Gateway to Prep Schools®
Online Secondary School Admission Application
gatewaytoprepschools.com

PRIVACY POLICY

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Privacy Policy was last revised on and is effective as of: October 12, 2012.

1. INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy pertains to the Gateway to Prep Schools® websites, located at the following URLs: gatewaytoprepschools.com and gateway.applywithus.com (collectively referred to herein as the "Gateway Website" or the "Website"). The Gateway Website is an online secondary school admission application service provided by ApplicationsOnline, LLC ("ApplicationsOnline," "we," "us," or "our"), a Maryland limited liability company, for use by parents, applicants age 13 or older and our member schools and their representatives. The "Gateway Website," as used in this Agreement, collectively includes all of the webpages, services, content and software comprising or made available through the Website and the individual webpages, including, without limitation, the Gateway to Prep Schools application, school-specific forms (called "Supplements"), inquiry forms and all other forms, documents and materials available on or via the website.

2. OUR PRIVACY PLEDGE

ApplicationsOnline is committed to protecting your privacy. We use and disclose information collected on or through the Gateway Website only as described in this Privacy Policy and we utilize industry-standard security practices and procedures to protect your personally identifiable information, as further described below.

3. PURPOSE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to explain our policies regarding: (a) our collection of information on the Gateway Website, (b) our use and disclosure of the information collected, (c) our use of cookies on the Gateway Website and (d) our security measures for the protection of information. This Privacy Policy applies to all information we collect on or through the Gateway Website.

4. RELATION TO TERMS OF SERVICE

This Privacy Policy forms a part of and is incorporated into the Terms of Service governing your use of the Gateway Website. If you have any questions, concerns or comments about the Terms of Service and/or this Privacy Policy, please contact us through any of the several means described below.

5. CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13

THE GATEWAY WEBSITE IS PROVIDED SOLELY FOR USE BY REGISTERED USERS AGE 13 OR OLDER. We do not knowingly solicit or collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. All users are required to enter their date of birth at the time of registration. Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to use the Gateway Website themselves and will not be permitted to register or submit a Gateway to Prep Schools application. Parents or legal guardians of children under the age of 13 may register to use the Gateway Website and submit the Gateway to Prep Schools application on behalf of a child under the age of 13. For simplicity, "you" or "your" as used in this Privacy Policy includes both the registrant and/or the applicant, as applicable, even if not the same person. By registering for an account on the Gateway Website and by accessing or using the Gateway Website, the registrant affirms and verifies that he or she is age 13 or older. This policy will be strictly enforced. If you believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided any personally identifiable information to us through the Gateway Website, contact us immediately. Any personal information provided by a child under the age of 13 will be permanently and immediately destroyed.

6. YOUR CONSENT AND AGE VERIFICATION

As further explained in the Terms of Service, when you access or use the Gateway Website and when you register for an account on the Gateway Website, you agree to the Terms of Service, including this Privacy Policy, as revised from time to time. You also agree to any revisions to this Privacy Policy when you continue to access or use the Gateway Website after receiving notice of such revisions via the means of notification described below. In addition, by registering for an account on the Gateway Website and by accessing or using the Gateway Website, you verify that you are age 13 or older and give your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of information in the manner disclosed in this Privacy Policy, as revised from time to time. If you do not agree with our policies or practices or you do not consent to the collection, use and/or disclosure of information as disclosed herein, you should not access or use the Gateway Website or, if you are already a registered user, you should discontinue your use of the Gateway Website.

7. OUR POLICIES REGARDING THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The information we collect can be broadly categorized as general information and personally identifiable information.

General information. General information does not specifically identify you and may include, for example, information automatically provided to us by your browser or computer, such as your IP address, Internet service provider, the type of browser you are using, your operating system, the website you visited prior to and after this website, the webpages you visited on this website, and the date and time of your visit. We automatically collect some general information from you indirectly each time you visit the Gateway Website and the webpages within the site. This type of general information helps us determine, for example, your computer environment, the type of browser and version you are using and the pages you visit on the Gateway Website.

Personally identifiable information is specific to you and identifies you individually. Personally identifiable information includes information such as your name, date of birth, social security number, mailing address and email address. As used in this Privacy Policy, personally identifiable information also includes demographic, academic and other related information about you and your background, as well as any personally identifying information provided about your child, parents, guardians and/or siblings, as applicable.

Like all secondary school admission applications, the Gateway to Prep Schools application necessarily requires applicants to provide personally identifiable information and other information to enable the applicant’s selected schools to identify the applicant and process the applicant’s inquiry form and/or application for admission. All personally identifiable information collected by us is voluntarily provided by you directly when you register for a Gateway to Prep Schools application account and user id and each time you complete a Gateway to Prep Schools application, inquiry form, Supplement or other form on the Gateway Website. Some of the personally identifiable information requested is mandatory and must be provided by the registrant or applicant in order to complete the registration, inquiry or application process. All other information is optional and should not impede the application process if omitted by the applicant.

From time-to-time we may provide you the opportunity to participate in user surveys. If you participate, we may request certain personally identifiable information from you. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. By participating in a survey, you are consenting to our use of the information you submit, as described in this Privacy Policy.

We may also collect personally identifiable information when you contact us via phone or email for technical support or other requests. By voluntarily providing personally identifying information, you are consenting to our use of such information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Some of the member schools you select may allow you to pay admission application fees online using their chosen payment processors. For those schools, we provide a means through which you may securely transmit your credit card, debit card or electronic check information directly to the school’s chosen payment processor. ApplicationsOnline does not collect or store your credit card number or electronic payment information nor do we process your payment.

8. OUR POLICIES REGARDING USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Use of General and Personally Identifiable Information

The general information that we collect automatically from users of the Gateway Website (such as IP address, browser type, etc.) is stored primarily in our log files. With the exception of IP address, which may be stored with personally identifiable information in our database to help authenticate your acceptance of our Terms of Service, general information is not used to identify individual users of the Gateway Website. We use general information to analyze website usage loads and trends, to administer the website and to improve the website and our service. We may also use and disclose general information in the aggregate without disclosure of personally identifiable information.

We use your personally identifiable information to prepare your Gateway to Prep Schools application for the schools you have selected. We store this information in our database until you tell us to submit your application and related information to one or more of the schools you have selected. We retain a copy of your applications, other forms and all general and personally identifiable information in our database for your future use, for the use of schools you selected to receive your application and/or other forms, and for our records. All personally identifiable information remains subject to this Privacy Policy, as revised from time to time, and is protected according to our security policies and practices described below. We do not promise to retain your personally identifiable information or general information for any minimum period of time and we may delete all or some of your information at any time, with or without notice, without liability, in the event that you violate our Terms of Service or for any other reason in our sole and absolute discretion. We may use your email address and/or other contact information to communicate with your from time to time about your Gateway to Prep Schools application or the schools to which you have applied, to provide you with technical or other information about the Gateway Website or to respond to your inquiries and requests for customer service. These communications are not promotional in nature. We may also use aggregated (i.e., non-identifying) general and/or personally identifiable information for statistical and other purposes and we may share such aggregate information with our member schools and partners.

Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information to Third Parties

We do not sell, lease, license, share or otherwise disclose your personally identifiable information to third parties, except as described in this Privacy Policy.

In providing this service to you, we necessarily must share your Gateway to Prep Schools application and related information, including your personally identifiable information, with the schools that you have selected to receive them. By submitting a Gateway to Prep Schools application to your selected schools via the Gateway Website, you are consenting to such use and disclosure of your application and related information to those schools, including your personally identifiable information. Note that we cannot and do not control the use and/or disclosure of your personally identifiable information by the schools to whom your Gateway to Prep Schools application is submitted and we are not responsible for any use or misuse by those schools or any third party. We recommend that you review the privacy policies and practices of the schools to which you wish to submit a Gateway to Prep Schools application prior to submission. Once your Gateway to Prep Schools application is submitted to a particular school, the information on the application submitted to the school cannot be changed through the Gateway Website. You must contact the school directly to change or correct a submitted application.

As explained above, if you elect to pay an application fee electronically, your payment information is transmitted directly to the selected school’s chosen online payment processor. Such payment information may include personally identifiable information, such as your name and credit card number. The school’s payment processor processes your payment. We do not collect or store your electronic payment information nor do we process the payment. We cannot and do not control the use and/or disclosure of your personally identifiable information by any payment processor and we are not responsible for any use or misuse by those processors or any third party. You are encouraged to review the privacy policies and practices of the payment processors prior to submitting your electronic payment information.

We may disclose personally identifiable information to our independent contractors, service providers and/or vendors who assist us in performing internal business functions and/or provide other services necessary to the operation of our business and/or the Gateway Website.

We may also disclose personally identifiable information and/or general information to third parties when we reasonably believe that disclosing such information is necessary to: (a) identify or contact a user of the Gateway Website; (b) to prevent abuse, fraud, or unlawful use of the Gateway Website or the Gateway Application; (c) to protect our rights, safety, or property and/or the rights, safety, or property of others; (d) to initiate or defend a legal action relating to the Gateway Website; or (d) to respond to or comply with a subpoena, other legal or administrative process or law, rule or regulation.

Finally, we may disclose personally identifiable information in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of our business or assets, or in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership, if such information is transferred to one or more third parties as part of our business or assets.

9. YOUR ACCESS TO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

You may correct or update your personally identifiable information at any time by accessing your Gateway to Prep Schools application on the Gateway Website. However, the information on any applications submitted to a school prior to such corrections or updates will not be changed. To make changes to an application already submitted, you must contact the school directly. To avoid fraud, abuse and mistakes, we do not allow you to deactivate your application or close your account online. To deactivate your Gateway to Prep Schools application and/or close your account, you must send a signed, written request to our office address set forth below with your name, user id, the reason for your request and a telephone number by which we can reach you. We will attempt to respond to each such request within a reasonable time after receipt. We will retain archived copies of your account, Gateway to Prep Schools application and personally identifiable information for our records, subject to this Privacy Policy.

10. OUR USE OF COOKIES

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from our server and stored on your computer's hard drive. We use cookies for managing your online sessions while you are using the Gateway Website, to save you from having to repeatedly enter your user ID and password, and to secure your communications with the Gateway Website, when necessary. We do not store personally identifiable information in cookies.

You may choose to accept or reject cookies. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject cookies from the Gateway Website, you may not be able to use those parts of the website that require cookies.

11. OUR SECURITY PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES

We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personally identifiable information you submit to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. When you enter sensitive information on our webpages, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). We use the same type of encrypted transmissions when providing your application information to your selected schools and when you provide your payment information to the school’s chosen payment processor. We also restrict physical and electronic assess to our servers through the use of perimeter security and industry-standard firewalls. However, be aware that any emails you send to or receive from us are inherently not secure. Contact us by telephone if your question or comment involves sensitive personally identifiable information.

In addition to encrypted transmissions and physical and electronic security, we require you to select a unique user ID and password when you register to use the Gateway Website. You must enter your user ID and password each time you log in to the Gateway Website to access your account. It is your responsibility to maintain the secrecy of your password and to change your password periodically. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone in order to avoid unauthorized access to your account. Each time you are finished working in your account, you should logout of your account, close your browser window and clear the computer cache to avoid unauthorized access to your account. You should contact us immediately if you believe your password or account has been compromised.

No method of transmission over the Internet or data security scheme is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your personally identifiable information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about our security practices, you may contact us by any of the means described below.

12. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

This website may contain links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by or affiliated with ApplicationsOnline. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read the privacy policies of each website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies only to information collected by the Gateway Website.

13. NOTICE OF MODIFICATIONS TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

ApplicationsOnline reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy from time-to-time as necessary to reflect changing circumstances, including, for example, changes in our information collection and/or usage practices. ApplicationsOnline will notify you of any modifications to this Privacy Policy by electronically posting the revised Privacy Policy on the Gateway Website. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy frequently in order to be aware of any changes in the way we collect, use and/or disclose your information. The revised Privacy Policy will be effective as of the Effective Date displayed at the top and bottom of this document. Your continued use of the Gateway Website after the Effective Date of the revised Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. In addition, ApplicationsOnline may, but is not obligated to, notify you via e-mail and/or by other means of such modifications.

14. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Click here to see to see answers to frequently asked questions.

15. QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service, please review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or contact us by any of the following means:

E-mail: [email protected]

Online: Contact Us

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Privacy Policy was last revised on and is effective as of: October 12, 2012.