At NextStudent (hereinafter “we,” “us,” “our,” or “ourselves”), we take our ethical responsibilities and your privacy seriously. We recognize that you are sharing highly sensitive and confidential information with us. We have a strong commitment to providing excellent service to all our customers and visitors of this website, including respecting your concerns about privacy.
This Privacy Policy discloses how we collect personal information, the types of personal information we receive and collect, our use of information from current and former customers and website visitors, as well as the steps we take to safeguard your information. We hope that the disclosures in this Privacy Policy will help increase your confidence in our website.
If you use this website, you implicitly agree to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of your use. You also acknowledge that the terms and conditions of our Privacy Policy may change at any time without advance notice and that you will be subject to the new terms and conditions of such an updated or revised Privacy Policy.
In compliance with industry standards and regulations typically enforced by the federal government, state governments, and other federal and state regulatory agencies, we abide by the following Privacy Policy:
Browsing the NextStudent Website
Our servers automatically record non-personally identifiable information when you visit our website. When you request a page from our website, our servers log your request information, including the IP address from which the request originated, the date and time of your request, the URL of your request, the language used, the Web browser type, and any other information provided in the HTTP header. We collect this information in order to make our website function correctly; to understand how visitors use our website; and to learn how we can better fine-tune our website, its contents, and its functionality to meet your needs.
However, our website does not collect personally identifiable information from your computer when you browse this website and request pages from our servers. This means that, unless you voluntarily and knowingly provide us with personally identifiable information, we will not know your name, your e-mail address, or any other personally identifiable information.
The Information We Collect
When we need to collect personally identifiable information from you, we will ask you to voluntarily supply us with the information we need to allow us to process your request. The personal information you share with us will allow us to provide you with relevant information on student loans, scholarships, and other student programs, products, and services in which you express an interest.
We may ask you for information such as (but not limited to):
- Name
- Address
- Telephone number
- E-mail address
- School being attended
- Financial aid information (e.g., tuition and cost of attendance, financial aid obtained and still needed, monthly income, employment, previous student loan defaults)
- Demographic information (e.g., age, gender, major, GPA)
This information may be collected from sources such as (but not limited to):
- Our communications with you, including information we obtain when you register for a NextStudent service or otherwise volunteer information such as your financial aid need, your income, or your student loan payment history
- Your transactions with us, our affiliates, or other third parties who may provide us with consumer information
- Outside companies, such as consumer reporting agencies, to evaluate your creditworthiness and credit history
- Public sources, such as bankruptcy records and real estate records
How We Use Personally Identifiable Information
We may disclose your personally identifiable information (“personal information”) in order to effect or carry out any transaction that you have requested of us, or as necessary to complete our contractual obligations with you. The personal information collected on this website and by NextStudent and our affiliated third parties will be used to operate this website and to provide the services or products you have requested or carry out the transactions you have requested or authorized.
We reserve the right to sell, rent, share, or transfer your personal information to affiliated and/or nonaffiliated third parties for any purpose at our sole discretion. However, we prohibit the sale, rental, sharing, or transfer of personal information to nonaffiliated entities for their use without providing you the opportunity to opt out of such sharing of your information. We may share your personally identifiable information with affiliated entities that are directly or indirectly controlled by, or under common control of, NextStudent.
We may use your personally identifiable information for auditing, research, and analysis to operate and improve NextStudent’s technologies and services. We may use your personal information to provide customized content and/or promotional offers by means of e-mail advertising, telephone marketing, direct mail marketing, Web banner advertising, as well as other possible uses. We may also change or broaden the use of your personal information at any time.
Additionally, we may share aggregated information with affiliated and/or nonaffiliated third parties that does not personally identify you. “Aggregated information” refers to information that NextStudent gathers by aggregating non-personally identifiable information in order to obtain summaries of use of our website. Such aggregated information is used to analyze website visitor usage patterns and to do such things as negotiate with vendors of Internet services. This aggregated information is not linked to any one customer’s or website visitor’s personal information.
Aside from the ways mentioned above, we may sometimes use your personal information in other ways, including sharing your information with affiliated and/or nonaffiliated third parties so that these third parties can send you promotional materials, or using your information to send you promotional materials ourselves. By “promotional materials,” we mean communications that directly promote the use of websites, products, services, or the purchase of products or services.
You may choose to “opt out” of certain uses of your personal information, as described in the following “Opting Out” section.
Opting Out
We offer you choices regarding the use of your personal information whenever reasonably possible and provide you the opportunity to “opt out” of having your personally identifiable information used for certain purposes.
You may decline to provide personal information to us and/or refuse cookies in your Web browser, although some of our online features or services may not function properly as a result.
If you no longer wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, you may opt out of receiving these e-mails by following the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any one of these promotional e-mails. If you no longer wish to receive other promotional communications from us, you may opt out of receiving these communications by following the instructions included in each communication. You may also opt out of receiving promotional e-mails or other communications from us by contacting us at the e-mail address, mailing address, or phone number provided on the NextStudent contact page.
Please note that any such opt-out action you take will not apply to transactional e-mails or other non-promotional communications that we may transmit to you regarding any established account that you have with NextStudent.
By providing your personal information to NextStudent, you are consenting to the collection, use, and disclosure of such personal information in the manner described in this Privacy Policy. We provide you the opportunity to withdraw your consent at any time, according to the procedure described in this “Opting Out” section.
You may withdraw such consent at any time by calling us at the telephone number provided below, by sending an e-mail written request to us at the following address:
NextStudent
E-mail: email@nextstudent.com
Service Providers
We may sometimes require the use of outside, third-party companies to provide certain services such as clerical work, information processing, or mailing/shipping services. When you sign up for NextStudent’s services, we will share only as much of your information with these outside companies as is necessary for the provision of such outside services.
Information Security
We use generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive this information. To help prevent identity theft, we maintain physical safeguards, such as secure areas in our buildings; electronic safeguards, such as passwords and encryption; and procedural safeguards, such as customer authentication procedures. We process personal information on servers both within the United States and in other countries. Access to information about you is restricted to authorized employees of NextStudent obtaining the information for business purposes.
Our website uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology to encrypt information you provide to us through our website when you are entering sensitive information (such as a credit card number or Social Security number) in any of our online registration or information-gathering forms. This security measure ensures that your information is encrypted as it travels over the Internet. SSL is an industry-standard protocol for encryption over the Internet. (Please note, however, that any information you provide to us by e-mail is not encrypted.)
When your information reaches us, it is stored on a secure server that resides behind firewalls designed to block unauthorized access from outside of NextStudent. You can help to maintain the security of your online transactions by not sharing your personal information or password with anyone. Please keep in mind that no method of transmission over the Internet or of electronic storage is 100-percent secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If you have any questions about the security on the NextStudent website, please feel free to e-mail us at email@nextstudent.com.
Third-Party Advertisers
Any ads appearing on the NextStudent website may be being delivered to users of our website by a third-party advertising partner of NextStudent. We may share website visitor usage information with a reputable third party for the purpose of targeting the advertisements on this website. The information collected and shared for this purpose is not personally identifiable.
Links to Other Websites
This website may contain links to other, affiliated and nonaffiliated third-party websites that are neither owned nor controlled by NextStudent. Please be aware that this Privacy Policy only addresses NextStudent’s use and disclosure of your information that is collected by NextStudent, including any information collected on the NextStudent website. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by any other websites or by any affiliated or nonaffiliated third parties.
While we try to link only to websites that share our standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites or their controlling entities. We encourage you to be aware of when you are leaving the NextStudent website and to read the applicable privacy policies and terms of use of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information.
Co-Branded Websites
NextStudent may sometimes be co-branded with a “partner” or “affiliate” entity or with part of a corporate group. We may share any and all information collected about our current and former customers and website users with these co-branded or corporate group entities. These business-to-business relationships are helpful to us and to you, as they afford all concerned with greater product and service opportunities.
You may opt out of the sharing of your information with such partners, affiliates, and corporate groups at any time. Should you wish to opt out of the sharing of your personal information with our partners and affiliates for promotional purposes or to limit the particular information shared about you, please follow the procedures described in the “Opting Out” section above.
Please note that such an opt-out will not apply to information that we must share with a partner or affiliate for transactional, non-promotional purposes regarding any established account that you have with NextStudent, in those cases where such a partner or affiliate is responsible for providing some or all of the services marketed by NextStudent.
Please also note that any co-branded partner, affiliate, or corporate group websites linked to the NextStudent website are governed by their own privacy policies, which may or may not reach the standards set by NextStudent in this Privacy Policy.
Accessing Your Personally Identifiable Information
We will make good-faith efforts to provide you access to your personal information upon request. If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our product or service, you may correct, update, or deactivate your personal information by contacting us at the contact information listed both in the “Opting Out” section above and on our “Contact Us” page.
Children and Their Personally Identifiable Information
Consistent with the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.
Legal Disclaimer
We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information, as required, to comply with the law, applicable regulations, governmental and quasi-governmental requests, judicial proceedings, court orders, or subpoenas; to enforce our legal notices or other agreements; to ensure the security of our network and services; to protect our rights, property, or safety; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our customers, website users, or others (e.g., providing user information to a consumer reporting agency for fraud protection).
Enhancement of Customer and User Information
We may purchase marketing data from third parties and add it to our existing customer and website user databases in order to better target our advertising and to provide pertinent offers in which we think you may be interested. To enrich our database of individual customers and website users, we may tie the user and customer information we have to the personally identifiable information that these third parties provide to us.
Business Transitions
In the event that NextStudent goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personally identifiable information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via e-mail and/or a prominent notice on our website at least 30 days in advance of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. The provisions contained in this Privacy Policy supersede all previous notices or policies regarding our privacy practices with respect to this website and to NextStudent’s collection of customer and website user information. Any and all changes to our Privacy Policy will be made here, on this webpage. The effective date at the top of this webpage will identify when our Privacy Policy was last updated or revised.
We encourage you to check our website frequently for the current Privacy Policy in place, which will keep you informed of the steps we are taking as part of our commitment to protect your information and to provide you with improved content on our website in order to enhance your online experience.
Upon any material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes to this webpage and post a notice of such changes to the NextStudent homepage and to any other places we deem appropriate, so that you are aware of what information we collect from our customers and website users, how we use that information, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose that information.
Contacting NextStudent
If you have any questions, comments, complaints, or suggestions regarding our Privacy Policy or our website, please contact us.