Our guidelines for protecting the information you give us or we obtain when you visit our site.
Website Privacy Policy
Last Updated: October 11, 2021
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING THIS SITE AND ANY PAGES THEREOF, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BELOW, DO NOT ACCESS THIS SITE, OR ANY PAGES THEREOF. THIS POLICY MAY CHANGE FROM TIME TO TIME, YOUR CONTINUED USE OF THE WEBSITE AFTER WE MAKE CHANGES IS DEEMED AN ACCEPTANCE OF THESE CHANGES, SO PLEASE CHECK THE POLICY PERIODICALLY FOR UPDATES.
Your privacy is important to us. Power:Ed, a division of South Carolina Student Loan Corporation (“Power:Ed,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) has a strong commitment to providing excellent service, including respecting concerns about privacy. We have created this Privacy Notice to inform you of our information collection, use, and sharing practices. This Privacy Notice explains our collection and use of the information you give us or we obtain when you use our websites (including www.power-ed.org (our “Site") or through any social media platform, emails, text messages, direct messages or other communications, whether electronic or written.
This Privacy Notice does not apply to any services which do not display or link this Privacy Notice or that have their own privacy policy statement or to information we collect form you in other ways, including through your visits to one of our physical locations. Additionally, this Privacy Notice does not apply to any external websites which may be linked from the Site.
It is our policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect, subject to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Notice and our Terms of Use, available at www.power-ed.org, as either or both may be amended from time to time. By providing us any information or using the Site, you agree to the following terms and conditions as final and binding.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
As you navigate the Site, we collect certain information about you. Our on-line application process collects information such as your organization’s name, website, your email address, the name of your organization leader and point of contact, your point of contact’s email address and phone number, and your organization’s street address.
We may also collect information about your computer or mobile device such as your browser type, operating system, technical data, loading or exiting of web pages, usage, and the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer or device. We might look at what site you came from, what you view within our website, and/or what site you visit when you leave us. We may collect your location using CPS, a cellular network location, Wi-Fi networks, browser services, or information you provide.
Like most website and app operators, we collect information of the sort that web browsers, apps, and servers typically make available to operators, like the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. We may use this information for a number of purposes including, for example, to better understand how our visitors use the Site. The purpose for collecting and using this data may change from time to time at our discretion and may use and release aggregated information from time to time. By using the Site, you agree to such use.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
We collect information in the following ways:
Information You Give Us
For example, we may request information from you in a grant request.
Information We Get from Your Use of Services
We may collect information about the Site and how you use it. This information includes: computer, tablet, or mobile telephone information. We may collect device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, device sensors and mobile network information including phone number) and number with your account. We will comply with the usage/license restrictions and requirements applicable to the device from which the information comes.
Log Information
When you use the Site or view content provided by us, we may automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This may include, for example:
- Details of how you used our Site.
- Internet protocol address.
- Device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
- Cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
Location Information
When you visit the Site, we may collect and process information about your actual location, like GPS signals sent by a mobile device. We may also use various technologies to determine location, such as sensor data from your device that may, for example, provide information on nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers.
Local Storage
We may collect and store information locally on your device using mechanisms such as browser web storage (including HTML 5) and application data caches.
Cookies and Unanimous Identifiers
We use various technologies to collect and store information when you visit a Site as described below, and this may include sending one or more cookies or anonymous identifiers to your device. For more information see the “Tracking Technologies” section below.
TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES
Power:Ed and this Site may use common tracking technologies, including but not limited to cookies, pixel tags, and web beacons, to improve the functionality of the Site. Cookies are text files that are sent by servers to web browsers and stored on your computer. They tell us which parts of the Site you have visited so we can alert you to software compatibility issues and save your preferences for future visits to the Site. Web beacons and pixel tags are images embedded in a webpage or e-mail for the purpose of measuring and analyzing usage and activity. The Site, or third-party service providers acting on our behalf, may use web beacons and pixel tags to help us analyze usage and improve our functionality. Some cookies and other technologies may serve to recall information previously provided by a user.
We use information collected from cookies and other technologies to improve your user experience and the overall quality of our services. We use cookies to help us identify and track visitors, their usage of the Site, and their access preferences. We may use your information to see which web pages you visit at our websites, which website you visited before coming to our website, and where you go after you leave our website. We can then develop statistics that help us understand how our visitors use our websites
You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but some parts of our web site may not work properly if you do; provided, however, that we disclaim, and you hereby waive, any claim or liability that may arise due to your partial or incomplete access to the content of any part of the Site as a result thereof. Accepting a cookie from our website does not allow us access to any of your personal information and will not compromise your privacy or security.
We also may use cookies provided by Google Analytics or other third parties to help us measure how visitors use the Site. The information collected is used for a variety of purposes, including, but not limited to, site traffic reporting, unique visitor counts, and content optimization. Although Google Analytics logs the information coming from the Site on our behalf, we control how the data may and may not be used. You can opt-out of this website analysis tool by clicking: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
We take your privacy seriously. We use the information that we collect about you to provide, maintain, protect, and improve the services and products that we provide you. We do not sell your information to any third parties and only use it for legitimate business purposes and as described in this Privacy Notice. We use your information for the following purpose:
- To respond to questions you may have.
- To provide our services.
- As part of our fundraising or other marketing efforts, including marketing to you across platforms.
- If you submit a resume to work at Power:Ed or South Carolina Student Loan Corporation, we may use it for hiring decisions and retain the resume or information in it for our own records or in order to contact you later.
- To inform you of updates regarding Power:Ed and our products and services that may be of interest to you.
- To provide administrative notices or communications applicable to your use of the Site.
- To register you as a user.
- To manage your participation in events, special offers, or other promotions where you have signed up for such events, offers, or promotions.
- To operate, evaluate, and improve our business and the products and services we offer.
- To analyze and enhance our marketing and other communications and strategies.
- To analyze trends and statistics regarding visitors’ use of our Site including social media assets.
- To protection against and prevent fraud, unauthorized transactions, claims, or other liabilities.
- To improve our customer service.
- To respond to and support users regarding their use of the Site.
- To comply with all applicable legal requirements.
We may also use information we obtain about you in other ways for which we provide notice at the time of collection. We may ask for your consent before using information for a purpose other than those set out in this Privacy Notice.
HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We may share or disclose your information for the purposes disclosed in this statement or for any other legal purpose. As part of the use of your information for the above purposes, we may disclose your information to our vendors and other contractors who perform various functions on our behalf. We may also provide your information to our affiliates or other trusted businesses or persons who provide services to you or us, based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Notice and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
We also may provide information about you to other third parties with your consent or for one of the purposes above, e.g., following a subpoena or other legal process or to a regulatory agency in order to protect against fraud or investigate a criminal or civil matter or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect our rights and interests, third parties, or the public at large.
HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION
We disclose your information to our employees, contractors, agents, and affiliated organizations that need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf or to provide services. Some of those employees, contractors, agents, and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your state, province, or country. By using the Site or providing us information, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. We will not rent or sell your information to anyone.
If you provide us with your email address, you agree that we may send you emails to provide you with information, to inform you of new products, to solicit your feedback, or to keep you up to date on PowerEd:. If you send us a request (for example via a support email or one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. If we ever send you a marketing email communication, you may choose not to receive these communications by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in our marketing emails. You also may ask us not to send you other marketing communications by contacting us as specified in the “Contact Us” section below
We aim to maintain our services in a manner that protects information from accidental or malicious destruction. Because of this, we may not immediately delete copies of information that is on our active servers and may not remove information from our backup systems. If you believe that the information we maintain about you is inaccurate, subject to applicable law, you may have the right to request that we correct or amend the information by contacting us using the information below.
We have implemented security precautions to protect your confidential information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. We only permit authorized employees who are trained in the proper handling of customer information to have access to personally identifiable information. We conduct internal and external security audits/reviews to ensure strong data security standards are met. We continue to monitor and employ new technologies to ensure strong security standards. Our employees also receive information security training on a regular basis.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. We undertake commercially reasonable efforts to guard against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction of information, which efforts you agree are sufficient, adequate, and complete. In some cases, we cannot control, and are not responsible for, information that is shared about you.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted via the Site. Any transmission of personal information is done at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy security measures contained on the Site.
EXTERNAL LINKS
This site provides links to websites, tools, and resources operated by other parties that we think you might find useful. These sites operate under different, unique privacy policies, which you will be subject to upon accessing the third party’s website. You must review the various privacy policies at linked sites. We have no control over third party websites or tools or the information that you might submit to them. Additionally, we are not responsible for the contents or privacy policies or other practices of such third-party websites or service providers. Our inclusion of links to an outside website or tool does not imply any endorsement of the material on such websites or tools or any association with their operators. Further, it is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever links you select or software you download (whether from our Site or other websites) is free of such items as viruses, worms, trojan horses, defects, and other items of a destructive nature.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertisements appearing on the Site may be delivered to you by advertising partners. For example, we may use third-party advertising companies to serve advertisements on our behalf. These companies may use anonymous cookies or other technologies (such as a 1x1 pixel .gif file, also known as a web beacon), to tailor advertisements you see on our website and third-party websites, to anonymously track your response to advertisements, report on visitor interaction and to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. This Privacy Notice covers the use of cookies by us and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers. If you prefer that we not share non-personally identifiable information with partners, including third parties that use tracking technologies to deliver targeted display advertising based on such information, please visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices to access the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out.
DO-NOT TRACK SETTINGS
Our website does not respond to a do-not track setting or other mechanisms that provide the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of personally identifiable information of your online activities over time and across third-party or online services.
CHILDREN’S ON-LINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT
Our Site is not intended for children under the age of 13. No one under the age of 13 may provide any information to or on the Site. We do not knowingly collect, maintain, or use personal information from our websites about children under age 13. If we find that we have collected such information we will take all reasonable measures to delete that information from our system as soon as possible. If a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will remove the information. We are not responsible for the collection and use of information by companies or individuals unaffiliated with us whose websites may contain links to ours. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under the age of 13, please contact us.
CORRECTING YOUR INFORMATION
If you find what you believe is an error or inaccuracy in your records, please contact us as soon as possible. We will investigate and correct any inaccurate or incomplete information as quickly as possible.
BUSINESS TRANSFERS
In the event (i) we engage in one more asset sales or purchases, (ii) we are acquired, (iii) we engage in one or more business combinations, mergers or acquisitions, (iv) substantially all of our assets are acquired, or (v) we are subject to an event of bankruptcy, you acknowledge and agree that user information comprises our assets and that the same is subject to assignment, transfer and/or acquisition by a third party. Accordingly, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Privacy Notice, you acknowledge and agree that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer may continue to subsequently use your information, and that such subsequent use may not be consistent with this Privacy Notice.
COMMENTS
You acknowledge and agree that we have no duty or obligation to respond to or save user comments, but we may further use or disclose your comments as otherwise described in this Privacy Notice.
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS
The services are intended for use in the United States, and we do not target or direct the Services to users in the European Union or otherwise outside of the United States. If you are visiting from the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from United States law, please note that you are transferring information to a country in jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as the country where you reside, and you consent to the transfer of information about you to the United States; and the use and disclosure of information about you as described in this Privacy Notice.
PRIVACY STATEMENT CHANGES
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Notice from time to time and at any time, without notice, within the sole, independent, and absolute and uncontrolled exercise of its discretion. If changes to this Privacy Notice occur, all changes will be reflected here. This Privacy Notice is effective when it is posted on this website and will be reviewed periodically. By continuing to use the Site following such changes, you are agreeing to accept the terms of the revised Privacy Notice. We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice periodically so you understand how we collect, use and share information though the Site.
CONTACT US
To ask questions or comments about this Privacy policy and our privacy practice, contact us at:
Power:Ed
SC Student Loan Corporation
PO Box 8509
Columbia, SC 29202
(800) 432-0801