In order to be in compliance with the Texas Business & Commerce Code § 35.58, UH-Downtown will no longer use social security numbers (SSN) as the primary student identifier. During the Fall 2006 semester, UHD students who used their SSN as their ID number were assigned a 9-digit “UHD ID” number that begins with a 9. There are no social security numbers assigned that begin with a 9, therefore no student will have a UHD-ID that will, by coincidence be someone else’s social security number.
Students who already had identification numbers that began with a 9 kept that number as their UHD-ID. Students with identification numbers which began with anything other than a 9 were assigned a new UHD-ID. Alumni and former students for whom UHD maintains records in the student information system and whose identification number did not begin with a 9, were also be assigned a new UHD-ID.
UHD will continue to collect social security numbers since the Department of Education requires the use of social security numbers in order to process financial aid and to monitor other federal support programs. Only offices that require social security numbers to perform their functions will request the social security number from students. These offices will continue to adopt appropriate security precautions and any online transaction requiring the use of social security numbers will be encrypted.
After the ID conversion, the University mailed enrolled students their UHD-ID number to the address on record. All students were asked to verify or update their mailing address through “My Personal Data” in Student e-Services prior to the conversion. Students are now able to securely retrieve their UHD-ID number online via Student e-Services using the Look Up UHD-ID service. For more information on the UHD-ID Conversion, please contact the Registrar’s Office at 713-221-8999 or send an email to uhdrecords@uhd.edu.
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