Privacy Policy

Scholarship America recognizes the importance of data security and privacy.

We are dedicated to protecting your privacy and handling any personal information you provide with care and respect. This Privacy Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we, as the data controller, collect, use, and share personal information you provide to us through the Scholarship America websites (Sites).

Scholarship America, Inc. Privacy Policy

Last Modified March 1, 2023

Introduction

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

This 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 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 advertising and applications on third-party websites and services, if those applications or advertising include links.
When using technologies such as pixel tags, web beacons, clear gifs, use analytics and monitoring to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns, other communications, improve content and services, usability and functionality of the systems as well as statistically analyze site use and performance

It does not apply to information collected by:

Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by an affiliated third party or
Any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, we will not sell, share, or trade your information with any other entity.

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

Please read this 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. By accessing or using this Website, you agree and consent to this privacy policy. This 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 policy periodically for updates as applicable law and practices change over time.

Children Under the Age of 13

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.

California residents under 16 years of age 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, including information:

By which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, email address, telephone number, mobile phone number, social security number, login information or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline (“personal information“);
That is about you but individually does not identify you, such as your birthdate, gender, racial or ethnic origin, education or academic information, current and future school enrollment information, and involvement in work, school, and community activities; and/or
About your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details.
For all Donors, certain personal information such as names, contact information, and financial information.

We collect this information

Directly from you when you provide it to us.
Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking
Any response you take in response to electronic communication that we send to you such as opening a message or clicking on an embedded link
From third parties, for example, our business partners

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect on or through our Website may include:

Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website. This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our Website, information you provide through the scholarship application and supporting documentation, posting material, or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you enter a contest or a promotion sponsored by us, and when you report a problem with our Website.
Records and copies of your correspondence including email addresses, if you contact us
Information collected through chats, texts, or phone calls
Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes
Details of transactions you carry out through our Website and of the submission of your application(s). You may be required to provide financial information before completing your application(s) through our Website
Your search queries on the Website
ANY OTHER TYPES OF INFORMATION THE USER PROVIDES

You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted“) on public areas of the Website, or transmitted to other users of the Website or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions“). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although we limit access to certain pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Website with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

If data is shared with a sponsor, during the application process you will be told what data will be shared with the sponsor, how and for what purpose the sponsor will process the data and given access to the sponsor’s privacy policy.

In cases where donations are processed through a third-party service provider, 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.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

The information we collect automatically may include personal information. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

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 Website according to your individual interests
Speed up your searches
Recognize you when you return to our Website

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website
Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third- parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. For information about how you can opt out of receiving targeted advertising from many providers, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

How We Use Your Information

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

To present our Website and its contents to you.
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
To provide you with notices about your scholarships or scholarship programs, including deadlines and renewal notices.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you, the scholarship program sponsor and us. To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website.
For research purposes to improve general student outcomes and evaluate effectiveness of financial aid generally.
For any other purpose that you have specifically granted us consent.

We may also use your information to contact you about your scholarship and related services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your information in this way, please email us. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

Disclosure of Your Information

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

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
To a buyer or other successor 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.
To third parties who sponsor scholarships to you if you have not opted out of these disclosures. We contractually require these third parties to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
For research purposes with your consent.

We may also disclose your personal information

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
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

The categories of personal information we may disclose 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 websites, applications and advertisements
Professional and Employment Information
Education Information
Inferences such as preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, behavior, attitudes, abilities and aptitudes

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 and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. 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 for Third-Party Scholarship Opportunities. If you do not want us to share your personal information with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for promotional purposes. you can opt-out by emailing us at data@scholarshipamerica.org.
Targeted Advertising. If you do not want us to use information that we collect or that you provide to us to deliver scholarship program information according to our target- audience preferences, you can opt-out by emailing us at data@scholarshipamerica.org .

Residents of certain states, such as California, Nevada Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah may have additional personal information rights and choices. Please see Your State Privacy Rights for more information.

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 cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your user account. We 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.

If you delete your information from the Website, copies of your information may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or might have been copied or stored by other Website users. Proper access and use of information provided on the Website is governed by our terms of use https://scholarshipamerica.org/terms-and-conditions/.

Residents of certain states, such as California, Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, and Utah may have additional personal information rights and choices. Please see Your State Privacy Rights for more information.

Your State Privacy Rights

State consumer privacy laws may provide their residents with additional rights regarding our use of their personal information.

California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our App that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to data@scholarshipamerica.org or write us at:

Scholarship America, Inc. Attn: Data Privacy Officer
7900 International Drive, Suite 500
Minneapolis, MN 55425

To learn more about consumer privacy rights in other states and how to exercise them, visit:

California:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&division=3.&tit le=1.81.5.&part=4.&chapter=&article=

https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa

Nevada:

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6365/Text

Colorado:

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-190

Connecticut:

https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Sections/Privacy/The-Connecticut-Data-Privacy-Act

Virgina:

https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?211+sum+SB1392

Utah:

https://le.utah.gov/~2022/bills/static/SB0227.html

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.

Contact Information

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