Ombudsman Website Policies
The FSA Ombudsman's Office has policies to protect you as a user of our website. These policies address four areas:
Privacy on the Ombudsman Website
Thank you for visiting our Website. Our privacy policy is simple and straightforward:
- We collect no personal information about you unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not use "cookies" or other techniques for collecting personal information about you without your knowledge. We do, however, use temporary cookies to match you as you move from page to page with the set of memory variables created during your user session --this is referred to as "maintaining state" in the "stateless" environment of the Web.
- In the normal course of events, we do not share your information with any outside organizations . We collect no information for commercial marketing purposes.
Our policy discloses the privacy practices for the Ombudsman Website. But our site contains links to other sites. An exit icon indicates links to other sites that will require you to leave our site. We make no promises about the privacy practices of other Websites. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the new site.
We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any site you link to from ours, especially if you share any personal information. Be informed. You are the person best qualified to protect your own privacy.
If you want to know more about how we record nonpersonal information about your visit or how we use information that you submit voluntarily, read on.
Otherwise, enjoy your visit!
Nonpersonal information we record
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Ombudsman Website, read pages, or download information, our site's operating system will automatically record some general information about your visit.
During your visit, our Web operating system will record the following:
- the Internet domain for your Internet service, such as "xcompany.com" or "xcompany.net" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a college or university domain
- the type of browser (such as "Netscape version X" or "Internet Explorer version X") you are using
- the type of operating system you are using (such as Macintosh, UNIX, or Windows)
- the date and time you visit our site, and the Web pages that you visit on our site
- the address of the previous Website you were visiting, if you linked to us from another Website
We use this information for statistical analysis, to help us make our site more useful to visitors. This tracking system does not record information about individuals.
Information from the Ombudsman Assistance Request Form
If you decide to complete our Ombudsman Assistance Request Form, you may choose to include your e-mail address or telephone number so that we can contact you. If you include personally identifying information in the form because you want us to address issues specific to your situation, we may use that information in contacting other federal agencies. These federal agencies are governed by the Privacy Act, and will handle your private information in the way required by that act.
Also, you should understand that this form is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, or includes personal information such as data from your tax return or student loan account, you may prefer to send it by postal mail. To do this, use the following address:
TopU.S. Department of Education
Office of the FSA Ombudsman
830 First Street, SE
Fourth Floor
Washington, DC 20202
Security
For site security purposes and to make sure this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this site are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. Server logs are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with the National Archives and Records Administration General Schedule 20.
TopCopyright
The Ombudsman Website is provided as a public service through the U.S. Department of Education, which pays for and maintains this site. Information presented on the site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of the appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.
TopDisclaimer of Endorsement
The documents posted on this server contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for the user's convenience and are indicated by an exit icon U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information, nor can we guarantee that the outside sites we link to comply with the Section 508 accessibility requirements of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
Furthermore, the inclusion of links or pointers to particular items in hypertext is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.
Please use caution when considering a product or service offered by a linked Website. We have done our best to review them, but the final responsibility for interacting with a Website is yours, the user's. Please use your best judgment, and call the Better Business Bureau if you have any questions about the legitimacy of a business.
