COLLEGE IDS A NEW NUMBERS GAME.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: ALAN WECHSLER Staff writer

Not since Y2K have certain colleges found themselves altering computer programs to meet such a tight deadline. And all because of the nine-digit Social Security number.

In this case, thanks to a new state law that went into effect July 1, all colleges and universities that used a student's Social Security number on ID cards or in other ways that might be made public had to stop doing so.

Locally, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and The Sage Colleges had to make the biggest changes. At RPI, the college had to make 6,000 new IDs and spend four months upgrading its computer program so that information wasn't tied to …