<p>Vulture3, I think you’re right to keep it off of forms. Almost no one has a legitimate need for anyone else’s social security number. If someone (for example, at the school or doctor’s office) has the same name as you, it is VERY unlikely that they will have the same date of birth (day, month and year) as you.</p>
<p>Ohio was actually printing them on drivers’ licenses until this year. My husband chose this option, but obviously shouldn’t have. Our large HMO just discontinued using them as i.d. #'s 2 years ago. I do not list them on new patient info. forms for dr. appointments. ACT and SAT don’t need them, nor do any colleges where you kids may apply. They can verify who is who with a name and a birth date. Aren’t they only needed for job purposes and credit checks?</p>
<p>The bank seems to get by with just your last four digits.</p>
<p>Many (though not all) medical insurance carriers no longer use SSNs and IDs, but Drs. offices may still ask for your SSN. The reason? If you don’t pay your bill and the debt has to go to a collection agency, the agengy needs your SSN. (don’t kill the messenger-- just telling you the facts)</p>
<p>But the doctor’s office only needs the parent’s SSN to collect-not the child’s.</p>
<p>yes missy, that is correct. I was just respondign to why a drs ofc might still need an adults SSN if the insu card now has a separate ID #.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>ACT/SAT and colleges definitely did need SSN a year and a half ago when D was applying. That was the number that registered for the test, and that was the ID number until a new one came from the school. Has that changed?</p>
<p>Dr.'s offices and SAT/ACT will ask for your social security number, but they don’t need it and haven’t turned me down for services.</p>
<p>When my kids took the ACT exam as part of their required state standardized testing, they filled out the forms at school, and none of them knew their SSNs, so ID numbers were generated by ACT. When you sign up for the test yourself, you are asked to provide the SSN. I changed my S’s ACT # to his SSN because I was concerned about the college correctly matching his test score to his application. One of the schools he was applying to gets 50,000+ applications per year, and you don’t want their inability to find his official test scores to be the reason he didn’t get accepted. I didn’t want ANY of his college applications to be missing his scores.</p>
<p>I thought that you had to provide SSN for the SAT; then again, I wasn’t thinking about not providing it.</p>
<p>On the subject of whether or not colleges need the SSNs, I thought that there are problems with “undocumented” immigrants who don’t have SSNs and are therefore unable to obtain federal or state financial aid. Perhaps if you are eligible for that aid and don’t want to provide the number, you can prove your citizenship/permanent residency another way to the officials that disburse that aid. </p>
<p>I also thought that public universities in some states require their in-state students to be citizens or permanent residents in order to get the in-state tuition. Again, if you don’t want to provide your SSN, perhaps there is another way to submit proof.</p>
<p>I don’t know the rules, gladmom. Last year our local paper had an article about some girls who had graduated from University of North Texas with teaching degrees but could not get jobs because they are not in the US legally. The slant of the article was “how terrible given the teacher shortage” but I was wondering how they’d gotten that far. I assume they were paying in state tuition.</p>
<p>In Illinois, illegal aliens get in-state tuition. Maybe someone can explain what the schools do about ss numbers.</p>
<p>Missy, what will happen now with the SSN? Am curious. </p>
<p>As for illegals getting in state tuition, I know that in NY, those who have been in state for 3 years and can prove it with transcripts and/or bills, etc, can get in state tuition, but no federal or state loans or grants.</p>
<p>I thought the first 3 digits of SS numbers were assigned based on your place of birth. I was born in the Midwest and my first 3 digits = a mid three hundred number. Everyone born in my current area of the northwest has the first three digits = a low five hundred number.</p>
<p>I think you are right Tutu. I remember you could tell where a person was born from his ssn in those days when you could just give out the number with abandon.</p>
<p>Governor Patrick in Massachusetts is pushing for in-state tuition rates for illegals that meet certain requirements.</p>
<p>My H was born in Japan, but assigned a SSN that begins with a 5. Hmmmm…</p>
<p>All us NY’ers have one that starts with a 0, yes?</p>
<p>
Nope. I don’t.</p>
<p>^^ Well, so much for that theory. Were you born in the downstate area? And how long ago?? My parents , born in NY, has ssn’s starting with a “1”, my generation had them with a “0”</p>
<p>But we are such a mobile society that it shouldn’t raise suspicions if you present a SSN that shows you were born in another part of the country. PLUS, even if it came to that, a Rodriguez applying for a job in California would have no problem convincing someone that she was from Texas.</p>
<p>When I was in junior high (in PA), we were assigned one via school. We got them in homeroom, and they were sequential. Homeroom was assigned alphabetically, by the way, and we were seated that way. So the person in 9th grade who went to my junior high, and sat in front of me, has the SSN just before mine, and the person behind my follows mine. Good thing I’m not a criminal, since I still remember who sat in front of and behind me!</p>