The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA), a program of the Board of Regents, strives to develop innovative services to better serve our users. We recognize that privacy is an important issue, so we design and operate our services with the protection of your privacy in mind. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect and use data, as well as some of the steps we take to safeguard personal information we may gather when you use LOSFA's on-line services.
We only collect information that you give voluntarily. Information may be collected when you willingly fill out a form or register on our site. When registering on our site, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information necessary to provide the requested information or services. Personally identifiable information is information that is readily identifiable to a specific individual. Personally identifiable information includes an individual's name, address, email address, and phone number. Personal Information also includes information treated confidential by law, such as your social security number. The personal information that may be requested on the site is the same as information that may be requested when visiting a governmental office. A domain name or Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information. You may also visit our site anonymously.
Any of the information we collect from you may be used to process transactions or send periodic emails:
To process transactions
Your information will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the information or service requested.
To send periodic emails
Your email address will not be used to promote any contest or survey. The email address you provide will only be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your request.
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you voluntarily enter, submit, or access your personal information. Access to your personal information is restricted to those individuals who have a need to know the information, such as to those who service your account, resolve problems, etc.
Additionally, industry-standard methods are employed on our web servers to monitor network traffic and to prevent unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. An unauthorized attempt to upload information or change information on the LOSFA servers is strictly prohibited and is a criminal offense punishable by law.
This information should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided on this site.
Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites' or service providers' systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. This website uses cookies to distinguish among site visitors. When you visit this site, a session cookie is created and a randomly generated identifying tag is placed on your computer. This session cookie authenticates you and authorizes the Website to provide services and resources to you. The session cookie is destroyed as soon as your browser is closed.
LOSFA's Website cookies do not contain personally identifying information and do not compromise your privacy or security.
Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies. If you refuse cookies, some of the website's features and services will not function properly. You may also delete the cookie file off of your device.
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe releasing it is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety.
When using our site, please be aware that, subject to certain statutory exceptions, documents and records maintained by the state of Louisiana, including but not limited to electronic data, may be considered public records under Louisiana law. Therefore, information submitted through this website may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request.
The website may contain links to third party websites. These websites are considered external Websites because they are not part of the LOSFA Website. These external websites include websites created and maintained by other governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private entities. Some of these websites may operate under privacy, quality, and security standards that are less stringent and/or protective than those employed by LOSFA. These links are provided solely as a convenience to you, and not as an endorsement by LOSFA. LOSFA does not assume any responsibility or liability for the actions, product, content and/or information of third party websites, or the collection of your information on linked third-party websites. LOSFA does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third party websites. LOSFA encourages you to read closely the privacy statements of those Websites and to be very cautious about providing personally identifiable information if you do not have a clear understanding of how your information will be used and protected. If you decide to access linked third party websites, you do so at your own risk.
The security of your personal information, account transactions, and savings is a priority. Through your participation in START, START K-12, and/or ABLE, we collect various types of personally identifiable information that you provide on your enrollment form and other forms, such as your name and the name of your designated beneficiary, addresses, and demographic information. We also collect confidential information relating to your transactions in START, START K-12, or ABLE, such as account balances, contributions, distributions, and investments. We do not sell information about current or former participants, designated beneficiaries, or custodians to any third parties, and we do not disclose it to third parties unless necessary to process a transaction, service an account, as otherwise permitted or required by law, or with your consent.
We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13. We will delete any information from our systems if we learn that it was collected from a child under the age of 13.
This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website.
By using our site, you consent to our privacy policy.
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page.
LOSFA makes every effort to ensure that published information is accurate and current and that any linked products, services, or websites contained within this website are accurate, reliable, and timely. To the extent that we are aware of new information which impacts LOSFA Programs, we publish updates and informational bulletins on our sites for your consideration.
LOSFA makes every effort to ensure that information, services, or websites linked from this website that are not directly managed as a LOSFA Program are accurate, timely, and useful to our customers. However, neither the state of Louisiana, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the State of Louisiana endorses or warrants any information obtained by utilizing said links. Neither the state of Louisiana, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the State of Louisiana shall be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of information obtained through these links. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from those websites does so at their own risk.
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.
602 North 5th Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Phone: 225-219-1012
Last Revised: 7/19/2019