Prospective Student Privacy Notice in the E.U.

Data Privacy Notice for Prospective Students in the E.U. and U.K.

This Notice describes Fordham University’s practices concerning the collection, use, storage, and disclosure (“processing”) of Personal Information covered by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and GDPR U.K. for purposes of recruiting and evaluating prospective students and processing applications for admission. This Notice applies to Fordham and its affiliated legal entities and branches (collectively “Fordham,” “us,” or “our”) solely concerning prospective employees of Fordham’s sites in the European Union (the “Sites”) concerning prospective students and their families located in the European Union and the United Kingdom. All such prospective students and their families (referred to below as “you” or “your”) should carefully read the provisions of this Privacy Notice.

“Personal Information,” as used in this Notice, means any information that can be used to identify you, whether directly or indirectly, including by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier, or to one or more factors specific to your physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.

Additional notices at any data collection point may supplement this general Notice. If you have specific questions about any data processing activities described in this or any other Notice, please contact the Office of Legal Counsel.

The Information We Process About You

We process the information we collect from you directly, either during our communications with you about Fordham or as part of your application to Fordham, including applications for financial aid. In addition to applying directly to us, you may use the Common Application, third-party sites through which Fordham collects prospective student information or financial aid-related data.

During the application process, we will indicate when certain information is required for Fordham to process your application. Failure to complete a required field may result in your application being denied or your ineligibility for financial aid.

We use automated decision-making processes to screen applicants for admission and financial aid according to predetermined criteria. For example, your grades or test scores are automatically evaluated to determine your eligibility for consideration for admission. Similarly, the information in your financial aid application may be used to generate a profile of your financial circumstances to make decisions about your eligibility for scholarships, loans, and other financial assistance. You can learn more about the logic we use in our automated decision-making processes by contacting the Office of Legal Counsel.

In addition, we collect the following information about you from third parties:

  • Your contact and demographic information, including publicly available information.
  • We may also collect this contact information from students about their parents and family members.
  • We may collect from third parties personal background and health details.
  • Information about your prior educational history, which we collect from other academic institutions (or from our records) in case of re-enrollment or enrollment for a different degree.

Purposes and Legal Basis for Processing Your Data

We process Personal Information to recruit prospective students, evaluate applications for admission to Fordham, evaluate your eligibility for financial aid, communicate with you about Fordham and your application, and if you are admitted to Fordham, award you financial aid and enroll you in Fordham programs if you choose to attend. We also use this data to:

  • administer programs and make decisions about course offerings,
  • file required reports with applicable governmental authorities,
  • administer our programs and provide appropriately tailored services, including student health services, financial aid, research, and reporting activities,
  • monitor trends within incoming classes,
  • report application and admission statistics to appropriate publications,
  • plan course offerings,
  • verify identity,
  • ensure that the University is prepared for emergencies, and
  • enforce Fordham policies and applicable laws.

We combine the data that we collect to provide these functions.

We have the following legal basis for processing the information you provide us in your application or that we collect about you during the application process.

  • We have a legitimate interest in recruiting and admitting qualified applicants, complying with laws and regulations that govern our conduct in the countries where we operate, and administering Fordham and its programs efficiently, ethically, and appropriately.
  • We process all the information we collect from or about you to meet these purposes.
  • You can obtain additional information about our legitimate interests in processing your data by contacting the Office of Legal Counsel.

Once you have accepted an offer of admission from us, we may also be required to process your Personal Information to complete a contract that you have entered into with us, including to be admitted to a program or receive financial aid, housing, or another service from us. You can obtain additional information regarding the processing we do to enter into contracts with you by contacting Enrollment Services.

In the case of Sensitive Personal Information (which includes (i) information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership; (ii) genetic and biometric data, and (iii) data concerning health, sex life, or sexual orientation), we process information because we have your consent to do so.

When we process your Sensitive Personal Information based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting the Office of Legal Counsel. If you withdraw your consent, we may still be required to process your Sensitive Personal Information to comply with applicable law, but we will explain to you what processing activities will continue for legal compliance when your consent is withdrawn.

Finally, we process your Personal Information for additional purposes compatible with those already described, including conducting scientific, statistical, or historical research or creating archives in the public interest.

Where possible, we do not use identifiable information for these purposes, or we take steps, including using pseudonymous data, to limit the amount of Personal Information we use in our research or archives.

Recipients of Your Personal Information

Your Personal Information will be received and processed by Fordham employees and personnel, including third parties who provide services to Fordham in connection with the purposes of processing described above, including third parties that provide us with technical support for the application process and application collection services. We share your Personal Information with our service providers only when they have agreed to process your Personal Information only to provide services to us and have agreed to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized use, access, or disclosure. We provide Personal Information to partner universities for group travel and collaborative events, research partners, printers and mailing houses, College Board members, and the National Student Clearinghouse for reporting and enrollment verification purposes. You may contact Enrollment Services to learn more about the categories of service providers your data is disclosed.

We also disclose your information to government authorities as required by laws that regulate higher education, immigration, tax, national security, and criminal activity.

Transfers to Third Countries

Fordham is a global university headquartered in the United States, and your data will be transferred to our headquarters when we evaluate your enrollment application.

Data Retention

You can find more information about how long we retain personal data by consulting our Records Retention and Disposal Policy. Certain E.U. sites may retain data for shorter or longer periods to meet local legal requirements or business practices. You can obtain additional information about these retention periods by contacting the Office of Legal Counsel.

Your Rights

You have the right to the following information regarding Fordham’s processing of your Personal Information:

  • the purposes of the processing,
  • the categories of Personal Information concerned,
  • the recipients or categories of recipients to whom the Personal Information has been or will be disclosed,
  • where possible, the envisaged period for which the Personal Information will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period.

This Data Privacy Notice is intended to provide this information. Any questions about these details may be directed to the Office of Legal Counsel.

You also have the following additional rights to your Personal Information:

  • The right to request access to the Personal Information that Fordham has about you, as well as the right to request rectification of any inaccurate or incomplete data
  • The right to request a copy of your Personal Information in electronic format so that you can transmit the data to third parties or to request that Fordham directly transfer your Personal Information to one or more third parties
  • The right to object to processing your Personal Information for marketing and other purposes
  • The right to the erasure of your Personal Information when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which you provided it, as well as the right to restriction of processing of your Personal Information to certain limited purposes where erasure is not possible
  • The right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority for the country where you live or work or where you believe your rights have been violated.  You may consult a list of data protection authorities

You can contact Fordham University’s Office of Legal Counsel with questions about this Notice, our data collection practices, or your rights.

Fordham University
Rose Hill Campus
441 East Fordham Road
Cunniffe House, Room 111
Bronx, New York 10458
+1 718 817 3110
Email: [email protected] 

Fordham University in London’s local contact is:
Matthew Holland, Interim Senior Director
Fordham University in London
2 Eyre Street Hill
London EC1R 5ET
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 3687 2950
Email: [email protected]