Our SOlutions

Data Storage and Security

Data security and student privacy is of utmost importance to Trellis. This project utilizes procedures and protocols to safeguard student anonymity and confidentiality and to protect against a breach in data security. Potential participants in the Student Financial Wellness Survey (SFWS) should be aware that these protocols represent reasonable precautions but cannot eliminate the risk of data breaches or the connection of data to their identities.

Trellis will use the SFWS to produce reports for participating institutions and to produce research reports on the aggregate data set to inform various audiences of topics related to student financial wellness. At no point will Trellis share any institutional or student-level data with any outside organization or persons.

Types of Data and Records

  1. Survey response data
    Survey response data refers to all student-level information collected through Trellis’s Student Financial Wellness Survey tool as a component of participation in the study.
  2. Educational records
    Student-level records will be used to provide context and analysis for student response data. Students will be fully informed of Trellis’s data security and records retention protocol and informed of potential risks associated with sharing data with personally identifiable information. Proof of digital consent will be stored in a secure, password-protected folder on Trellis’s secured servers.

Storage and Destruction

Survey response data and educational records will be located on Trellis’s servers, will be password protected, and will be accessible only from computers connected to Trellis’s internal network. All computers will be locked and password protected when not in use. Furthermore, access to the files will be limited to the research team with role-based access. The data will not be transmitted via external email servers, will not be loaded onto external storage devices, and no physical printouts will be made.

All digital copies of survey response data or education records from the SFWS data transfers from institutions will be de-identified – the deletion of names and contact information – no later than 24 months from the survey implementation date. All digital copies of de-identified survey response data and education records held by the Student Financial Wellness Survey will be deleted no later than ten years from the survey implementation date.

Data Security

Trellis Company has nearly 40 years of experience as responsible stewards of student data. Trellis adheres to a consolidated matrix of security controls that incorporates NIST Moderate Controls, GLBA, and a number of other security frameworks. Data stores are maintained on encrypted network SAN storage in compliance with NIST moderate controls. Our Dell servers are maintained to those same controls, using CIS benchmarks. Identity and Access Management also adheres to NIST moderate controls. Access is role-based and denied by default. All data is backed up for recovery purposes and stored on encrypted media. Data will be destroyed according to the Student Financial Wellness Survey policies described previously. Trellis has a strict asset disposal procedure, all storage media, such as hard drives or tapes are destroyed and rendered unrecoverable prior to disposal.

Student Financial Wellness Survey Data Request Rationale

SFWS Data Request Components: The SFWS Data Request is required to send survey invitation to students and to determine whether respondents are representative of the population.

  • Email 1 – Students’ school email to send the survey invitation to students.
  • Email 2 – To get a good response rate, best practice is to send to a secondary email address halfway into the survey period for those who have not responded.
  • First Name – To personalize survey invitations, best practice for good response rates.
  • Last Name – To personalize survey invitations, best practice for good response rates.
  • Unique Student Identifier (Preferably Not Official Student ID) – A unique student identifier that can be used to match back to institutional records in case of further analysis after the survey is complete. Please keep a cross-walk of these IDs for your reference in case of future data matching projects. If there are issues creating a unique identifier that is not the official institutional student ID, please discuss with your Trellis contact.
  • Age – Demographic information to determine whether respondents are representative of the population.
  • Race/Ethnicity – Demographic information to determine whether respondents are representative of the population.
  • Gender – Demographic information to determine whether respondents are representative of the population.
  • Credit Hours Enrolled – Demographic information to determine whether respondents are representative of the population.
  • Total Credits Earned – Demographic information to determine whether respondents are representative of the population.