Concerns of privacy and identity theft are prompting Penn State to reconsider the use of Social Security numbers as student identification numbers.

Faculty and staff frequently access students' Social Security numbers for academic and financial aid purposes, but Penn State administrators are currently discussing the potential use of an alternative number to identify students.

J. James Wager, university registrar, said Penn State is in very early stages of discussing the use of values other than Social Security numbers.

"There are so many problems with identity theft," said Paul Ricciardi, Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly president. "There's so much information about a person that can be accessed from that one number."

Ricciardi hoped the university would help students to keep that information private.

"Right now, we're trying to get the word out," he said.

Academic Assembly began planning a document with suggestions for limiting the use of Social Security numbers as identifiers on papers like attendance sheets, homework, and exams.

The use of Social Security numbers as identification in organizations as large as Penn State is not unusual, said Paula Hopkins, manager of the Social Security Administration's office in State College.

"Lots of organizations use Social Security numbers as IDs," she said. "There's nothing illegal about it."

Hopkins did not comment on whether the university should be using Social Security numbers to identify students.

Joel Weidner, associate director of information systems operations, said any changes in identification numbers would involve the collaboration of various university staff and faculty and will require long-term strategic planning.

"We only started discussions on this at a very high level," said Denny Morrison, manager of residence programming.

What the new number will be, if a new number is to be implemented, is still unknown.

"There is absolutely no conclusion reached about what will become the new student ID," Wager said.

While some people anticipate using the 16-digit numbers on the front of student IDs, Wager said that is not a viable option. When cards are lost, they have to be replaced along with the numbers on them.

"Lots of organizations use the Social Security number because it's a lasting relationship," Wager said. "Whatever value we come up with has to have that characteristic."

Wager said the planning is only in preliminary stages.

"It's sort of a group that just came together," he said.