Privacy Statement

University of New Hampshire

E-Commerce Information Usage Statement

The security and privacy of your e-commerce transactions at the University of New Hampshire are of the utmost importance to us. Only information required to conduct business is utilized by the University. No information is sold or otherwise provided to third parties from the University’s or affiliated vendor’s Web sites except as expressly stated, or as required by law. This statement applies to all linked University Web sites. Please be sure to check other sites for their policies.

  1. Introduction
  2. Information We Collect
  3. Our Use and Disclosure of Information
  4. Information Security
  5. Links to Other Websites
  6. Further Information

1. Introduction

The ability to make payments electronically to the University on the Web is provided as a convenience for the entire University community. To insure transactions are appropriately assigned and to reduce the risk of fraud the University must collect sufficient information to positively identify users. This Statement describes the information we collect, how it is utilized and protected. UNH respects the privacy of your personally identifiable information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information. However, as described in more detail in Section 3 below, there are limited circumstances in which some of your information will be by necessity, under strict restrictions, shared with third parties.

By using this site, you signify that you understand how the privacy and security of your personal information is protected and how your personal information will be used. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this statement at any time. Your continued use of the UNH e-commerce sites following the posting of any changes signifies that you are comfortable with and have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us as described in Section 6 below.

2. Information We Collect

Network Information
Information collected automatically is analyzed to help us understand how you use our web services and how we can improve our site to better meet your needs. Examples of data that may be collected include:

IP Address

  • Type of browser and operating system used to access our site
  • Date and time the user accessed our site
  • Information regarding which pages users access or visit

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this site may monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. If security monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, system personnel may provide the results of such monitoring to appropriate officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the state law and federal statutes including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 and/or under the UNH Student Rights and Rules.

Email Information
If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personally identifying information, we will only use the personally identifiable information to respond to your request and analyze trends. We may redirect your message to another government agency or person who is in a better position to answer your question. If you provide us with your email address we may send you notices of events, products, and services. You will be given the option to unsubscribe from any mailing lists to which you are added.

Required Information
In order to make payments you will be transferred to the Nelnet website where you may provide checking account and/or credit card information. Credit card and bank information will not be collected or stored by UNH. This information is necessary for us to process transactions, to protect you against credit card fraud, and to contact you should the need arise in administering your account.

Transactional Information
When you make a payment to UNH we ask you to provide information related to each transaction such as the amount of the payment. Information provided by the user is the data needed to successfully complete a Web transaction. This information may be retained by the University to insure the transaction has been properly assigned.

Our Use of "Cookies"
"Cookies" are small files of data that we send to your computer to allow us to recognize you as an authenticated user. We send a "session cookie" to your computer when you log in to your Web account. These cookies allow us to recognize you if you visit multiple pages in our site during the same session without requiring you to log on for each page. Once you log out or close your browser, these session cookies expire and no longer have any effect. Our cookie files are encoded so that your information can only be interpreted by UNH Web applications.

3. Our Use and Disclosure of Information

Internal Uses
We use the information we collect about you in order 1) to provide our services and process your transactions and 2) to provide customer service. Specifically, we use your information to help you complete a transaction, to communicate back to you, to update you on service and benefits, and to personalize our web sites for you. We give access to personally identifiable information about our users only to those UNH employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services to you.

Disclosure to Other Users
Except as noted above for need to know employees, no other users can view your personal data.

Disclosure to Third Parties
UNH will not sell, rent, or lease your personally identifiable information to others. UNH will not share any of your personally identifiable information with third parties except in the limited circumstances described below, or with your express permission (and to employees as described above), or to comply with applicable law. These third parties are limited by law or by contract from using the information for secondary purposes beyond the purposes for which the information is shared.

  • We share information with organizations that help us process the transactions you request and protect our customers' transactions from fraud, such as sharing your credit card number with a service that screens for lost and stolen card numbers.
  • We disclose the information we collect, as described in Section B above, to organizations that perform services on our behalf or to other financial institutions with which we have joint service agreements i.e. a credit card clearing house. These organizations are subject to confidentiality agreements with us and other legal restrictions that prohibit using the information except to provide the specified related services, unless you have affirmatively agreed or given your prior permission for other uses.
  • We disclose information that we in good faith believe is appropriate to cooperate in investigations of fraud or other illegal activity, or to conduct investigations of violations of our Acceptable Use Policy.
  • We disclose information in response to a subpoena, warrant, court order, levy, attachment, order of a court-appointed receiver or other comparable legal process, including subpoenas from private parties in a civil action.
  • We disclose information to your agent or legal representative (such as the holder of a power of attorney that you grant, or a guardian appointed for you).
  • We share information with third parties, in compliance with the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).

Internet Address Information
We use IP addresses, browser types, and access times to analyze trends, administer the site, improve site performance, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use, and to conduct investigations on fraud, illegal activity, and other violations of our Acceptable Use Policy.

4. Information Security

UNH is committed to handling your information with high standards of information security and in compliance with the USNH Information Technology Security Policy. While no computing environment is 100% secure, we take appropriate precautions to protect the user's information. When a user submits sensitive information via the Web, that information is protected both online and off-line.

Your credit card information is stored only in encrypted form on computers that have been secured. We restrict access to your personally identifiable information to only employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services to you. 

Tips for Safe Transactions

  • Don't walk away from your computer when in communication with our servers.
  • Safeguard your username/password and other identifying numbers and do not share them with others.
  • Keep personal information such as your mother's maiden name and identifying numbers (including Social Security, driver's license, passport, and credit card numbers) in a safe and secure place. Do NOT share this information unless you know the purpose for which it will be used.
  • Before anyone else uses your computer, clear your cache or restart your browser (this eliminates copies of Web pages that have been stored on your hard drive). The preference menu in your browser can tell you how to clear your cache.
  • Always use the Exit function when ending an e-commerce session, especially if you plan to leave your browser open.

5. Links to Other Web Sites

Our Web sites contain links to non-UNH sites not associated with e-commerce. Please be aware that UNH is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. The user is encouraged to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by UNH e-commerce access pages. Other UNH Web sites, as well as non-UNH Web sites, may have their own privacy statement which should be reviewed

6. Further Information

If you have any questions about our web site or concerns regarding your privacy, you may contact the UNH IT Service Desk at (603) 862-4242.