Social Security number in SOPHAS application

[Changemaker]

Hi everyone!

I just started create my SOPHAS account and found that they are asking for Social Security number. I have been told never to give my SSN online. However, through a brief google search, I found that schools like Harvard and Tulane recommend using SSN to expedite the application process. I am not a US citizen(but have SSN) and am applying for financial assistance too. Any suggestion about that? Especially I am looking to hear from previous applicants.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[themmases]

I've provided my SSN in three applications (undergrad, SOPHAS, and a previous grad program) and never had a problem. It doesn't just expedite the application process, it also expedites the financial aid process, at least in theory. I didn't like providing mine-- I would rather wait and just give it to the school I actually attend-- but I was also hoping for assistantships and wanted it to be easy for them to offer to hire me even though I knew it was a long shot.

In reality, none of my schools (Minnesota, OSU, and UIC) got back to me with particularly helpful financial aid information by the time I wanted to be making a decision. I am a US citizen and I had all but made up my mind to stay in state on the assumption that my only "aid" would be federal loans, but in theory I qualified for actual aid that might have changed my mind if the timeline had ever been made clear, even when I asked. If providing my SSN helped expedite things on the schools' side, it didn't really from my perspective.

 

[hughesn2]

There are two times you give out your social security number: Job acceptance forms and College application forms.

You are told not to give out your SS# to random people or people on a phone, but when it is for a job or a college then you better give it to them if they demand it.