PRIVACY POLICY

Effective Date: September 28, 2026. Prior versions of this Privacy Policy available below.

The following privacy policy applies to the website administered by The College Investor, LLC (“The College Investor”, “we”, “our” or “us”), located at https://thecollegeinvestor.com/ (“Website”), and to our email newsletters and other services that link to it.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use and disclose personal information and the choices and rights you have. We may update it from time to time. When we do, we will post the revised policy with a new Effective Date, and if the changes materially reduce your rights or expand how we use personal information we have already collected, we will provide additional notice on the Website or by email to newsletter subscribers before the changes take effect. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?

Information You Voluntarily Submit to the Website: The Website may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to the Website by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, using a calculator or other tool, entering a giveaway, purchasing an ebook, or submitting a contact form. Where we collect information through a form, we will link to this Privacy Policy at or before the point of collection.
Information We Collect from Others: The Website may receive information about you from other sources. For example, if you use a third-party software through the site, they may transfer information to us for order fulfillment. We may also receive information from our advertising, analytics and email service providers (such as engagement and delivery data), and from social media platforms when you interact with our content there.
Automatically-Collected Information: The Website automatically collects certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website.For example, when you use the Website, The Website will log your IP address, approximate location derived from your IP address, device and browser identifiers, cookie and advertising identifiers, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. The Website may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked, scroll depth and time on page. This information may be collected through cookies, pixel tags, web beacons, analytics tools, and similar technologies, including Google Analytics, advertising and remarketing tools, and tag management services. Some of these technologies are operated by third parties that receive the information directly from your browser or device when the page loads; those third parties are identified below.
Hashed Email for Advertising: If you subscribe to our newsletter or submit your email address in a form on the Website, our advertising provider Raptive may convert your email address into a hashed (scrambled) value and use it, together with its identity partners, to recognize your browser or device and deliver and measure advertising. The plain-text email address is not shared for this purpose. You can opt out on our Your Privacy Choices page.
Cookies: The Website may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. The Website may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website. See “Cookies” below for details and your choices.

LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING PERSONAL INFORMATION

Where applicable under data protection law, including the GDPR, we process your personal information based on one or more of the following legal grounds: (i) your consent; (ii) the performance of a contract or steps taken at your request prior to entering into a contract; (iii) compliance with legal obligations; and/or (iv) our legitimate interests in operating, improving, securing, and marketing the Website and related services, provided such interests are not overridden by your rights. Where we rely on consent (for example, for non-essential cookies where required by law), you may withdraw it at any time.

HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We may use automated tools and technologies to analyze usage patterns, personalize content, improve Website functionality, detect fraud or abuse, and enhance performance. We do not engage in automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects concerning users.

The Website may use the information collected in the following ways:

To operate and maintain the Website;
To send you promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings;
To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts;
To respond to your comments or inquiries;
To provide you with user support;
To fulfill orders;
To measure the audience and performance of our content;
To deliver, personalize, track and measure advertising on the Website and on third-party websites and apps;
To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Use; or,
To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.

THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The Website may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information. Additionally, the Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies. The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers and partners:

Google – We use Google Analytics, Google Ads (including conversion tracking and remarketing tags) and Google ad-serving technology. These servicestrack Website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on the Website, including browser data, IP address, and other identifying information, and Google may use cookies and identifiers to serve and measure advertising. You can learn more about How Google uses your data here and manage Google ad personalization at https://adssettings.google.com.
Meta – We use Meta’s social plugins, such as share and like buttons and share counts, which load code from Meta on our pages. That code may set Meta cookies and tell Meta which page you viewed, whether or not you have a Facebook or Instagram account. We may also use the Meta Pixel to measure and manage our advertising on Meta platforms; when it is active, it collects browser data, your IP address, the pages you view and actions you take on the Website, and Meta may use that information for its own purposes as described in its privacy policy. You can opt out of Meta’s use of this information for advertising on our Your Privacy Choices page and in your Meta ad preferences. You can learn more about Meta and your data here.
Plausible Analytics – this service tracks Website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on the Website. Plausible Analytics may capture some of your data, but as a privacy-focused solution, it minimizes data requests. You may access Plausible Analytics’ privacy policy here.
Woopra – this service tracks Website usage and provides information such as user actions on the Website. Woopra may capture your IP address, location, and website actions. You may access Woopra’s privacy policy here.
Microsoft Advertising – we advertise the Website on Microsoft (Bing) and may use Microsoft’s Universal Event Tracking tag to measure the results of those campaigns. Microsoft’s privacy statement is at https://privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement.
OpenAI – we may advertise the Website through OpenAI’s advertising products and use OpenAI’s measurement tags to evaluate those campaigns. OpenAI’s privacy policy is at https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/.
RedVentures – these services are used to manage our display advertisements. To provide personalized advertising options, Red Venture may track your IP address or location. This information is not stored on the Website. RedVenture’s privacy policy can be found here.
Influencer Networks – from time to time, as described herein, the Website may post sponsored content that contains tracking pixels for networks. These tracking pixels may capture information such as your IP address to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns. This information is not stored on the Website.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – we use Kit to deliver our email newsletters and to store subscriber email addresses, names and engagement information (opens, clicks). Kit’s privacy policy is at https://kit.com/privacy.
OptinMonster – we use OptinMonster to display newsletter signup forms, which sets a cookie to remember whether you have seen or dismissed a form.
GumRoad – this service is used for the ebooks available on the Website. The Website does not capture any data related to your purchase. Gumroad’s privacy policy may be accessed here.
Rakuten Marketing – We partner with Rakuten Marketing, who may collect personal information when you interact with our Website. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here. https://rakutenmarketing.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/
vBulletin – this service is used to support the forum found on the Website. For the ability to post and comment, you may sign up for an account. To do so, you will need to provide your email address and choose a username and password. The forum also captures your IP address.
Raptive and its advertising partners – see “Advertising” below. Raptive manages our display advertising and works with advertising exchanges, demand-side platforms, data and identity providers (such as Lotame, LiveRamp and Criteo) and audience-measurement providers (such as Comscore). These partners receive cookie and device identifiers, IP address and page information directly from your browser to serve, personalize and measure ads. Raptive’s current partner list is in the Raptive Advertising Privacy Statement.

Social Media Networks: When an individual interacts with our Website through various social media networks, such as when someone logs in through a social network, “Likes” us on Facebook, or follows us or shares our content on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or other social networks, we may receive some information from those social networks including your profile information and any other information you permit the social network to share with third parties. We may use this information to allow you to log into your account, to communicate or interact with individuals on the social network, to better understand the demographics of our visitors, and to personalize content and advertising. Individuals should always review and, if necessary, adjust their privacy settings on third-party websites and social media networks and services before sharing information and/or linking or connecting them to other services.

This list may change as we add or remove services; we update it when we update this Privacy Policy. We also disclose personal information to professional advisers, and where required by law, subpoena or court order, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, bankruptcy or sale of all or part of our business.

We do not sell your name, email address or other information you submit to us in exchange for money. However, allowing our advertising partners to collect identifiers and browsing information from your browser for personalized advertising across websites, and using hashed email addresses for advertising, may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information under California and other state privacy laws. You can opt out at any time on our Your Privacy Choices page, described below.

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION

The Website may include interactive sections such as commenting areas and the forum where you can post comments. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. If you create a user profile on the forum or leave a comment, certain information may be publicly visible. To create a user profile, you must choose a username and password and input your email address for profile confirmation. Your email address will never be available publicly.

ANONYMOUS DATA

From time to time, The College Investor may use aggregated or de-identified data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. We will not attempt to re-identify de-identified data except to test whether our de-identification is effective. Examples of this data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

COOKIES

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Website, analyze traffic, personalize content, and support advertising and marketing efforts. Where required by law, we will obtain your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device. You may manage or withdraw your consent at any time through your browser settings or our Your Privacy Choices page, or any cookie controls we make available.

The Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, customize content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described herein.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website. The Cookie will collect information relating to your use of the Website, information about your device such as the device’s IP address and browser type, demographic data and, if you arrived at the Website via a link from third-party site, the URL of the linking page.

In addition to Cookies, the Website may use web beacons. Web beacons allow us to count the number of users who have visited or accessed the Website and to recognize users by accessing our cookies. We may employ web beacons to facilitate Website administration and navigation, to track the actions of users of the Website, to compile aggregate statistics about Website usage and response rates, and to provide an enhanced online experience for visitors to the Website. We may also include web beacons in HTML-formatted e-mail messages that we send to determine which e-mail messages were opened. A web beacon is often invisible because it is only 1 x 1 pixel in size with no color. A web beacon can also be known as a web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF and tracker GIF.

What are the different types of cookies and how do we use them?

Essential – These are Cookies that are essential for the running of the Website. Without these Cookies, parts of the Website would not function. These Cookies do not track where you have been on the internet and do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing purposes.

Examples of how we may use essential Cookies include:

Security and bot protection, remembering your privacy choices, and load balancing.

Functional – These Cookies are used to remember your preferences on the Website and to provide enhanced, more personal features.

Examples of how we may use functional Cookies include:

Remembering whether you have dismissed a newsletter signup form, and eliminating the need for returning users to re-enter their login details.

Analytical Performance – Analytical performance Cookies are used to monitor the performance of the Website, for example, to determine the number of page views and the number of unique users the Website has. We use this information to improve user experience or identify areas of the Website which may require maintenance. These cookies (for example, Google Analytics and Woopra, which our advertising provider uses for audience measurement) assign a random identifier to your browser and record your IP address and the pages you view. They do not contain your name or email address, but the identifier and IP address are personal information under some laws, and Comscore combines this information with data from other websites for audience measurement.

Examples of how we may use analytical Cookies include:

Measuring users’ behavior
Analyze which pages are viewed and how long for and which links are followed to better develop the Website

Advertising – Behavioral advertising Cookies, which may be placed on your device by us or our third-party advertising partners, remember that you have visited a website and use that information to provide you with advertising which is tailored to your interests. This is often called online behavioral advertising and is done by grouping together shared interests based upon web browsing history. Your web browsing history can be used to infer things about you (e.g. your age, gender etc.), and this information may also be used to make advertising on websites more relevant to you. These cookies and identifiers may be linked by our partners to information about you from other websites and, where you have provided it, to a hashed version of your email address. You can opt out on our Your Privacy Choices page.

Examples of how we may use advertising Cookies include:

Manage online advertising. The Website may use Cookies together with web beacons to provide advertising to you and to enable us to manage our relationship with those advertisers by, for example, tracking how many unique users have seen a particular advertisement or followed a link in an advertisement.

Third Party Cookies – You may notice on some pages of the Website that Cookies have been set that are not related to us. When you visit a page with content embedded from, for example, YouTube or Facebook, these third party service providers may set their own Cookies on your device. We do not control the use of these third party Cookies and cannot access them due to the way that Cookies work, as Cookies can only be accessed by the party who originally set them. Please check the third party websites for more information about these Cookies.

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by the Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

How can you manage or opt-out of cookies?

Cookies, including those which have already been set, can be deleted from your hard drive. You can also change the preferences/settings in your web browser to control Cookies. In some cases, you can choose to accept Cookies from the primary site, but block them from third parties. In others, you can block Cookies from specific advertisers, or clear out all Cookies. Deleting or blocking Cookies may reduce functionality of the Website. To learn more about how to reject Cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org or go to the help menu within your internet browser. If you experience any problems having deleted Cookies, you should contact the supplier of your web browser.

Opting out of Analytical Performance Cookies

If you would like to opt out of Analytics Cookies, please do so by clicking on the links below:

Google Analytics: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Comscore: https://www.comscore.com/About/Privacy-Policy

Opting out of Behavioral Advertising Cookies

The most direct way to opt out is our Your Privacy Choices page, which also honors browser opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control. If you would like more information about how to opt out of interest-based advertising in desktop and mobile browsers on a particular device, please visit https://optout.aboutads.info/#/ and https://optout.networkadvertising.org/#. You may download the AppChoices app at https://www.aboutads.info/appchoices to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

ADVERTISING

Display Ads
The Website uses Raptive, Google Ads, and RedVentures to manage third-party advertising on the Website. Google Ads and RedVentures serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies. Google Ads and RedVentures may collect IP addresses and location to serve personalized ads. These services and their advertising partners use cookies and identifiers to serve and measure advertisements, including personalized advertisements. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit our Your Privacy Choices page or https://optout.networkadvertising.org/.

CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a Raptive (“Raptive”) is a service provider of this Site for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and Raptive will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about Raptive’s data usage, click here: https://raptive.com/creator-advertising-privacy-statement

Raptive works with advertising partners (including demand-side platforms, supply-side platforms, data providers and identity providers) that receive identifiers and browsing information directly from your browser; a current list is available in the Raptive Advertising Privacy Statement. Raptive may also use a hashed version of your email address, as described above, to help recognize you for advertising purposes.

Retargeting Ads and Advertising Campaigns
From time to time, the Website may engage in remarketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Microsoft (Bing), OpenAI, Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat, Quora or Instagram, in order to market the Website. These companies use cookies and measurement tags to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the Website and to measure whether our advertising led to a visit or signup. You may opt-out of this data collection by visiting the provider’s website and adjusting your privacy settings, or on our Your Privacy Choices page.

Sponsored Content Tracking Pixels
This Website may engage in sponsored campaigns with various influencer networks, brands, and agencies. All sponsored content is duly disclosed in accordance with the FTC’s requirements. From time to time, these sponsored campaigns utilize tracking pixels (aka web beacons), which may contain cookies to collect data regarding usage and audience. This information is collected by the sponsoring company to track the results of the campaign. As stated above, these pixels may capture your IP address on behalf of the content sponsor. No personally identifiable information collected by the Website is used in conjunction with these tracking pixels.

Affiliate Program Participation
The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions. Affiliate networks and advertisers receive click and referral information (such as the link clicked, a click identifier, and your IP address); we receive aggregate and per-click commission reporting, which does not include your name unless you provide it to the advertiser.

The College Investor, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com. As part of this Amazon Associates program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.

Newsletters
On the Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, The College Investor may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows The College Investor to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. Open and click data is processed by our email service provider (Kit) on our behalf. Links in our newsletters may include a hashed version of your email address that allows Raptive and its identity partners to recognize your browser for advertising when you visit the Website; you can opt out on our Your Privacy Choices page. We do not sell subscriber email addresses.

NO LIABILITY THIRD-PARTY SERVICES AND THIRD-PARTY LINKS

The third-party service providers affiliated with The College Investor have their own independent privacy policies governing the use of your Personal Information pursuant to the GDPR and CCPA and we encourage you to read those privacy policies carefully. You understand that even if The College Investor deletes your Personal Information that it may still be available in a third-party service provider’s database. We require service providers that process personal information on our behalf to do so only for our purposes and under written contracts that meet the requirements of applicable privacy laws. We are not responsible for the independent practices of third parties that are not our service providers, such as advertisers, affiliate advertisers and websites we link to.

The College Investor may outsource or subcontract some of our technical support, tracking and reporting functions, database management functions, and other services to third parties. We may share information from or about you with them so that they can perform their services as long as they comply with this Privacy Policy, the GDPR, and the CCPA. You understand and agree that The College Investor will not be held responsible for any third-party communications sent by entities that The College Investor does not own or control. You are encouraged to review any third-party privacy policies before utilizing any such third-party service.

The College Investor may include or offer third-party products or services on the Website and provide third-party links to the same. These third-party websites have separate and independent privacy policies. The College Investor has no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of such third parties or their websites. We encourage you to read carefully the privacy policies of all such third-party websites. We seek to protect the integrity of the Website and therefore welcome any feedback about any such third-party websites.

DATA RETENTION

We keep personal information for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and may keep it for the longest period permitted by applicable law where we have an ongoing business or legal reason to do so, such as maintaining our subscriber relationship with you, keeping published content and the comments on it available, maintaining records of purchases and of privacy requests, defending legal claims, and protecting the security of the Website.

In practice: newsletter subscriber information is kept until you unsubscribe, plus a suppression record so we do not email you again; comments and forum posts are kept while the content is published; purchase records are kept for at least seven years for tax purposes; privacy request records are kept for 24 months as required by the CCPA regulations; analytics data in Google Analytics is kept for the longest period Google offers for our account (currently 14 months for user-level data), and other analytics providers retain data as described in their policies; and web server and security logs are kept for as long as our hosting and security providers retain them. Cookie lifetimes are set by the party that places the cookie. When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it.

SECURITY

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, and security services provided by Cloudflare and our hosting provider. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your unencrypted personal information, we will notify you as required by law.

RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also notify via our privacy request form to be removed from our mailing list. You may opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information and targeted advertising on our Your Privacy Choices page.

Access – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request via our privacy request form.

Correct – You may contact us via our privacy request form to correct inaccurate personal information.

Delete – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request on our privacy request form.

Opt-Out Preference Signals – We treat browser-based opt-out preference signals, such as Global Privacy Control, as a valid request to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information for the browser sending the signal. When we detect a signal, we record the opt-out in that browser and apply it to the analytics and advertising tools we run ourselves; our Your Privacy Choices page shows whether a signal has been detected. Our advertising provider processes that preference for the ads it serves. If you believe your signal is not being honored, email [email protected] and we will apply the opt-out manually.

EU USERS’ RIGHTS UNDER THE GDPR

The GDPR provides users located in the EU under its protection certain rights with respect to their Personal Data collected by us on the Services. Accordingly, The College Investor recognizes and will comply with the GDPR and those rights, except as limited by applicable law. The rights under the GDPR include:

Right of Access: This includes the right to obtain from us your Personal Data and whether it is being processed, along with the purposes of the processing; categories of Personal Data concerned; recipients to whom your Personal Data has been disclosed; the period for which your Personal Data is being stored; and the right to lodge a complaint.
Right of Rectification: This includes the right to correct inaccurate Personal Data collected and/or stored by us.
Right of Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten”): This includes the right to have your Personal Data deleted. However, if applicable law requires us to comply with your request to delete information, fulfillment of your request may prevent you from using our services and may result in closing your account.
Right to Restriction of Processing: This includes the right to request restriction of how and why your Personal Data is used or processed by us.
Right to Data Portability: This includes the right to receive your Personal Data in a structure, readable format and the right to have your Personal Data transferred.
Right to Object: This includes the right to object to us processing your Personal Data for reasons such as direct marketing purposes and for scientific or historical research or statistical purposes.
Right to not be Subject to Automated Decision-Making: This includes the right to not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, that could have a legal, or similarly significant, effect on you from being made solely based on automated processes.

International transfers. We are located in the United States and process personal information there. If you are in the EEA, United Kingdom or Switzerland, your information will be transferred to the United States, which may not provide the same level of data protection. Where required, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or other approved safeguards for such transfers. You may lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

California Residents: Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, and its implementing regulations (“CCPA”), you have certain rights with respect to your personal information. For the purposes of this section, personal information is used as defined in the CCPA. The College Investor reserves the right to verify requests to know, correct and delete made pursuant to the CCPA; requests to opt out of sale or sharing and to limit the use of sensitive personal information are not subject to verification.

Categories of personal information we collect, use and disclose. In the preceding 12 months we collected the following categories of personal information, from the sources and for the purposes described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy:

Categories Of Personal Information We Collect, Use And Disclose

Categories of personal information collected in the preceding 12 months, their sources, the service providers that receive them, and whether they are sold or shared for cross-context behavioral advertising
Category	Examples We Collect	Sources	Disclosed To Service Providers For A Business Purpose	Sold Or Shared For Cross-Context Behavioral Advertising
Identifiers	Name, email address, IP address, cookie and device identifiers, hashed email address	You; your browser or device; our service providers	Email provider, analytics providers, hosting and security providers, advertising provider	Yes Advertising networks and exchanges, data and identity providers, social media platforms
Internet Or Other Electronic Network Activity	Pages viewed, links clicked, referring site, time on page, ad interactions	Your browser or device	Analytics providers, advertising provider, audience measurement	Yes Advertising networks and exchanges, data providers, audience-measurement providers
Geolocation Data (Approximate)	City or region inferred from IP address	Your browser or device	Analytics providers, advertising provider	Yes Advertising networks and exchanges
Commercial Information	Ebook purchases, affiliate link clicks, newsletter signups	You; Gumroad; affiliate networks	Payment and fulfillment provider, email provider	No
Inferences	Interest categories derived from pages viewed	Derived by our advertising partners	Advertising provider	Yes Advertising networks and exchanges, data providers
Information In Comments, Forms And Emails	Whatever you choose to include	You	Hosting provider, email and support providers	No
Sensitive Personal Information	We do not collect or use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you, and we ask that you not submit it	—	—	No

Covers the 12 months preceding the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy. “Sold or shared” has the meaning given in the California Consumer Privacy Act; it includes allowing advertising partners to collect identifiers from your browser for personalized advertising across websites. You can opt out on our Your Privacy Choices page. We do not sell or share the personal information of consumers we know to be under 16, and we do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information. Retention periods are described under Data Retention.

We do not sell or share the personal information of consumers we know to be under 16. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information. We disclose personal information to the categories of third parties above for the business purposes described in “How Your Information May Be Used,” and we retain each category as described in “Data Retention.”

Right To Know – You may make a verifiable request that we disclose the categories of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources of the personal information we collected about you, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing the personal information, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose, sell, or share your personal information, our use of the personal information and if the personal information was disclose, sold, or shared to third parties, including the categories of personal information sold or disclosed. You also have the right to make a verifiable request for a copy of the personal information collected about you (we may limit this to the 12 months preceding your request where permitted, and will provide information beyond 12 months where feasible). The categories we have sold or shared in the last 12 months are listed in the table above.

Right to Correct – You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request that The College Investor delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. We may deny your deletion request if retaining the personal information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.
Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
Comply with a legal obligation.
Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Right to Opt Out of Sale and Sharing – You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information and of the sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. You can do this on our Your Privacy Choices page (linked in the footer of every page as “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information”), by enabling an opt-out preference signal such as Global Privacy Control in your browser, or by emailing [email protected]. We do not require you to create an account or verify your identity to opt out. Once you opt out, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to opt back in to sales or sharing. You may opt back in at any time by emailing us.

Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information – Because we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than those permitted by the CCPA regulations, this right does not currently apply to our Website.

California residents also have the right to request information about whether we use automated decision-making technology or profiling in connection with personal information, and to opt out of certain automated decision-making or profiling activities, where applicable.

The College Investor does not engage in automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects concerning consumers.

Shine the Light – California Civil Code § 1798.83 permits California residents to request certain information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes as defined by that statute.

No Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

Deny you goods or services.
Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

Exercising Your Rights

To exercise the right to know, correct and delete rights described above, please submit a verifiable request to us by either (1) using our online privacy request form; (2) emailing [email protected]; (3) calling us at (858) 594-3194; or (4) sending us a written request to The College Investor LLC, Attn: Privacy, 2514 Jamacha Rd, Ste 502, PMB 75, El Cajon, CA 92019.

You may only make a verifiable request for the right to know twice within a 12-month period. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf; we will ask the agent for your signed written permission and may ask you to confirm the agent’s authority or verify your own identity directly with us. The verifiable consumer request must:

Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

Because most of the information we hold about visitors is tied to a browser or device rather than a name, we will typically verify a request by matching the email address you provide to our records and, for requests involving specific pieces of information, may ask you to confirm the request from that email address. If we cannot verify a request, we will tell you and, where possible, treat it as a request for categories of information or a request to opt out.

To respond to your request or provide you with personal information, The College Investor must verify your identity or your authority to make the request. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

Timing – We will respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at our option.

The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. We will act on opt-out requests within 15 business days.

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTICE FOR RESIDENTS OF OTHER U.S. STATES

Residents of U.S. states with comprehensive consumer privacy laws (currently including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia, among others) may have specific rights regarding their “personal data” or “personal information” under applicable state privacy laws, subject to those laws’ applicability thresholds and exemptions.

This Privacy Policy describes the categories of personal information we process, the sources of that information, the purposes for processing, and the categories of third parties with whom personal information may be disclosed.

Subject to applicable law, residents of these states may have the right to:

Confirm whether we are processing your personal information and access such information;
Correct inaccuracies in your personal information;
Delete personal information provided by or obtained about you;
Obtain a copy of your personal information in a portable and, where technically feasible, readily usable format;
Obtain a list of the specific third parties to which we have disclosed your personal data (Oregon, Minnesota and Delaware residents); and
Opt out of certain processing activities, including targeted advertising, the sale of personal information, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

How to exercise these rights. Use the methods described under “Exercising Your Rights” above. To opt out of targeted advertising and sales, use our Your Privacy Choices page or an opt-out preference signal such as Global Privacy Control, which we honor as a universal opt-out mechanism where required by state law. We will respond within 45 days, extendable once by 45 days where permitted.

Right to appeal. If we decline to act on your request, you may appeal by replying to our response with “Appeal” in the subject line, or by emailing [email protected], within 45 days of our decision. We will respond in writing within 45 days (60 days where permitted by law) explaining the outcome. If we deny your appeal, we will provide a way for you to contact your state Attorney General or other regulator to submit a complaint.

We do not engage in profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects concerning users. We do not sell or process sensitive data (as defined by these laws) for targeted advertising.

Certain information may be exempt from such requests under applicable law, including where the information is necessary to provide the Website, comply with legal obligations, detect security incidents, or prevent fraud or illegal activity.

Notice for Nevada Residents

Under Nevada law, certain Nevada consumers may opt out of the sale of personal information for monetary consideration. The College Investor does not sell personal information for monetary consideration as defined by Nevada law. Nevada residents who wish to submit an opt-out request for any potential future sales may do so by contacting us using the methods described above.

Children Under 16

We do not sell or share the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the “right to opt-in”) from either the consumer who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than 13 years of age.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to the Website. This includes your social security number, financial account numbers, precise geolocation, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us (for example, in a comment or email), it will be subject to this Privacy Policy, and we will use it only to respond to you.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Website is intended for a general audience and does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at [email protected] and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

CONTACT US

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices: [email protected]; (858) 594-3194; The College Investor, LLC, Attn: Privacy, 2514 Jamacha Road, Suite 502, PMB 75, El Cajon, CA 92019.

Prior Versions of this Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

DATA RETENTION

SECURITY

CONTACT US

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