Bill would end use of social security numbers as college identification

A new state bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Jeff Barnhart, R-Cabarrus, might bar UNC-system campuses from using students' Social Security numbers as school identification numbers.

UNC-Chapel Hill already uses an alternate number to identify students, but not all schools have opted to update their systems of identification.

Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, said her constituents have voiced concerns about identity theft, but the legislature has not reached a consensus on how to protect personal information.

"I think identity theft is a big problem right now," Insko said. "We need to look very carefully at opportunities that exist to protect information that might allow someone to steal your identity."

The overexposure of Social Security numbers is a growing national concern as the number of cases of identity theft increases. The total annual cost to victims of identity theft amounts to $5 billion, according to the Identity Theft Survey Report, published by the Federal Trade Commission in September 2003.

Tim Sanford, associate director for academic programs and services at UNC-CH's Friday Center for Continuing Education, said using random identification numbers poses difficulties because UNC-system schools do not have a consistent method. For example, a student's personal identification number at UNC-CH means nothing to the registrar at N.C. State University.

Katie Spear, assistant director of admissions at Western Carolina University, said that the university continues to use Social Security numbers because it is a practical way to identify students but that their Social Security numbers are no longer printed on their identification cards. If the N.C. General Assembly passes the bill, the school would have to alter its way of cataloguing students.

"The Social Security number is most convenient because it is a number most students know and will remember," Spear said. "But we definitely honor all requests to keep that number private."

Louis Hunt, university registrar at N.C. State, said the school smoothly transitioned to its current identification system in December 2003. No cases of identity theft have occurred at N.C. State, but it updated its system as a preventive measure, despite high costs, in response to concerns voiced by students.

"We just knew it was a potential problem, a threat to the students," Hunt said. "We had to put other priorities on hold."

But the damage done by the overexposure of Social Security numbers might be difficult for the bill to reprieve, Hunt said.

"I think, in a way, it's a little bit late," Hunt said. "We've been handing out our Social Security numbers for so many years. I think there needs to be a grander solution."

Linda Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, points to the unnecessary use of Social Security numbers as an open invitation to identity theft.

"Any idiot can do it," she said. "How much intelligence does it take to look at someone's Social Security number and name and put it on a credit application? This does not take a genius IQ."

Social Security number use by universities should be strictly limited to financial purposes, Foley said.

"There was a limited reason that the Social Security number was created," she said. "We need to go back to that as much as humanly possible."

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