California College Search Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Our Privacy Policy was developed as an extension of our commitment to combine the highest-quality products and services with the highest level of integrity. It is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide and to help you in making informed decisions when using our site, products and services. This Privacy Policy will be continually assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers' needs.

Access to and use of the California College Search web site is available only to United States residents who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. If you do not qualify, you may not use the web site. In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, no one under 13 years of age can use the web site. If you are a minor between the ages of 13 and 18, you may use the site only in conjunction with your parent, legal guardian or other responsible adult.

As described below, some of your personally identifiable information will be used by us and shared with third parties. By using the web site, you expressly consent to our use of your personal information, and also to the disclosure to and use of this information by third parties. You acknowledge that communications to, from and through the California College Search web site are not confidential. You agree that by submitting communications through the California College Search web site, no confidential, fiduciary, contractually implied or other relationship is created between you and California College Search other than pursuant to this Privacy Policy.

What information do we collect?

California College Search collects personally identifiable information you voluntarily choose to disclose and "aggregate information" that is automatically collected when you visit the web site.

Personally identifiable information refers to information that tells us specifically who you are and is collected when you choose to request information from a school that is listed on the site. This information can include your name, current e-mail address, programs of interest and other information you choose to provide. If you choose to correspond with us through e-mail, we may retain your e-mail address and messages together with our responses.

Aggregate information is automatically provided by your computer and cannot be tied back to you as a specific individual. Examples include:

• referral data (the web sites you visited just before and just after the web site)
• date and time of your visits
• pages viewed and time spent at the web site
• browser and platform type (e.g., a Netscape browser on a Macintosh platform)
• Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer on the Internet

Cookies

California College Search uses cookie technology to allow us to deliver customized information to you and track which site features are most popular. Cookies let sites and advertisers "remember" users across pages of a site and across multiple visits to a site. In addition, your computer may occasionally receive cookies from our advertisers. California College Search does not control these cookies, and they are not subject to our Privacy Policy. You can disable cookies, but doing so may impact the functioning of parts of the California College Search site.

How do we use the personal information that you provide to us?

Broadly speaking, your personal information is used to help match your interests with schools that provide the training you seek. If your search yields no results, we may store your information and send you updates if and when programs you specified do become available. We also use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing customer service, and making other products and services available to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to the web site, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable.

Information collected in ad delivery

California College Search may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf. These companies may employ cookies and action tags (also known as single-pixel gifs or web beacons) to measure advertising effectiveness. Any information that these third parties collect via cookies and action tags is completely anonymous.

How do we protect your information?

We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect. This software provides a limited degree of protection against unauthorized access or disclosure, as well as accidental loss, alteration or destruction.

Do we comply with legally compelled disclosure of information?

We may release any private information about you that we possess when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, to enforce or apply our Privacy Policy and/or other agreements, or to protect the rights, property or safety of California College Search, the site users, or others.

What about other sites linked to California College Search?

Many of the links in the California College Search web site allow you to leave the site. Please be aware that once you leave the site and enter another web site, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. California College Search is not responsible for the privacy practices employed by these sites, nor the information or content contained therein. Please read over the rules and policies of these sites before proceeding.

Although our site is called California College Search, we feature a variety of educational options: technical schools, training centers, universities and other institutions that may or may not be classified as colleges.

California College Search web site accessibility statement

The majority of the pages on this web site are accessible to individuals with disabilities in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In addition, images on our web site are accompanied by alternative text describing graphics if your browser supports the alt-text function. Documents on our web site are generally accessible to users using screen-reading software.