Create a New Web Account (Students & Borrowers) Notice - PLEASE READ

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1 Create a New Web Account (Students & Borrowers) Step #1 - Am I eligible for an account? In order to create an account for RIHEAA's Web information Portal, you must meet one or more of the following criteria: You have filed a FAFSA since January 1, 2003 and listed Rhode Island as your legal state of residence. You have a Federal Stafford, PLUS, or Consolidation loan that is guaranteed by Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority. You are creating an account in order to apply for a DCYF PostSecondary Education Tuition Assistance Grant because you are or were in foster care in Rhode Island as an older teenager Step #2 - Apply For the Account To create your account, simply fill out the brief application form below. The information you provide will be compared with our records to verify your identity and assure that only you are able to access your personal information. All information you provide to us will be used in accordance with RIHEAA's Privacy Policy. If you are applying for a DCYF PostSecondary Education Tuition Assistance Program Grant, you must complete the application for that program after you create your account. The DCYF application can be found on this website. Notice - PLEASE READ For security and privacy reasons, the RIHEAA Web Information Portal requires that each student or loan borrower have a unique address that identifies him or her. This is in compliance with federal laws regarding privacy and release of student information. Parents who are assisting their sons and daughters with the financial aid process are strongly encouraged to have their son or daughter create the account and/or accept any award offers. By completing the information above and clicking "Create Account", you agree that you are the person listed above and that all information you provided is true and correct. (see following pages for Frequently Asked Questions, and privacy policy)

2 Frequently Asked Questions Why must I have a unique address? Federal privacy laws require that RIHEAA take measures to protect your personal financial aid information. Requiring a unique address assures that only you can access your information. Of course, you should never share your account with someone else. What if my parent or another adult is helping me with the financial aid process? We of course encourage your parents (or another adult) to help you out. However, parents (or another adult) who are assisting their sons and daughters with the financial aid process are strongly encouraged to have their son or daughter create the account and/or accept any award offers. This not only ensures the privacy of information, but also makes the student aware of financial responsibilities that may exist after school, such as repayment of student loans. What if my family only has one address? Most Internet Service Providers (AOL, MSN, Cox Communications, Verizon, etc.) allow each family to have more than one address and you can access each "mailbox" separately. If you do not know how to create and use a second box, contact your service provider. There are also several web sites on the Internet that provide addresses for free, such as Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. RIHEAA does not officially endorse any of these services and cannot provide support for them should you choose to use one of them. My parents' information is on the FAFSA. Why can't my parent create the account? Your web account may allow you to access information about your student loans, which are your personal financial responsibility. We need to make sure we're contacting you about any repayment or default information and not your parents. My address has changed. What do I do? If your address changes, simply log-in with your old address and password. If you have forgotten your password and no longer have access to the old account, use the Forgotten Password Form to change your address and password at the same time. You may enter a new address instead of the old one in the field provided. Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority Consumer Privacy Notice The Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority (RIHEAA) is committed to protecting our clients' personal information. In today's marketplace, technology allows for the easy exchange of information in order to meet the needs of an increasingly mobile society. We at RIHEAA want to make sure that our clients know that we do not sell or share information about our clients with outside marketers. Federal regulations require that RIHEAA provide our clients with a statement of our privacy policy annually. Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority Privacy Policy The nonpublic information that is collected and maintained is gathered from the loan and/or scholarship applications, promissory notes, correspondence and/or any other forms of communication we receive on your behalf. Nonpublic information pertains to any information that identifies you, that is not available from public sources. To conduct day-to-day business, we also

3 collect information about account transactions with the Authority and postsecondary educational institutions to which you applied for admission, currently attended or formerly attended and credit reporting agencies. The Authority does not disclose any nonpublic information about our clients, past and present to anyone, except as permitted and/or required by law. We do share information with our contractors and agents in order to administer the programs in accordance with the law. We require assurances from our contractors and agents that they will comply fully with the Authority policies and the law with respect to privacy of client information. Information Safety The Authority safeguards client information internally by restricting access to nonpublic personal information to those employees of the Authority who need to know the information and to our contractors and agents, in order to provide necessary services. The Authority maintains the appropriate levels of physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in order to be in compliance with federal regulations. If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy, please contact the Authority by telephone or . (see following pages for RIHEAA s privacy policy)

4 Web Site Disclaimer, Privacy, and Security Notice Disclaimer This World Wide Web (WWW) site is provided by RIHEAA. In providing information on this site, we have attempted to be as accurate as possible. However, RIHEAA makes no claims, guarantees or promises about the accuracy, currentness, or completeness of the information provided and is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for results obtained from the use of the information. Every possible effort is made to keep the content of this site accurate and current, but that may not always be the case. Distribution of the information does not constitute any warranty. The user assumes the risk of verifying any materials used. Links RIHEAA's computer resources and materials may contain hypertext or other links to external sites not owned or controlled by RIHEAA. Links to external servers do not imply any official RIHEAA endorsement of the opinions or ideas expressed therein, or guarantee the validity of the information provided. Links to commercial sites are in no way an endorsement of any vendors' products or services. Links to other computer systems are not supervised nor regularly reviewed by RIHEAA. Any information, endorsements of products or services, materials or personal opinions appearing on such external sites are not controlled, sponsored nor approved by RIHEAA. Links may be provided to other websites that are managed in a professional manner, that are fully operational, available most of the time and do not provide inaccurate information or obscene information, including graphics. RIHEAA will not link to other websites if such link would appear to provide an official endorsement of fundraising efforts or lobbying for a political agenda. Privacy All RIHEAA computer systems and computer systems contracted for use by RIHEAA are subject to monitoring at all times to assure proper functioning of the systems, to provide security for the computer systems' operations and the information contained therein, to prevent unauthorized use, and to deter and investigate violations of the law. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the use of this public computer system, with the exception of areas designated and labeled as being presented by our secure server. The information we collect is used to improve the content of our web services and help us understand how people are using our services. We analyze our web site logs to continually improve the value of the materials available on our site. The information in our web site logs is not personally identifiable, and we make no attempt to link it with the individuals that browse our web site. Some of this statistical information, such as a running count of the number of visitors, may be displayed on the website or shared with affiliated organizations to aid in providing better service to the public. Cookies Cookies are small text files which a web server may ask your web browser to store, and to send back to the web server when needed. Cookies may be used to store a transaction identifier or other information a user may provide. We use cookies in the following ways: Complex transactions: Cookies are used to store and retrieve unique transaction identifiers or other server-generated or user-provided information in complex, multi-page web applications. This allows us to distinguish between different users, and to use information provided at one stage of an

5 application at a later time (for instance, items placed in a 'shopping cart' might need to be displayed on a later 'check-out' screen). When we use cookies in this way, the cookie is stored on your web browser only temporarily; the cookie is destroyed at the end of the transaction or at the end of the browser session. Customized Services: Cookies may also be used to automatically identify a particular user to the system, in order to provide a customized service, such as a personalized web page. In this case, a cookie containing a unique user identifier will be permanently stored on your web browser. We do not store sensitive information in such cookies; only a unique user identifier or generic preference values are stored. Personal information you give us for processing a transaction or using one of our personalization features, may be stored on our secure server, retained only as long as necessary and properly disposed of under State of Rhode Island Title 38 Access to Public Records law. We do not use cookies in order to track your visit to our website. The "help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies or how to disable cookies altogether. However, cookies allow you to take full advantage of many RIHEAA services, and we recommend that you leave them turned on. RIHEAA may use cookies to note new and repeat visitors for statistical purposes. We do not use cookies to keep a database of personally-identifying information about visitors when you visit our site, unless you choose to provide such information to us. No other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purpose than those stated above and are scheduled for frequent and regular destruction. RIHEAA makes no guarantee or warranty that servers not managed or controlled by RIHEAA that are linked to this site are not using cookies or collecting personally-identifying data. Security For site security purposes and to ensure that internet service remains available to all users, RIHEAA computer systems employ software and hardware which can monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. Any person choosing to use this system or seeking access to information or materials on this system is subject to Rhode Island jurisdiction. Any dispute arising therefrom shall be decided under the laws and in the courts of the State of Rhode Island.