Last Updated: October 19, 2026

1. About This Applicant Privacy Notice

Nelnet (“Nelnet”, “we”, “our”, and “us”) respects your concerns about privacy. This Applicant Privacy Notice describes the personal information we obtain when you create a candidate account, apply for a position, or are otherwise considered for employment or engagement with Nelnet, including through the Careers section of our website at https://nelnet.com and the recruiting platforms we use (collectively, the “Careers Site”). It describes how we use that information, with whom we share it, how long we keep it, and the rights and choices available to you.

This Applicant Privacy Notice supplements our Privacy Policy and should be read together with it. The Privacy Policy describes practices that apply across our websites and online services, including our use of cookies and similar technologies, the measures we take to safeguard personal information, and how to contact us. Where this Applicant Privacy Notice and the Privacy Policy differ with respect to applicant's personal information, this Applicant Privacy Notice controls.

This Applicant Privacy Notice applies to applicants for positions with Nelnet, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries. It does not apply to:

  • personal information we collect about our personnel once a working relationship begins, which is described in the privacy notice we provide to our personnel;
  • personal information we collect and process on behalf of our organization customers, where we act as a “processor” or “service provider” rather than a “controller” — see the Notice to Our Organization Customer End Users section of our Privacy Policy; or
  • personal information collected by third-party job boards, recruitment agencies, or professional networking sites, which handle your information under their own privacy policies.

Depending on where you live, additional information and rights apply to you. Please see the Additional Jurisdiction-Specific Information section below.

We describe our use of artificial intelligence and automated tools in the hiring process separately, in our Notice of Use of Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools in Hiring. That notice is provided in addition to, and not in place of, this Applicant Privacy Notice.

2. How We Collect Applicant Information

We collect personal information directly from you when you create a candidate account, submit an application, résumé, or supporting materials, complete an assessment, participate in an interview, or otherwise communicate with our recruiters, whether through the Careers Site, by email, or in person.

We may also collect personal information indirectly, including from:

  • professional networking and job-search sites on which you have made information available, such as public LinkedIn profiles;
  • recruitment agencies, staffing firms, and job boards we work with;
  • references you identify to us, whom we contact with your consent where required;
  • background screening, credential verification, and drug testing providers, which we engage with your consent where required;
  • assessment, video interview, and scheduling platforms we use in the hiring process; and
  • our own personnel, such as through employee referrals.

We also collect certain information automatically when you use the Careers Site, such as device and online activity information. Our practices for automated collection, including our use of cookies and similar technologies and the choices available to you, are described in the Automated Information Collection section of our Privacy Policy.

3. Applicant Information We Collect and Use

Candidate Account

To access certain job seeker tools and submit an application through the Careers Site, you may be required to create an account and choose a username and password. We use this information to provide and administer your account. We strongly recommend that you do not disclose your password to anyone.

Application and Résumé Information

When you apply for a position, we collect your name, contact information (such as mailing address, phone number, and email address), work history, education, credentials and certifications, skills, professional interests, location and work authorization, availability, salary expectations where permitted by law, and any other information you choose to provide in your application, résumé, cover letter, or responses to application questions. We use this information to evaluate your qualifications, experience, and suitability for the position, to process your application, to contact you for further information, and to confirm your eligibility to work. Depending on the position, we may collect additional information to meet regulatory or internal compliance requirements, such as information collected for anti-corruption, licensing, or financial services purposes.

We may also retain your information to consider you for other current or future opportunities. See the Retention of Applicant Information section below.

Assessments and Interviews

We collect information about you through interviews, which may be conducted in person, by telephone, or by video, and through skills tests, work samples, and other job-related assessments. Where an interview or assessment is recorded or transcribed, we will tell you before the recording begins and, where required by law, obtain your consent.

Background and Eligibility Verification

Where permitted by law and appropriate to the position, and with your consent where required, we may collect information through background verification, including criminal record checks, credit checks for positions with financial responsibilities, employment and education verification, professional license and reference checks, and verification of information you have provided to us. Some of our positions are subject to screening requirements under laws applicable to financial services and education services providers.

Accommodation Requests

If you request an accommodation to participate in any part of the hiring process — including the application, pre-employment testing, interviews, or any other aspect of consideration for a role — we collect the information you provide in connection with that request, including your name, contact information, a description of the accommodation you need, and information about a disability, medical condition, religious practice, or other need. We use this information only to evaluate and provide the accommodation and to meet our legal obligations, and we keep it separate from your general application file.

Voluntary Demographic Information

Where permitted or required by law, we may invite you to provide demographic information such as race, ethnicity, sex, gender, veteran status, or disability status. Providing this information is voluntary, it is not used to make hiring decisions, and declining to provide it will not affect your application. We use it only in aggregate form for equal opportunity monitoring, diversity reporting, and compliance with reporting obligations.

Job Alerts and Talent Community

If you sign up to receive job alerts or join our talent community, we will send you notifications about opportunities that match your stated interests and experience. You can stop receiving these communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in each message or by contacting us using the information below.

4. Automated Tools and Artificial Intelligence

Nelnet may develop or use artificial intelligence and other automated tools to assist in the recruitment process, including screening, assessing, and evaluating candidates. Every application, interview, candidate interaction, and AI-generated assessment is reviewed by a person before any final hiring decision is made.

Our Applicant Pre-Use Notice in Hiring describes these tools in more detail, including the rights available to applicants in certain jurisdictions to request information about a tool, to request human review of a decision, and to request an alternative selection process. If you have questions about our use of these tools, please contact us at [email protected].

5. How We Use Applicant Information

In addition to the uses described above, we use applicant information to:

  • evaluate your qualifications and suitability for the position you applied for and, where applicable, for other current or future opportunities;
  • communicate with you about your application and the status of the hiring process;
  • conduct interviews, assessments, and background and eligibility verification;
  • verify your identity and your authorization to work, and support immigration and work authorization processes;
  • provide accommodations you request during the hiring process;
  • administer your candidate account and the Careers Site, and maintain their security and integrity;
  • conduct workforce and recruiting analytics, in aggregated or de-identified form where practicable, to plan, evaluate, and improve our recruiting;
  • monitor equal opportunity and diversity, and meet related reporting obligations;
  • onboard you if we offer you a position and you accept, at which point our personnel privacy notice will apply;
  • comply with applicable law and regulatory requirements, respond to legal process, and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; and
  • detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, misrepresentation, and other unlawful or prohibited activities.

6. How We Share Applicant Information

Affiliates. We share applicant information with our affiliates and subsidiaries, so that recruiting, human resources, information technology, legal, and compliance personnel can carry out the purposes described in this Applicant Privacy Notice. Access is limited to those who need it to perform their roles.

Service Providers. We share or provide access to applicant information to third parties that provide services to us or on our behalf, including hosting the Careers Site and applicant tracking system, administering candidate questionnaires and assessments, managing the recruitment and hiring process, assisting with résumé screening, scheduling and conducting interviews, conducting background verification, and providing cloud hosting, security, and IT support. Our service providers are required to safeguard applicant information and are not authorized to use it other than to provide services to us or to comply with legal requirements.

Legal Obligations. We and our service providers may disclose applicant information in response to a subpoena, search warrant, or other legally valid inquiry or order, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law or legal process, which may include lawful access by courts, law enforcement, regulators, or other government authorities in the United States or other jurisdictions. We may also disclose applicant information to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, to enforce our policies and terms, and where we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to address security or to prevent physical or other harm or financial loss.

Business Transactions. We may disclose applicant information in connection with a proposed or completed business transaction, such as a transfer or sale of all or a portion of our business or assets, a merger, acquisition, or other corporate restructuring or change in control, including as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings.

We do not sell applicant information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising or targeted advertising purposes.

7. International Transfers of Applicant Information

Nelnet is headquartered in the United States, and our recruiting systems and the personnel who administer them are located primarily in the United States. If you apply for a position from outside the United States, your applicant information will be transferred to, stored in, and accessed from the United States and other countries where we, our affiliates, or our service providers operate. Those countries may not provide the same level of data protection as the country in which you are located.

Where required by applicable law, we put appropriate safeguards in place for these transfers, and we describe those safeguards in the notice applicable to your jurisdiction. You may request further information about our transfer safeguards by contacting us using the information below.

8. Retention of Applicant Information

We retain applicant information for the period reasonably necessary to achieve the purposes described in this Applicant Privacy Notice, plus a reasonable period to comply with applicable statutes of limitation and record-keeping requirements, unless a shorter period is required by applicable law.

If we do not offer you a position, we generally retain your application information for three years (unless required to retain it for a longer period as required by applicable law) so that we can consider you for other opportunities, respond to inquiries about your application, and meet our legal record-keeping obligations. You may ask us to delete your candidate account and application information at any time, subject to information we are required or permitted to retain. If we offer you a position and you accept, we retain your application information as part of your personnel record.

9. How We Protect Applicant Information

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical measures designed to safeguard the applicant's information in our custody and control against accidental, unlawful, or unauthorized loss, theft, access, use, modification, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include a framework setting out roles and responsibilities for handling personal information and controls that limit access to those who need it to perform their roles. Additional information is available in the How We Protect Personal Information section of our Privacy Policy.

10. Your Rights and Choices

Keeping your information current. It is important that the information in our records is accurate and current. If your information changes during the application process, please update your profile on the Careers Site or contact us using the information below.

Access, correction, and other rights. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to request access to, or a copy of, the personal information we hold about you; to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information; to ask us to delete certain information; and, depending on where you live, to receive the information you provided to us in a structured, commonly used technological format or to have it transmitted to a third party. The rights available to you depend on where you live — see the Additional Jurisdiction-Specific Information section below.

Withdrawing consent. Where we rely on your consent to collect, use, or disclose your personal information, you may withdraw that consent at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions, by contacting us using the information below. If you withdraw your consent, we may no longer be able to consider you for a position at Nelnet, and we may retain your personal information in accordance with our records retention practices and to meet our legal obligations.

How to submit a request. Please submit requests in writing to [email protected]. Depending on where you live, additional or different procedures for submitting a request may apply — see the Additional Jurisdiction-Specific Information section below. We may ask you for information to verify your identity before we act on your request. We will not discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising any rights described in this Applicant Privacy Notice.

Limits on these rights. These rights are not absolute. In some cases, applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to decline to provide some or all of the personal information we hold about you, or to decline a request in whole or in part. Where we cannot fulfil your request, we will explain why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions, and tell you how you can escalate or complain.

11. Additional Jurisdiction-Specific Information

The following additional information applies to applicants in the jurisdictions listed below. Each notice supplements, and applies in addition to, this Applicant Privacy Notice. To the extent of any inconsistency with this Applicant Privacy Notice or the Privacy Policy, the applicable notice prevails.

  • California. If you are a California resident, please refer to our California Consumer Privacy Notice, which describes the categories of personal information we collect about job applicants, the purposes for which we use it, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose it, and your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
  • Canada. If you are located in Canada, including Quebec, please refer to our Canada Applicant Privacy Notice.
  • European Economic Area. If you are located in the European Economic Area, please refer to our EEA Applicant Privacy Notice, which describes our legal bases for processing, our transfer safeguards, and your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
  • Australia. If you are located in Australia, please refer to our Australia Applicant Privacy Notice.

12. Changes to This Applicant Privacy Notice

We may update this Applicant Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or to address our legal or regulatory obligations. We will indicate at the top of this Applicant Privacy Notice when it was most recently updated, and we encourage you to review it periodically. These changes supersede any prior version of this Applicant Privacy Notice.

13. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this Applicant Privacy Notice, or about how we or our service providers handle your applicant information, please contact us at [email protected] or 877-402-5818.

Applicants in Canada may also contact our Nelnet Canada Privacy Officer, and applicants in the European Economic Area may contact the privacy contact identified in the applicable notice.