Privacy Act Disclosure Notice
The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C.552a) requires that the following notice
be provided to you. The authority for collecting the information requested on this form is S451
et seq of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Your disclosure of this information is
voluntary. However, if you do not provide this information, you cannot be considered for a
Direct PLUS loan. The information on this form will be used to determine your eligibility for
a DIrect PLUS loan. The information in your file may be disclosed to third parties as
authorized under routine uses in the Privacy Act notices called "Title IV Program Files"
(originally published on April 12, 1994, Federal Register, Vol. 59 p 17351) and "National
Student Loan Data System" (originally published on December 20, 1994 , Federal Register, Vol
59 p65532). Thus, this information may be disclosed to federal and state agencies, private
parties such as relatives, present and former employers and creditors, and contractors of the
Department of Education for purposes of administration of the student financial assistance
program, for enforcement purposes, for litigation where such disclosure is compatible with the
purposes for which the records were collected, for use by federal, state, local, or foreign
agencies in connection with employment matters or the issuance of a license, grant, or other
benefit, for use in any employee grievance or discipline proceeding in which the Federal
Government is a party, for use in connection with audits or other investigations, for research
purposes, for purposes of determining whether particular records are required to be disclosed
under the Freedom of Information Act, and to a Member of Congress in response to an inquiry
from the congressional office made at your written request.
When you complete the PLUS Loan Application Request you are authorizing a credit check to determine eligibility for your loan.
Because we request your Social Security number (SSN), we must inform
you that we collect your SSN on a voluntary basis, but section 484(a)(4) of the HEA
(20 U.S.C.109(a)(4)) provides that, in order to receive any grant, loan, or work assistance
under Title IV of the HEA, a student must provide his/her SSN. Your SSN is used to verify
your identity, and as an account number (identifier) throughout the life of your loan(s) so
that data may be recorded accurately.