Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 21, 2020

This Privacy Policy applies to properties owned and operated by The TuitionPledge, Inc. (“TuitionPledge”, “We”, “Us”, “Our”) which include www.tuitionpledge.org (“Web Site”), and our mobile app, (the “App”) (collectively, “Properties”). This Privacy Policy describes how TuitionPledge collects and uses the personal information you provide through our Properties. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your personal information and how you can access and update this information.

This policy will let you know about:

• Changes in this Privacy Policy
• What personal information does TuitionPledge collect from you?
• What are cookies and similar technologies and how are they used?
• How does TuitionPledge use applicant information?
• How does TuitionPledge use parent/legal guardian information?
• With whom does TuitionPledge share applicant information?
• What is TuitionPledge’s policy when there has been an allegation of fraud, misrepresentation or other inappropriate act or criminal allegation involving an applicant?
• What are the applicant’s choices regarding collection, use, and distribution of information?
• What is TuitionPledge’s policy on allowing you to access, update, correct, or delete your personal information?
• What kind of security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information, including your credit card information and how is your information stored, accessed and used by others?
• Your California Privacy Rights
• Social Media Widgets and Integrated Services
• Additional information and how you can contact us regarding this Policy.
• Emails that you send us

Please read carefully this Privacy Policy before providing us with any information. Please note that this Policy only addresses TuitionPledge’s privacy practice concerning information collected from our Properties and does not apply to information that may have been collected about you by others. This Policy also does not cover the privacy or information practices of those web sites that may be linked to or referenced by the Properties or the information practices of Colleges, Universities, or other partners of ours with whom we share personal information.

Changes in this Privacy Policy

Changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted on this page. We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it periodically to learn of updates.

What personal information does TuitionPledge collect from you?

Summary:

TuitionPledge collects various information from applicants and educational institutions. This information is collected when you register for TuitionPledge; complete an online form, including any application forms; provide a recommendation; and interact with us for other purposes. TuitionPledge also collects technical information about your visit when you access our Properties.

If you are a student applicant, certain personal information is collected from you when you complete your “profile” as part of the registration and application process, provide this information to us through the completion of an on-line User Registration form, and/or or voluntarily complete the TuitionPledge, any application supplements, or other applicant forms. This information includes your name, home and mailing address, email address, telephone number, citizenship, date and place of birth, payment information, and Social Security number. TuitionPledge also collects the username and password you create during registration.

If you are a student applicant we may collect personal information about you from recommenders and educational institutions you have attended, including information about your academic achievements and performance, impressions of you and any other information they choose to provide us to support your application(s).

If you are a parent or legal guardian we may collect personal information about you from the applicant, including your name, relationship with the applicant, address, telephone numbers, and/or email address.

When you access our Properties, we may also gather information such as device operating system version, device type and system response times (mobile device), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data. See the “What are tracking technologies and how are they used?” section for information we automatically gather when you access our Properties.

What are cookies and similar technologies and how are they used?

Summary:

TuitionPledge may use cookies and similar technologies to automatically gather certain technical information, such as your browser type and operating system. This information may be linked to other information TuitionPledge collects about you for the purposes of providing the services you request and to safeguard our systems and your information.

TuitionPledge and its partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, analyze users’ movements around the Properties, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level, but if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or functions on our Properties. As is true of most web sites and apps, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files.

Information collected automatically may include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, device type and system response times, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data. We link this automatically-collected data to other information we collect about you. We do this to:

• Ensure that our Properties work properly on your device so we can provide you with services you request.
• Promote our legitimate interests in safeguarding and ensuring the smooth operation of our IT systems, including our Properties, and to help safeguard your personal information.

We may work with third parties that collect data about your use of the Properties and other sites or apps over time for non-advertising purposes. TuitionPledge uses Google Analytics and other third-party services to improve the performance of the Properties. For more information about how Google Analytics collects and uses data when you use our Properties, visit www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and to opt out of Google Analytics, visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

We also use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality of our Mobile Software on your phone. This software may record information such as how often you use our App, the events that occur within the App, aggregated usage, performance data, and from where the App was downloaded.

How does TuitionPledge use applicant information?

Summary:

TuitionPledge uses the information it collects about applicants for various purposes, including to process your application to member Colleges and Universities; to communicate with you; and for research and statistical uses.

We may use the information we collect from applicants for any lawful basis, including in the following ways:

• To process your application(s) to our Sponsors which require the information to assess your suitability for admission, communicate with you about your application, meet institutional reporting requirements and obligations to safeguard students. If you do not provide the information our Sponsors require, we will be unable to process your application. This information is, therefore, necessary for the performance of our services to you.
• To allow us to communicate with you when necessary for the performance of our services to you. For example, to provide you with technical support, answer your questions about the TuitionPledge and provide you with updates on the progress of your application, including by reminding you of upcoming deadlines.
• To send you push notifications from time to time in order to update you about the TuitionPledge registration process as necessary for the performance of the TuitionPledge service. If you no longer wish to receive these communications, you may turn them off on your device.
• Allow us to send you other informational materials linked to our services, where you have engaged with us and have not opted out from receiving such information or you have affirmatively consented to receive it, as required by law.
• To allow us to confirm or “validate” through a third-party verification service the accuracy of the mailing address that you provide to further our legitimate interest in preventing misuse of the TuitionPledge and our Properties.
• To create anonymized, aggregate data that we and our partners can use solely for research and statistical use.
• To allow our Sponsors to meet their institutional reporting requirements regarding certain protected characteristics including gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation.

How does TuitionPledge use school official information?

Summary:

TuitionPledge uses school official information for various purposes, including to communicate with you regarding applicants for which you provide information.

By activating your account registration with our Properties, your collected personal information may be shared and used by our member Colleges and/or Universities to contact you at any time and for any reason, including sending SMS messages to your mobile phone number(s), written communications to your mailing address, and/or emails to your email address in order to provide you with other information relevant to the applicant’s admission application process. This information that we collect and share with our Sponsors includes your name, your official title, your email address, your cell phone number, your zip code, school code information and date, as well as your mailing address.

We do the above:

• With your consent, to allow us and member Colleges and Universities to which the relevant applicant(s) is applying to contact you in connection with the application.
• With your consent, to assess your recommendation and the applicant’s suitability for admission, as is necessary for the performance of the TuitionPledge service to applicants.
• To communicate with you as necessary for the performance of our services to associated applicants e.g., to provide you with updates on the application process, answer technical queries and provide service-related reminders and general service support.

How does TuitionPledge use parent/legal guardian information?

TuitionPledge may also communicate with you when providing services to the applicant and his or her family.

With whom does TuitionPledge share applicant information?

Summary:

TuitionPledge does not share information with any third party.

If TuitionPledge is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets or experiences a bankruptcy event, we will post a prominent notice on the Web Site informing you of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.

TuitionPledge shares information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. See the “Your California Privacy Rights” section for more information.

TuitionPledge also shares information pursuant to a subpoena, court order, governmental inquiry, or other legal process or as otherwise required by law, or to protect our rights or the rights of third parties. We also share your personal information with your consent or as otherwise disclosed at the time of data collection or sharing.

What is TuitionPledge’s policy when there has been an allegation of fraud, misrepresentation or other inappropriate act?

Summary:

In the event of an allegation of fraud, misrepresentation, or other inappropriate act involving an applicant, TuitionPledge may disclose information, including where required by law or where necessary to protect our rights and the rights of our Sponsors.

Sponsors, secondary schools, and applicants are advised that TuitionPledge functions as a conduit of information between the student applicant, his/her secondary school and the various member Colleges and Universities selected by the applicant. As such, it is TuitionPledge’s policy not to judge, evaluate, conduct any verification of or perform an investigation on any information provided on or about a student applicant regardless of the source of that information.

That said, where we have been informed of an act of fraud, misrepresentation, or other inappropriate act involving an applicant, in certain situations, TuitionPledge may be required to disclose personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

The TuitionPledge reserves the right to disclose your personal information as required by law or in any instance or circumstance when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, the rights of our Sponsors and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, police investigation, court order, or legal process served on the TuitionPledge. Subject to any rights afforded by law, TuitionPledge also reserves the right upon notice to an applicant to disclose information collected from a registered user about which member Colleges and/or Universities a student applicant had applied to, including possibly suspending or closing an applicant’s on-line account upon notice to the student, when we have reason to believe that accessing and/or disclosing this information or taking such action is necessary to prevent, identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating any of our on-line user agreements or policies or who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) TuitionPledge rights or property, other TuitionPledge users, Sponsors or schools, or to help protect anyone else that could be harmed by such activities.

TuitionPledge may also disclose or access registered user information when we believe in good faith that the law requires us to do so and for administrative, technical, and other related purposes that we deem necessary to maintain or improve our services. Subject to the terms and conditions of The TuitionPledge.io, Inc. Sponsorship Non-Compliance Procedures, TuitionPledge also reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove any College or University as a member without any further or special notice.

What are the applicant’s choices regarding collection, use, and distribution of information?

Summary:

TuitionPledge offers registrants a choice mechanism through which registrants can indicate whether they would like to receive communications from TuitionPledge and its Sponsors. TuitionPledge also offers its App users the ability to provide choice regarding push notifications.

You have the right not to provide us with any personal information about you when you visit the Properties (if applicable) but you will not be able to utilize our services unless you complete an on-line User Registration form.

Once registered, while you are free not to provide any personal information requested on the TuitionPledge, any application supplement or other applicant form, to do so may cause the member College and/or University that you select not to accept the application, supplement or other applicant form as complete and consequently this may delay the application admission process or reject the submission as incomplete regardless of payment. Users/applicants can also decide not to provide information that is designated as “optional” on any application, supplement or other form and still utilize the service that we provide. Users should communicate with their designated College and/or University directly if any admission application is delayed or rejected or otherwise results in an outcome that does not satisfy the applicant’s expectations.

TuitionPledge cannot be held responsible for any sponsorship outcome of any specific applicant.

What is TuitionPledge’s policy on allowing you to access, update, correct, or delete your personal information?

Summary:

TuitionPledge offers you the ability to access, update, correct, and delete the information TuitionPledge holds about you.

TuitionPledge keeps your personal information for as long as it is necessary to provide you with the TuitionPledge service or we have another legitimate reason to retain it, including longitudinal studies using aggregate data. When determining how long to retain your personal information, our considerations include our legal obligations and other mandatory record keeping requirements and the likelihood of you needing access to the personal information we hold for purposes related to your previous use of the TuitionPledge or App.

TuitionPledge allows you to make revisions to your personal information. For any information that was erroneously provided by the applicant but was already submitted and can no longer be changed or re-submitted, you must contact the payment card processor directly to alert them to the erroneous information.

What kind of security precautions are in place?

Summary:

TuitionPledge offers suggestions through which users of its Properties may secure their information.

Your User Registration information is password-protected. You may edit your User Registration information by using your User Name (your email address) and password. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. Also remember to sign out of your TuitionPledge registration account and close your browser window when you have finished your work.

Also, to help ensure the security of your application, do not copy and paste links from within the online application into an email or share with others on a public forum. The data transmission is encrypted when you make submissions of the TuitionPledge.

Your California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code section 1798.83 entitles residents of California to request information about the third parties with whom TuitionPledge has shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year and if those third parties ever used such information for direct marketing purposes. California residents may submit one request per calendar year in the form of a report that details: (a) of the categories information TuitionPledge shared, and (b) the name and address of the third parties with whom TuitionPledge shared such information.

California residents may submit their request by scrolling to the Section entitled “Additional information and how you can contact us regarding this Policy” and following directions for accessing the Help Center.

Social Media Widgets and Integrated Services

The Properties include social media features (“Features”) such as the Facebook Like button and widgets or interactive mini-programs that run on the Properties. These Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on the Properties, and may set a cookie to enable the Features to function properly. The Features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on the Properties. Your interactions with the Features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

The Google API Service is used to provide a student access to their Google Drive files, if they choose to use the integrated service. No data about the user’s Google account is stored or shared by the TuitionPledge.

Additional information and how you can contact us regarding this Policy

We encourage you to review the Frequently Asked Questions for additional information and instructions about any questions that you may have regarding this Privacy Policy.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, you should first contact us at privacy@TuitionRelief.io.

Emails That You Send Us

Please note that any emails, text messages, or other communications that you send us or which we have been given legal access to may be copied, forwarded or distributed to our Sponsors within our sole discretion.