Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 20, 2007

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. References in this Privacy Policy may, as the context requires, include collegeboard.com, Inc. and any other subsidiaries or affiliates of the College Board. The College Board provides access to information, goods, and services that facilitate the transition from high school to college to make the college experience more enjoyable and cost-efficient. We recognize the importance of protecting the privacy rights of our users.

The College Board is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to build user trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the site www.collegeboard.com. Because this website wants to demonstrate its commitment to privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact us directly. If you do not receive an acknowledgment, or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison to resolve your concerns.

This Privacy Policy applies only to personally identifiable information collected on this website and does not apply to any other information collected by the College Board through any other means. This Privacy Policy applies to the use and sharing of personally identifiable information collected on and after the date that this Privacy Policy is posted.

Within this policy statement you will find:

• Children Under 13 Years of Age
• Changes to Privacy Statement
• Types of Information Collected Online
• Information Collected through Traffic Monitoring
• Information Collected through Account Creation, Test Registration, Sign-In, and Obtaining Services
• Use of Cookies
• How Information Is Used
• Suppliers and Selected Vendors; Linked Sites
• Service Providers
• Communication Options from the Website
• Access to Personally Identifiable Information
• Contacts for More Information
• Public Forums
• Security

Children Under 13 Years of Age

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from children under the age of 13. If a child provides us with this type of information online, please contact us to have the account deactivated by sending an email or by calling (866) 756-7346.

Back to top

Changes to Privacy Statement

These guidelines have been developed with the recognition that Internet technologies are rapidly evolving. From time to time, we may need to change our Privacy Policy because of changes in the law, technology, our business, or our attempts to better serve user needs. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post the changes within the Privacy Policy itself, on the homepage, or in other places we deem appropriate. This is to ensure that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our homepage.

Back to top

Types of Information Collected Online

The choice regarding how much personally identifiable information you disclose is completely at your discretion. While it is not mandatory to answer any question, you will need to provide personally identifiable information to access certain areas of our site; obtain or register for special services; or complete transactions. If you choose not to provide this information, we may not be able to permit access to such areas, provide those special services, or complete certain transactions. Some specific examples include creating an exam registration, saving college lists, and purchasing products from our online store.

We respect your privacy. Except as described in this privacy statement, your information collected by collegeboard.com will not be shared, rented, or loaned to third parties.

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Web site.

Back to top

Information Collected Through Traffic Monitoring

Like many other websites, collegeboard.com is equipped with a program that monitors site traffic. It automatically records every visitor's host, domain name, pages visited, length of user session, browser type and/or IP address. This program tracks the number of times the site is visited, how many visitors come to the site, which parts of the site are frequented, and the length of time of each visit. This information does not contain personally identifiable information and is used to evaluate areas of interest and to improve collegeboard.com.

Back to top

Information Collected Through Account Creation, Test Registration, Sign-In, and Obtaining Services

Following are examples of the types of accounts and services offered on this website and the type of information that is collected from the user. By providing any such information, the user consents to our Privacy Policy.

For Students or For Parents sections

We may collect personally identifiable information directly from users who are interested in obtaining services, products, or using tools within the For Students or For Parents sections of the site. Users do not need an online account to view most of the website, however, to perform certain tasks or to save personalized information, accounts are required. Some examples of these tasks include: registering for an exam, saving college or scholarship searches, and viewing exam results.

Account creation: We collect the following personally identifiable information from users who wish to create an online account: first name, middle initial, last name, zip code, gender, date of birth, date of high school graduation, email address, username, and password. In addition, users can supply a parent or guardian's first and last name, and email address.

CC a Parent feature: Our CC a Parent service allows a parent or guardian to receive copies of the important emails that we send students. We require the parent or guardian's first and last name, as well as an email address. The parent or guardian must accept the email confirmation sent by the College Board in order to receive copies of any emails. This service currently includes the following automatic emails:

• Reminders about upcoming dates and deadlines
• SAT^® registration receipts and notifications
• SAT Admission Tickets for test day
• Test center alerts
• Score announcements

Parents may also choose additional services and receive emails concerning those services. To protect the security of a collegeboard.com account, we do not send copies of username or password reminders.

Test registration: We typically collect the following information from students registering for an exam: postal address, telephone number, date of birth, social security number (optional), and email address. We may also collect other types of information such as gender, graduation date, financial information for loan and scholarship tools, academic information and interests, citizenship, and religious affiliation. To process your registration, credit card information will also be collected.

Student Search Service^® program: Student Search Service is a voluntary program that allows students to receive information about educational and financial aid opportunities from colleges, universities, scholarship programs, and educational organizations. Students may choose to participate when registering for exams. If the student chooses to participate, the following information is sent to the participating colleges, universities, scholarship programs, and educational organizations: name, postal address, gender, birth date (if provided), school, grade level, ethnic identification (if provided), intended college major (if provided), and email address (if provided).

Pay for College section: We offer a variety of tools and services which provide access to current information on college costs, scholarships, financial aid applications, education loans, and college financing. These include Scholarship Search, Financial Aid EasyPlanner, CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE^® and Education Loans. We typically collect the following information when these tools are used: first and last name, address, telephone number, date of birth, gender, anticipated graduation date, family information, and social security number (optional). For the sole purpose of processing loan or financial aid applications, or Scholarship Search requests, we also collect detailed family financial information such as income, taxes, and assets.

The College Board Education Loan Program: We offer federal and private loans, which are provided by third parties.

• Applying for a federal loan: The user is directed to a third-party website. Although these pages are co-branded with the College Board logo, an outside service provider is actually collecting and using the personally identifying information to process each application. Therefore, the third-party loan provider's privacy policy governs the collection and use of the information that users provide.
• Applying for a private loan: We maintain relationships with outside service providers for some of the services offered through our site. Although, the information offered by these outside providers may be presented in a framed format with the College Board border, the service provider is prominently identified. Please be aware that any information supplied on those framed pages is sent directly to the service providers, and is subject to their security and privacy policies. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these outside service providers because their privacy practices may differ from ours.

Online store: When you purchase products or services from us, we capture credit card information, the type of services or products ordered or purchased, and the date of the order or purchase.

Tell a Friend/Email a Friend: When you use our Tell/Email a Friend service, sharing College Search information or referring an article, we collect your name and email address, as well as your friend's name and email address to perform this service. We send a one-time email containing the requested information to your friend. We store this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program.

Back to top

For Educators Section

We may collect personally identifiable information directly from users who are interested in obtaining services, products, or using tools, within the For Educators section of the site. Users do not need an online account to view most of the website, however, to perform certain tasks or save personalized information, accounts are required. Some examples of these tasks include: ordering AP^® materials or PSAT/NMSQT^® exam materials, registering for workshops, and requesting additional fee waivers. The information may be provided through one or several of the services discussed below.

Account creation: We collect the following personally identifiable information from users who wish to create an online account: first name, middle initial, and last name, name suffix, gender, job title, school affiliation, username, password, email address, and birth month and day.

AP Central^®: AP Central is the official online home for anyone interested in or involved with the Pre-AP^® or AP Programs. The following information is collected from individuals who choose to participate in AP Central: first and last name, email address, password, security question and answer, role, state/province and country. Additionally, users may be asked to list the AP courses they teach, number of years teaching the AP courses, total number of years teaching, and the school's zip code.

Creating Test Coordinator account: Establishing yourself as a Test Coordinator for your designated school allows you the benefit of ordering testing materials online. When creating an online account, we may collect first and last names, email address, work and fax numbers, and an alternate contact name from the school. We use the alternate contact name in case there are questions regarding an order. In addition, Test Coordinators may also provide information, such as: name, work phone, fax number, and email address, which can be displayed on the public Web page for the school's testing center.

Online event registration: If you register for a workshop, meeting, or conference through the site, we'll capture credit card information, the type of services or products ordered or purchased, and the date of the order or purchase.

Back to top

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer's hard drive when you visit a website. The cookie gives you a unique, random ID, and this ID enables our website to readily recognize each user on a subsequent visit to the site. For example, a cookie may indicate the preferences you selected on a prior visit. This facilitates more efficient browsing on subsequent visits, by using your preferences to customize the content and/or layout of our site. We may use cookies in this fashion. Visitors are free to set their Web browsers to prevent the acceptance of cookies. However, subscribers of College Board's MyRoad™ product must enable cookies to access member areas. Be aware that collegeboard.com's cookies do not contain personally identifiable information collected by the College Board.

Some of our service providers use cookies on our site. We have no access to or control over these cookies. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by collegeboard.com only but does not cover the use of cookies by any third-party providers.

Back to top

How Information Is Used

Personally identifiable information collected during the account registration process and by users choosing to receive certain email communications may be used to:

• Improve the College Board and its products, offerings, and services. Typically, this information is collected from email surveys and online polls.
• Verify user identity during Customer Service calls.
• Share information with our operational partners for the sole purpose of administering testing services, and producing and generating student score reports.
• Customize and/or personalize the content and/or layout of our page for each individual user.
• Send customized college-planning newsletters.
• Pre-fill an exam registration with stored personal information.
• Fulfill online purchase requests or other transactions performed on the site. Personally identifiable information is shared with the relevant supplier or selected vendor so that they can complete purchases or transactions.

We may also aggregate information that users provide in order to:

• Generate statistical studies and conduct research related to our professional work.
• Identify, develop, and offer products and services that help in the transition from high school to college, may make the college experience more enjoyable and cost-efficient, or help obtain such products and services from suppliers and selected vendors;

In support of operating, hosting, and enhancing our website, personally identifiable information may be accessed by contractors who assist with programming and technical aspects of website operation. All contractors adhere to the College Board's confidentiality and privacy conditions.

Back to top

Suppliers and Selected Vendors; Linked Sites

We maintain relationships with outside service providers for some of the services offered through our site. Although, the information these providers make available may be presented in a framed format, with the College Board border surrounding the service provider's pages, the service provider is prominently identified. Please be aware that any information supplied on those framed pages is sent directly to those service providers, and is subject to their security and privacy policies. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these outside service providers, because their privacy practices may differ from ours.

Back to top

Service Providers

We use outside companies to process credit cards and to ship free or purchased goods. These companies do not retain, share, store, or use personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

Back to top

Communication Options from the Website

We communicate electronically with our users through two types of emails: mandatory system-generated emails and optional emails. System-generated emails are a direct response to a user's action on the site. Examples include: confirmation of a purchase, an SAT Web Admission Ticket, and username and password reminders. Optional emails are selected by the user based on specific services chosen. Examples include product promotions, The Official SAT Question of the Day™, student newsletters, parent newsletters, onboard newsletters, alerts, and surveys.

You always have the choice not to receive optional email or other means of communication from collegeboard.com. We respect your privacy and realize that not everyone likes to receive special offers or information. You have the ability, upon registering at the site, to opt out from receiving elective communications. Even if you initially choose to receive such email or communications, you later may request removal from our lists in any of these ways:

1. Students and parents can unsubscribe by signing in, going to their individual My Organizer page, and clicking on Manage Email Subscriptions.
2. Educators can unsubscribe from AP Central newsletters by signing in, going to their Personal Profile page, and selecting the Do not send option next to Send me email news.
3. Click the Unsubscribe link located in the footer of College Board elective email communications.
4. Call Customer Service at (866) 756-7346.
5. Write to us at:
   The College Board
   45 Columbus Avenue
   New York, NY 10023
   Attention: User Account Manager

Student Search Service: Student Search Service communications are sent by outside colleges, scholarship programs, and educational opportunity organizations. All entities who receive student information from Student Search Service are required to maintain strict confidentiality. We actively monitor these entities to ensure adherence to our guidelines. The frequency and mode of communication is determined by the entity which receives the student's name. Every communication from individual entities is required to contain specific instructions on how to unsubscribe from that particular institution. To unsubscribe from the entire program, call (800) 626-9795 or write to:

The College Board
11911 Freedom Drive, Suite 300
Reston, VA 20190-5602
Attention: Student Search Service

Back to top

Access to Personally Identifiable Information

1. You can change your personally identifiable information in any of these ways:
   • Sign in to your account, go to your personal My Organizer page and Update My Info. Make any changes and then click Submit.
   • Call Customer Service at (866) 756-7346, or write to:
     The College Board
     45 Columbus Avenue
     New York, NY 10023
     Attention: Customer Service

     Additional personally identifiable information is stored within your test registration. To view or edit this information:

   • Sign in to your collegeboard.com account, go to your personal My Organizer page, select the My SAT tab heading and Update My College Profile.
   • Make any changes and then click Save and Continue.
2. To close or deactivate your account, you must:
   
   Call Customer Service at (866) 756-7346, or write to:
   The College Board
   45 Columbus Avenue
   New York, NY 10023
   Attention: Customer Service
   
   

   Please be aware that College Board test scores are not deleted simply by closing an account. All test scores remain on file with us, indefinitely.

Back to top

Contacts for More Information

If you have questions, contact us by email, or write us at:

The College Board
45 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
Attention: Customer Service

Back to top

Public Forums

The Real Deal: This is a public forum within the For Students and For Parents section of collegeboard.com, where users can share tips or experiences with fellow site visitors. Personally identifiable information is collected from users who wish to submit a quote, but it will not be used in conjunction with a published quote. Examples of the data collected might be first and last name, city, state, zip code, email address, and school. This information is collected for the sole purpose of contacting the submitter in case of questions.

Quotes are reviewed and selected for publication to the website. Information published with the quote is strictly limited to the actual quote, city, state, and country of the submitter.

AP Central Community: This is a public directory located within the For Educators, AP Central section of collegeboard.com When creating an account within AP Central, the user may opt to be included in the Community Directory. Users who opt-in are stating that personal information—although not email addresses—will be published in a directory of users of the site. Examples of data displayed are: first name, last name, school location, city and state, role, courses taught, number of years teaching (and only teaching AP). Opting into this directory allows colleagues to contact users via email, although their email addresses are not displayed to the sender or the public.

Back to top

Security

We exercise great care in providing secure transmission of information from your computer to our servers. You must have a secure browser—one that supports secure transmission of data across the Internet—to purchase items at collegeboard.com. For more information, use your browser's Help feature.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. When sensitive information such as credit card or social security numbers are transmitted, we use industry standard, SSL (secure socket layer) encryption.

Your collegeboard.com password is protected so that only you can access it and view the member information relevant to the account. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. No one at collegeboard.com will ever ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. Ultimately, you are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information.

Back to top