three years after the end of the award year for which that aid was disbursed. For Personal Data related to Direct Loan records, OFAS will retain your Personal Data for three years after the end of the award year in which you last attended.

7. International Transfer of Your Personal Data

In order to fulfill the intended processing purposes described above, your Personal Data will be transferred outside of the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), or European Economic Area (EEA), specifically to the United States, which does not protect Personal Data in the same way that it is protected in the EU, UK, or EEA. UC will undertake appropriate measures to ensure adequate protection of Personal Data, including utilizing appropriate physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to protect Personal Data, as well as executing standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission or a supervisory authority under GDPR, or obtaining your consent, where appropriate.

8. Your Rights

As required by the General Data Protection Regulation and applicable European privacy laws, if you are located in the European Union, United Kingdom, or European Economic Area, you have a right to:

  • Access your Personal Data, as well as information relating to the recipients of your Personal Data, the purposes of processing your Personal Data, the duration for which the Personal Data will be stored, and the source of Personal Data that has not been provided by you;
  • Rectify or correct inaccurate or incomplete Personal Data concerning you, taking into account the purposes of the processing, and the right to have incomplete Personal Data completed;
  • Move your Personal Data to another controller or processor. UC will facilitate the lawful transfer of your data to the extent possible;
  • Have your Personal Data erased in certain circumstances;
  • Restrict the processing of your Personal Data in certain circumstances;
  • Object to the processing of Personal Data in certain circumstances;
  • Withdraw your consent to the processing of your Personal Data, should UC ask for your consent for the processing of your Personal Data. The withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on your consent before its withdrawal.
  • Know whether your Personal Data is being used for automated decision-making, including profiling. In those cases, UC will give you meaningful information about the logic involved, the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing for your data, and the right to request human intervention; and
  • Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

UC may be obligated to retain your Personal Data as required by U.S. federal or state law.

If you wish to exercise your rights, you can contact the UC Privacy Official identified below.

You may choose not to visit or use UC Sites or participate in Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Services. If you choose not to share your Personal Data with UC or UC-approved third parties for Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Services you will not be able to apply for financial aid at UC Santa Barbara. You may choose to set your web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you choose to reject cookies, some parts of the Sites may not function properly. The parts of the Sites that will not function properly are the My Aid Status student portal, the Forms section, and the Work-Study Portal.

9. Questions and Complaints; UC Privacy Official

If you have questions or complaints about our treatment of your Personal Data, or about our privacy practices more generally, please feel free to contact the UC Privacy Official at privacy@ucsb.edu.

Effective Date: This statement is effective as of August 9th, 2019.