Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships Privacy Notice

Wichita State University (WSU) is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information entrusted to us. We aim to help you understand what type of personal information WSU collects, uses, and discloses. While this document may not include all data systems or uses of data at any given time, it is reviewed and updated as necessary. For more information on the definition of personal information, please visit WSU Policy 19.20 / Data Sensitivity Classification for more details on how personally identifiable information is defined at WSU. 

This privacy notice describes the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships to establish the eligibility of your need for financial aid and to offer those financial resources to you.

This notice does not cover how your personal information is collected, used, or disclosed by other departments or areas of the university, nor does it cover data classified as FERPA data. For more information on WSU’s management of personal data under FERPA, please reference this website: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. It also does not cover how your personal information may be used by third parties who integrate with systems or services used by this department. For more information on third party data management, please visit the privacy notices or policies located on their websites. WSU is not responsible for the availability, content, or privacy practices of non-university sites. 

• Information systems which are WSU controlled and explicitly used for the purposes of managing financial aid and scholarship data. For third party systems in a contractual relationship with WSU that manage financial aid data or federally controlled systems (NSLDS, COD, etc.), please reference their privacy notices.
• Systems that report FAFSA or Federal Student Aid data collaboratively between WSU and the U.S. Department of Education.
• Systems that allow WSU to report Student Aid data to the Kansas Board of Regents.

The following types of personal information are collected by the WSU controlled systems or services referenced above through financial aid processing related functions completed by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.

• User Information: Student information - Personal information from the student, spouse, and/or parent collected on the FAFSA form, and/or personal information verified through other financial forms or tax documents (e.g., name, date of birth, social security number, tax information, address, etc.). Staff information - Registration information required by federal systems (e.g., name, social security, date of birth, etc.).
• Student Aid Activity Information: Status of awards, date/time of changes, name of person who updated the student aid offers, which emails are sent via Banner to students, comments surrounding interactions with the student, monitoring of academic progress, etc.

• Directly: From students when forms are completed or sent to the department or institution. From staff when data is input into students’ financial aid accounts or input into federal or state systems. 
• Integrations: Through integration of these systems with other WSU systems and services or Federal/State Systems. 
• Automatically: Data is automatically generated and logged when students or WSU staff interact with WSU’s web-based systems and services. 

• Service and Support: To ensure accuracy and integrity of data for the purpose of processing eligibility or offers or assisting students with the financial aid process. 
• Administration: To administer Title IV programs, state programs, and scholarships to ensure student eligibility requirements are met.
• Institutional Planning: To evaluate trends and make needed improvements for student recruitment and retention efforts. Typically, only aggregate data is used in these scenarios.
• Regulatory or Compliance Requirements: To provide reporting required under certain compliance and legal requirements, or to comply with WSU policies or the law.

The university does not sell or rent student financial information. It does, however, share personal information in the following situations. 

• With Service Providers: We share information with service providers who provide a service to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. These providers should meet WSU’s data security requirements and use your personal information only in the ways agreed upon contractually.
• For Legal or Safety Obligations: Personal information may be shared to comply with legal requirements or to protect the safety, property, or rights of the university, and its community members. Depending on the type of request, the approval of the Data Management Committee and/or legal counsel may be required. 
• With Consent: Information may be shared for any purpose for which the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship has obtained your consent.

For more information or to report a privacy concern, please reach out to the Chief Privacy Officer via email at privacy@wichita.edu or by phone at 316-978-4HIP (4447). 

For more information or specific requests surrounding FERPA data, please reach out to the Office of Registrar at 316-978-3055 or visit WSU’s site entitled Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Version 2.0 // 03-09-2026