The University of California at Merced is notifying thousands of San Joaquin Valley students that their personal information may have made its way into the wrong hands.

The access came two ways: from the theft of a UC Merced laptop computer last month, and from someone hacking into another university-owned computer.

Together the computers contained personal information on more than 14,000 prospective UC students.

Patti Waid Istas, a spokeswoman for UC Merced, said no related incidents of identity theft have surfaced, but the university is notifying each student of the possible breach of confidentiality. Officials advise students to check on any unusual activity on their credit accounts.

"We do recognize that this is a difficult situation for individuals," she said. "We take it very seriously. We took very important steps to make sure we notified people as soon as we possibly could."

During a routine security check Feb. 5, technology employees found that someone had hacked into a laptop in a UC Merced admissions office in Fresno sometime between October 2003 and January, Istas said.

"It was really unfortunate," she said. "At the same time, we could not confirm that any of the information was copied or used."

The theft occurred Jan. 19, during a burglary at a UC Merced outreach officer's home, Istas said.

The law requires the university to notify people when Social Security numbers are involved, she said. The computer databases included the Social Security numbers of 12,199 students, and names and addresses of an additional 2,200.

All students are being notified, she said, with most of the letters going out Feb. 12.

Some of the students had applied to a UC campus for fall 2002 admission, and others had been working with the UC Merced outreach officer at schools from Stockton to Bakersfield.

Istas said the information is stored in laptops so outreach officers, working with counselors and others at area schools, can cross-identify students.

Both the California State University and UC systems have been moving away from using Social Security numbers to identify students, instead establishing student identification numbers. California State University, Stanislaus, made the switch last fall.

Brandy Ramos Nikaido, a spokeswoman for the UC president's office, said most UC campuses have switched to student identification numbers because of increasing concern about privacy.

UC Merced has established an information technology hot line, in English and Spanish, for students seeking information about what they can do to find out whether their personal information has been compromised. The number is 724-2916.