Abroad101 - Privacy Policy

Last Updated on January 14th, 2014

Welcome to Abroad101, and our online network that brings together universities, students, parents, study abroad program providers, and affiliates (referred to herein as the "Abroad101 Network" or the "Site"). Abroad101 is a service provided by Study Abroad 101, LLC, doing business as Abroad101 ("Abroad101", "we" or "us"). More details about Abroad101 can be found below, under "How You Can Contact Us."

We understand that providing information online involves a great deal of trust on your part. We take this trust very seriously, and we are committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information that you provide to us. Since we collect certain types of information about you, we want you to understand the terms and conditions surrounding our collection and use of that information before you submit it to us. This Privacy Policy discloses what information we collect, how we use it, and how to correct and change it. For those reasons, we encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully. By visiting or using the Site, you acknowledge that you are accepting that the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy will apply to you, as well as any information you provide to us.

We may modify the Privacy Policy from time to time. When changes are made, we will notify you by making the revised version available on this webpage, and will indicate at the top of this page the date that revisions were last made. You should check this Privacy Policy on a regular basis, as revised versions will be binding on you. Any such modifications will be effective when we post the new Privacy Policy. You understand and agree that your continued access to or use of the Site after any posted modification to the Privacy Policy indicates your acceptance of the modifications.

Users of the Site

There are several different types of users of (and contributors to) the Site:

Study abroad program providers ("Program Providers") use Abroad101 to inform students and Universities of available study abroad programs, and to solicit and track University and student feedback about their programs. In these capacities, some Program Providers may add students’ email addresses (which they acquired through other means, and not originally through the Site) to the Site for the purpose of encouraging them to provide feedback about their programs. In such cases, the Program Providers may have the ability to access and use some or all of the personal information on the Site belonging to you if you were already on that Program Provider’s email list, including, without limitation, the ability to send you e-mails using communication tools on the Site. Program Providers may also elect to communicate with you directly if you indicate an affirmative interest (which you can do, amongst other ways, by clicking "Request Info", "Request Application", or "Favorite") in learning more about, or applying for, a Program Provider’s study abroad program. In such cases, Program Providers may have the ability to access some or all of your personal information on the Site for the purpose of contacting you, and understanding more about your interest in a particular program. High school, college, and university students who are above the age of 14 and their parents ("Students") use Abroad101 to learn more about available study abroad programs, connect with programs that interest them, and leave reviews or feedback about programs that they have attended.

Unless we indicate that a part of this Privacy Policy applies only to a certain type of user, you should presume that the terms of the Privacy Policy apply to all types of users. When we use the word “you” in this Privacy Policy, it refers all users of the Site, unless we specifically indicate otherwise.

Information Collected by Universities, Program Providers, or other Third Party Sites

If you are a Student, please be aware that we are not responsible for what Universities or Program Providers do with personal information about you that you provide to them, that they had prior to your registration on the Site, or that is available or accessible to them on or through the Site. If you have questions regarding the practices and policies of a University or Program Provider with respect to your personal information, we recommend that you contact the University or Program Provider directly, and review their privacy statements to better understand their procedures for collecting, disclosing, and using your personal information.

Abroad101 may make content or services from other web sites available to you from links located on the Site. These other web sites are not subject to this Privacy Policy. We recommend that you review the privacy policy at each such web site to better understand their procedures for collecting, disclosing, and using your personal information.

Personally Identifiable Information We Collect

We receive and store any information you enter on the Site, or that you give us in any other way. This includes information that can identify you ("personal information"), including your first and last name, telephone number, postal and email addresses, photos, username, and password. If you are a Student, personal information we collect may also include the school you attend(ed), your major, year of graduation, when/where you may want to study abroad, your responses to University or Abroad101 questionnaires or evaluations, as well as any personal information you choose to include in any of your reviews, feedback, comments, posts, pictures, or other data you submit to the Site.

We may also ask Students for other information from time to time, which you may choose to provide or not to provide at your sole discretion, such as information regarding your personal experiences, interests and preferences, your views on study abroad and travel-related topics, your opinion regarding various features of our Site and the types of information that interest you. To the extent that you choose to include your personal information in your responses to these requests, we will receive and store such information.

You can choose not to provide personal information to us, but in general, some information about you is required in order for you to enjoy the benefits of being a registered member. For example, only registered members are able to post reviews, participate in discussion forums, save information about programs in your Planning Bar, receive members-only newsletters and other content, and enter surveys, contests, or sweepstakes. In addition, some information is also required for you to ask us a question or initiate other transactions on our site.

If you are a University or Program Provider, you will have the opportunity to provide contact information for other people (including, without limitation, Students) through our Site. You agree that you must obtain the consent of those people prior to providing us with their personal information.

We may also periodically obtain personal information about you from business partners and other independent third party sources (like Facebook) and add it to other information about you. For example, if you register for Abroad101 by using the “Login with Facebook” button, then certain personal information that you have provided to Facebook will be shared with us.

How We Use Personally Identifiable Information Collected

Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we do not disclose, display or share your personal information to or with third parties without your permission. We use the personal information we collect on the Site for the following purposes:

• To enable you (and other users) to access and utilize the various tools, features and functionality of the Site, such as searching, leaving and reviewing feedback, making forum posts, uploading documents, etc.
• For administering sweepstakes, contests, surveys, questionnaires, evaluations, polling activities and other similar events and activities that you choose to participate in, and for other purposes specifically communicated to you when we collect the information.
• To communicate with you with regard to your use of the Site and its services, or to advise you of Site changes or other events or occurrences which may affect your access to or use of the Site.
• To provide Universities and Program Providers who are members of the Abroad101 Network with information and statistics concerning users of the Site.
• To respond to your questions and comments.
• To measure interest in and improve our service and our Site.
• To otherwise customize your experience with Abroad101.
• To enforce our Terms of Use.

We allow you to classify the name and photo that you provide to us in your “My Account” section of the Site with one of three levels of protection:

• Visible to Your University Network: Information with this classification is visible only to users with a valid email address that shares your particular University’s ".edu" extension (making them members of your "University Network"), as well as their parents by invitation and subject to verification. For example, all email addresses provided by Harvard College take the form name@fas.harvard.edu; Harvard’s extension is "Harvard.edu". Please be aware that this classification does not block affiliates of your University who have a valid University-provided email address; for example, faculty.
• Visible to Your Administrator Only: Information with this classification is visible only the administrator of the University that shares your particular University’s ".edu" extension.
• Visible to All Registered Users: Information with this classification is visible to any registered Student, parent, or University administrator.
• Visible to Everyone: Information with this classification is visible to anyone who visits the Site.

When you provide us with personally identifiable information in your "My Account" section of the Site, we provide you with the option to select the level of protection for that information. We are not responsible for the use of your personal information by users to whom it is made available, whether by you, by your selection of a less restrictive privacy setting, or otherwise in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You have the ability to change the level of protection for the information you provide in the “My Account” section of the site by selecting a different privacy option. In certain cases, if you had a less restrictive privacy setting in place earlier, third parties may have already gained access to that information and may have retained a copy of that information in their own files or databases. We are not responsible for the behavior of third parties in such instances.

With your permission, we may use your e-mail address and other contact information to send you articles, profiles, travel news and other study abroad related information, as well as to notify you of special promotions or additional products and services offered by us or our business partners and advertisers that may be of interest to you. With your permission, we may also share your personal information with our business partners and other third parties to enable them to contact you regarding special promotions, products and services they offer which may be of interest to you.

We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Site. These companies may use information we provide them about your activity on the Site and other Web sites (but not including your name, address, email or telephone number) or information you provide them yourself (by clicking on their advertisement, or with respect to Program Providers, by clicking on “Request Info”, “Request Application”, or “Add Program” in relation to their programs, or by placing a particular program in your Planning Bar) in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. Remember that when you provide your personal information to third parties (like advertising companies), the information that you share will be governed by their privacy policies – so read them carefully before providing any third party with your personal information. We may also serve ads to you ourselves when you visit the Site, in which case we may use the same types of information that we provide to third party advertising companies for that purpose.

We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting our web servers, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. These other companies will have access to your personal information as necessary to perform their functions, but they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information and are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide services to Abroad101.

If you are a Student, we may share your information (including your personal information) with your University, or with Program Providers that you have expressed an interest in. This may involve, among other things, send you emails or other communications concerning products or services which might be available to you; or, in the case of Universities, emails or other communications containing questionnaires, evaluations, or otherwise soliciting information or feedback from you. You can tell when a third party is involved in these communications because their name will appear (either with ours, or separately). Please note that we do not control the privacy practices of Universities or Program Providers. As a Student, you may also choose to access certain third party Web sites and services through our site (such as Facebook). When you do so, you are sharing information with those sites, and the information you share will be governed by their privacy policies.

We may also disclose your information (including your personally identifiable information): (i) in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal processes; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law (in all such cases, we reserve the right to raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us); (ii) when we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of Abroad101, our customers, users, or others; and in connection with our Terms of Use and other agreements; and (iii) in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a divestitutre, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.

You should note that all content that you post in public areas of the Site will be visible to everyone, even people who are not officially registered with the Site. Please use your discretion in determining what content you post. We will not be responsible for any content or information that you post in public areas of the Site. All users should be aware that when they voluntarily display or distribute personal information (such as their e-mail address) to others (whether in forums, messages, by posting feedback, responding to feedback or otherwise), that information can be collected and used by others. This may result in unsolicited messages from third parties, for which Abroad101 is not responsible.

Finally, if you provide any information to parties who operate web sites that are linked to or from our Site, different rules may apply to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information by such other party. We are not responsible for any such party's use of your personal information. We encourage you to review these sites' privacy policies before revealing any sensitive or personal information to them.

Accessing Your Account Information; Closing Your Account

You can change or correct your "My Account" information at any time. To do so, simply log in to your Abroad101 account, go to your "My Account" page, and you will find options for editing the information you have submitted. You can close your account at any time by contacting us at the email address listed below. We will send you an email to confirm your request. Please note that after you close an account, you will not be able to sign in or access any of your information. However, you can open a new account at any time. Please also note that we may retain certain information associated with your account in our archives, for both analytical purposes and recordkeeping integrity. If you close your account with us, please be aware that we will retain any content you post on our Site (or, if you are a University or a Program Provider, content posted by or about your Students or Students that have attended your programs), including, without limitation, reviews, comments, results of evaluations, and other data or posted content, and that we reserve the right to use such content for our own business purposes in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy, without the requirement to provide you with notice or to obtain your consent.

Opting Out of Receiving Communications

If you are a Student, you will have the option to opt out of receiving certain types of communications from us and/or our business partners and advertisers. If you do not wish to receive any such communications, you may opt-out by clicking on the “opt out” link (or similarly labeled link) at the bottom of the particular communication. We reserve the right to send you communications regarding the Site and our services, or to advise you of Site changes or other events or occurrences which may affect your access to or use of the Site (such as service announcements, administrative notices and the like) without offering you the opportunity to opt out of them.

Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses and Aggregated User Data

We automatically collect some information about your computer when you visit the Site. For example, among other things, we collect session data, including your IP address, web browser software, and referring Web site (if any). We may also collect information about your online activity, such as content viewed and pages visited. Our goals in collecting this automatic information are to help us understand the interests of our users, analyze trends, administer the Site, and to customize your user experience.

We may share aggregate information about out Site and our users with third parties (including Universities, Program Providers, advertisers, media, and actual or potential partners or investors) for informational, marketing, and promotional purposes, and so that they too may understand our user base, their preferences, and Site usage patterns, but only on a collective, aggregated basis and in a manner which does not reveal any personally identifiable information about any individual user.

Cookies and log files

We use cookies and log files to administer the Site. A log file is a list of recent actions that is maintained by our servers. Cookies, which are small text files recorded in a user's hard drive, are employed by thousands of sites to enhance users' Web viewing experience. Cookies cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user's hard drive. Cookies allow sites and advertisers to "remember" users across pages of a site and across multiple visits to a site. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user's computer. We use cookies and log files for a variety of different purposes, including, but not limited to: (i) remembering user preferences and current session information; (ii) delivering faster service, more consistent, updated results, and a more personalized Site experience; (iii) customizing the content and advertising provided to you on the Site; and (iv) helping measure and research the effectiveness of the Site features and offerings, advertisements, and email communications (by determining which emails you open and act upon).

You may be able to use your computer’s control panel or your browser’s settings to disable cookies; but doing so may affect your ease in using the Site. We have no access to or control over any cookies that may be used by linked or other third party sites.

Children

Abroad101 is a general audience site and does not offer services directed to children. For that reason, we do not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from or about children under 14. Should an individual whom we know to be a child under 14 send personal information to us, we will delete or destroy such information as soon as reasonably possible.

Visiting Our Site from outside the United States

If you are visiting our Site from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country, but please be assured that Abroad101 does take steps pursuant to laws in the United States to ensure that your privacy is protected. By using our Site, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.

Security

The account containing your registration information and profile is password protected, so only you (or third parties you provide your password to) can access your account. All personally identifiable information we collect about you is stored in limited-access servers. This Site has technical, administrative and physical security measures and safeguards in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. While we are committed to placing reasonable and appropriate safeguards to protecting your information against foreseeable risks, no computer system or information can ever be fully protected against every possible hazard, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not be able to circumvent those safeguards or use your personal information for improper purposes.

How You Can Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or privacy issues relating to the Site, you can contact us online at legal@abroad101.com or mail or phone us at:
Study Abroad 101, LLC
228 Park Ave S #32004
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 610-357-4648