The University of Oregon is committed to student privacy and security. We support students by complying with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) which provides guidelines for maintaining the confidentiality of educational records for all students. Sometimes even a FERPA-compliant approach may not be enough to protect data: FERPA is the floor for protecting privacy, not the ceiling. 

Additional information about how the University of Oregon supports student privacy is documented in the UO’s Policy Library and Introduction to FERPA at the UO training.

UO ID Number

The UO ID number is a nine-digit number assigned when students are first admitted to the university and is printed on student ID cards. Students are responsible for knowing their UO ID number. The Office of the Registrar will only share UO ID numbers with students when they visit the office in person with photo identification.

Students who attended the UO before ID numbers were randomly assigned may be reassigned new numbers.

Social Security Numbers

Students are not required to give their Social Security Number (SSN) to the University of Oregon. Choosing not to share an SSN with the university cannot impact on students' rights or privileges at the university. However, there may be some reasons (such as on-campus employment or federal student aid) for which a student may wish to disclose their Social Security Number to the UO.