Current and Prospective Student Privacy Notice

Overview

Fordham University is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Fordham wants to provide you with a summary of how the personal information that you provide is acquired, processed, shared, protected, retained, and destroyed. This Current and Prospective Student Privacy Notice (Privacy Notice) contains relevant information regarding Fordham’s privacy practices and the options we offer our current and prospective students and their legal guardians concerning students’ personal information. If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Notice or any of our related privacy policies, contact [email protected]. This Privacy Notice may be amended without further notice. Any amendments to this Privacy Notice will be reflected on this page.

The Basis for Processing Your Personal Information

We may process personal information to recruit prospective students, evaluate applications, and assess eligibility for financial aid. We may also use this information to:

  • Administer programs and make decisions about course offerings
  • Provide appropriately tailored services, including student health services, financial aid, research, and reporting activities
  • Monitor trends within incoming classes
  • Maintain student records
  • Manage student employment, assistantships, and internships
  • Provide library, IT, media, and other information services
  • Provide support of services in non-academic matters
  • Report application and admission statistics to appropriate publications
  • Verify identity
  • Ensure that the University is prepared for emergencies
  • File required reports with applicable governmental authorities in compliance with our regulatory and legal obligations
  • Enforce Fordham policies
  • Promote equality and diversity throughout the University
  • Safeguard and promote student welfare, safety, and security
  • Prevent and detect crime
  • Manage facilities on campus
  • Conduct research, archiving, and statistical analysis
  • Address grievances and disciplinary actions
  • Obtain legal advice on our rights, duties and take necessary legal action to protect those rights and to comply with our obligations
  • Fundraise and for alumni purposes, or
  • Carry out our mission, vision, values, and strategic plan

When Do We Collect Personal Information?

Fordham collects personal information:

  • When you express an interest in studying at Fordham
  • When you voluntarily apply to study at Fordham and complete other admissions-related processes and procedures, and when you enroll in courses
  • When you freely communicate with us by telephone, email, or via our website to make inquiries or raise concerns
  • When you interact with us during your time as a student at Fordham for the various purposes described in this notice
  • When you are provided student services health, counseling, and disability services
  • When you have requested or authorized a third party to provide your information, such as your previous or current school, or employers, who may provide reference information about you or who may sponsor your studies
  • During disciplinary and grievance procedures
  • Through the administration of student housing, or
  • Through surveys and feedback mechanisms

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, and Fordham reserves the right to collect additional personal information.

Types of Personal Information We May Collect

We may collect the following types of personal information:

  • Your name and biographical information
  • Information about your race or national origin, religious or similar beliefs
  • The school(s) and other colleges or universities you have attended, the courses you have completed, dates of study, and examination results, details of examinations taken, your predicted and actual examination grades, information regarding academic and extracurricular interests, and student record-related information
  • The places where you have worked, including information relating to assessments of your work
  • Records related to your use of our facilities and services
  • Information about your involvement, activities, and awards
  • Financial information, including tuition, fees, donations, or scholarships
  • Information about your family or personal circumstances
  • Sensitive personal data, including, but not limited to:
    • Information about criminal convictions and offenses, and
    • Information about your health and medical conditions (e.g., disability, dietary needs)

Sharing Your Personal Information with Others

  • We may share your personal information with certain third parties. In some cases, you will be asked to opt-in to these data-sharing arrangements. In those cases, you should carefully consider the possible impact of opting out. Third-party recipients may include:
    • Student accommodation
    • Student support services (e.g., counseling, health services)
    • Services such as IT, food services, bookstore, and security
    • Operating the software on our behalf, or
    • Internal and external audits

Those with interest in tracking student progress and attendance, including:

  • Student sponsors (scholarship or other donors)
  • Current or potential education product and service providers
  • Current or prospective employers (to provide references and, where students are sponsored by their employer or where you take part in a placement, to give details of progress/attendance)
  • Professional and regulatory bodies to confirm the qualifications, professional registration and conduct, and the accreditation of courses
  • Governmental departments and agencies where we have a legal obligation to provide information
  • Crime prevention or detection agencies
  • Parents, guardians, and next-of-kin (where there is a legitimate reason for disclosure)
  • Third parties conducting surveys
  • Third-party communication providers, and
  • Third-party data services providers

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, and Fordham reserves the right to collect additional personal information.

Changes to Your Personal Information

Please let us know about any changes to the personal information you have voluntarily provided to us. This is particularly important concerning your contact details. Contact Enrollment Services to update your information by emailing [email protected].

How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information?

We will retain your personal information in accordance with the Records Retention and Disposal Policy.

Your Rights Concerning Your Personal Information

The individual rights described below are not absolute. We reserve the right to refuse requests where certain exceptions apply. Absent any applicable exception, you have the right to:

  • Obtain access to the personal information that we hold about you
  • Object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to our processing activities where you feel they have a disproportionate impact on your interests, rights, and freedoms
  • Request to review, revise, correct, or update any of the personal information we may have about you if you believe that the personal information that we possess is, or has become, incorrect or is incomplete
  • Restrict the processing activities related to your personal information and, where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before its withdrawal
  • Have your personal information erased
  • Have personal information, which you have voluntarily provided to us, produced in a structured, commonly used, including to transmit it to another party; and
  • Opt-out of marketing communication

Data Privacy Protection

Fordham takes reasonable technical and physical measures to protect the confidentiality of your personal information, unauthorized access, and disclosure.

Privacy Concern Handling Process

Fordham is committed to resolving complaints about your privacy and our processing of your personal information. If you have an inquiry or complaint regarding this Privacy Notice, you should email [email protected].