Privacy Policy

Scholarship America, Inc. Privacy Policy

Last Modified: August, 2023

Scholarship America, Inc. (“Company”, “Our”, “Us” or “We”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy (“Privacy Policy”).

SCHOLARSHIP AMERICA DOES NOT SELL YOUR INFORMATION TO ANYONE. Additionally, except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, Scholarship America will not share or trade your information with any other entity.

We do not share any SMS Consent with any other entity.

In cases where donations are processed through a third-party service provider that may be accessed through our websites, DONOR information will only be used as necessary to process the donation. All processing of payments and related information, including by third party service providers, is protected by industry standard safeguards. We will not send mailings to our donors on behalf of other organizations unless a donor has given us specific permission to do so.

BY ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEBSITE, YOU AGREE AND CONSENT TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit our websites (our “Website”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect:

On this Website or our online services;
In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website;
Through mobile and desktop applications you download from this Website, which provide dedicated non-browser-based interaction between you and this Website;
When you interact with our promotions of scholarships and applications on third-party websites and services; and
When using technologies to measure the effectiveness of our scholarship services, to improve content and services, usability and functionality of the systems, and statistically analyze site use and performance.

It does not apply to information collected by any third party, including through any application or content that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website or our services.

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Policy periodically for updates as applicable law and practices change over time.

Children Under the Age of 13 and Persons 16 Years of Age and Under

Our Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Website or through any of its features, register on the Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at data@scholarshipamerica.org or by calling 1-800-537-4180.

Persons 16 years of age and under may have additional rights regarding the collection and sale of their personal information. Please see Your State Privacy Rights for more information.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU AND HOW WE COLLECT IT

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Website (students, parents, donors, and partners). If you use this Website, then we may collect information that may personally identify you (“personal information”), that is about you but may not individually identify you, and about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and your usage details.

The information collected may include:

Student or Partner Record Information such as Name, Signature, Social Security Number, Address, Telephone Number, Mobile Phone Number, Education, Employment History, Bank Account Number, and Other Financial Information;
Unique Identifiers such as IP Address, Email Address, Account Name, Social Security Number, Alias and Postal Address;
Protected Classifications such as Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Age;
Electronic Information such as browsing history, search history, the student or partner interaction with the Website;
Professional and Employment Information;
Education Information;
Inferences such as preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, behavior, attitudes, abilities and aptitudes;
Records and copies of your correspondence including email addresses;
Information collected through chats, texts, or phone calls with us;
Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes;
Details of transactions you carry out through our Website and through the financial information you provide in completing your application; and
Your search queries on the Website.

We collect this information:

Directly from you when you provide it to us by applying for a scholarship or financial assistance, entering a contest sponsored by us or our partners, requesting services, sending documentation, posting material, filling in forms, making a donation, or reporting a problem;
Automatically as you navigate through the site, such as usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies;
From any response to electronic communication that we send to you by opening a message or clicking on an embedded link; and
From third parties, including sponsors, chapters, and research partners.

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your browsing actions, patterns, traffic data, and information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

HOW WE MAY USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information, in the following ways:

Present our Website and its contents to you;
Provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us;
Administer services for the purpose that you have provided the information, including communicating with you;
Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you, the program sponsor and us;
Notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it;
Allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website;
Improve student and partner outcomes;
Improve the quality of the experience with our services;
Estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our services according to your individual interests and needs;
Speed up your searches;
Recognize you when you return to our Website;
Research ways to improve general student outcomes, evaluate effectiveness of financial aid generally, and methods and means of delivery of student assistance; and
For any other purpose that you have specifically granted us consent.

We may share your personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Policy to third parties that we contractually require to keep confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we share it with them, including:

Contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business;
Third parties who sponsor scholarships or other student services’ products;
Research partners; and
Successors in interest to Scholarship America in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Scholarship America’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Scholarship America about our Website users is among the assets transferred.

If you do not want us to use or share your information in this way, please email us at data@scholarshipamerica.org. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

We may disclose aggregated information about our users and information that does not identify any individual without restriction.

We may also disclose your personal information, under the following limited circumstances:

To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
To enforce or apply our terms of use at https://scholarshipamerica.org/terms-and-conditions/ and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes; and
If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Scholarship America, our partners, or others – this includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Disclosure of Your Information to Third Parties. If you do not want us to share your personal information with third parties for promotional purposes you can opt-out by emailing us at data@scholarshipamerica.org and requesting of which parties to opt-out.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

You can review and change your personal information by logging into the Website and visiting your account profile page.

You may also send us an email at data@scholarshipamerica.org to request access to, correct, or delete any personal information that you have provided to us.

We may not be able to delete partial personal information except by also deleting your entire user account. We also may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect. Proper access and use of information provided on the Website is governed by our terms of use.

DATA SECURITY

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers behind firewalls. Any financial transactions and highly sensitive personal information will be encrypted using SSL technology.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you or where you have chosen a password for access to certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ personal information, we will notify you through a notice on the Website home page.

The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you and for periodically visiting our Website and this Privacy Policy to check for any changes.

Your State Privacy Rights

State consumer privacy laws may provide their residents with additional rights regarding our use of their personal information. These laws may change periodically and we do our best to timely update this Privacy Policy according to any changes in the law.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Scholarship America wants your information and preferences to be accurate and complete. To update, change, or delete your information, you can send your request and updated information to:

Scholarship America, Inc.
7900 International Drive, Suite 500
Minneapolis, MN 55425
data@scholarshipamerica.org

The Data Privacy Officer is Nick Leonard. To communicate with our Data Privacy Officer, please address any questions, concerns or comments to:

Data Privacy Officer
7900 International Drive, Suite 500
Minneapolis, MN 55425
data@scholarshipamerica.org