The federal Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) requires that colleges and universities offering distance education or correspondence courses or programs have processes in place to ensure that the student registering for a course is the same student who participates in the course or receives course credit. To comply with the provisions of the HEOA, Chestnut Hill College utilizes the following username and password procedures to verify a student’s identity in a distance education course or program.
Chestnut Hill College provides a secure username and password that is unique to each individual student. All students at the undergraduate and graduate levels receive their username and password during the admissions process. Students initially receive a password that is created by the College’s password system, and then are required to create their own password using the available management tools. All passwords must follow the strong password criteria established by the College. Students are required to periodically change their passwords and are regularly reminded to do so by the College’s password system. In addition to using their username and password to log into the system, students are also required to use a multifactor identification system, which adds an additional layer of security and enhances the protection of the student’s privacy and the College’s systems.
A student can change or reset their password anytime using the appropriate password management tools. Students are responsible for providing their complete and true identity information in any identification verification process. Access credentials must not be shared or given to anyone other than the user to whom they were assigned, for any reason. Students shall be responsible for any and all uses of their account. Procedures involving student identity verification are overseen by the Office of Information Technology with assistance from the Director of Administrative Software.
Chestnut Hill College upholds the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This federal law protects the privacy of student information, including students engaged in distance education, by requiring, with certain limited exceptions, that the student's written consent be obtained prior to disclosing any personally identifiable information in the student's education records.
If any fees associated with the verification of student identity will be charged to students, students must be notified of these charges in writing at the time of registration or enrollment.
