Privacy Policy

The Basics

Definitions

We’ll start by introducing a few definitions that will help you understand this policy. When we say “we,” “us,” and “CEA CAPA,” we’re referring to CEA CAPA Education Abroad. We provide international education opportunities and support U.S. university students interested in studying abroad (the “Services”). When we say “you” or “Member,” we’re referring to the person or entity that’s registered with us to use the Services. We offer the Services on our websites http://www.ceastudyabroad.com and http://www.capa.org (each a “Website” and together the “Websites”).

Goals

In the simplest terms, we take your privacy seriously. Our privacy policy incorporates the following goals:

• We never sell, rent, share, or barter your information, except to comply with law;
• We never ask you for personal information unless we truly need it;
• We only store personally identifiable information when required for the on-going operation and provision of our services; and
• We never process credit card transactions within our network, nor do we store your credit card information.

Collection Of Information

Information You Provide

When you use the Services, consult with our admissions team, send us an email or chat, post on our blog, or communicate with us in any way, you give us information that we collect. We may collect, but are not limited to, basic user information such as your name, physical address, email address, phone number, home University, parent’s contact information, and photograph, as well as details like gender, location, birth date, and other demographic information.

When you apply for a program or scholarship through CEA CAPA, we collect additional information that allows us to thoroughly evaluate and assess your application. This additional information may include, but is not limited to, transcripts, emergency contact information, GPA, and major of study. For need-based scholarships, we may also collect limited financial information from both students and family members.

If you choose to refer a friend through our online referral program or by any other means, we will collect your friend’s name and contact information.

Information We Collect from Your Use of the Services

We may get information about how and when you use the Services, store it in log files associated with your account, and link it to other information we collect about you, including but not limited to the following:

• Transaction Information. When you use our Services to make payments, we collect information about when and where the transaction occurred, a description of the transaction, the payment amount, billing information, and information about the devices and payment methods used to complete the transaction.
• Device Information. We collect device-specific information when you access our Services, including your hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers, mobile network information, and information about the device's interaction with our Services.
• Use Information. We collect information about how you use our Services, including your access times, browser types and language, and Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses.
• Cookies and Web Beacons. We use various technologies to collect information that may include sending cookies to your computer or mobile device. Cookies are small data files that websites store on your hard drive or in device memory. Among other things, cookies support the integrity of our registration process, retain your preferences and account settings, and help evaluate and compile aggregated statistics about user activity. We may also collect information using web beacons, or electronic images that may be used in our Services or emails. We may use web beacons to deliver cookies, count visits, understand usage and campaign effectiveness, and determine whether an email has been opened and acted upon.

Information We Collect from Other Services

We may collect information about you from third parties, including but not limited to, third-party verification services, credit bureaus, mailing list providers, and publicly available sources.

Use Of Information

We may use information about you to provide, maintain, and improve our Services, evaluate applications for Services, and deliver the information and support you request.

We may use information about you to bill and collect money owed to us, including sending you and your associated contacts emails, invoices, receipts, and notices of delinquency. We use third parties for secure credit card transaction processing, and we send billing information to those third parties to process your orders and credit card payments.

We also use information about you to improve and personalize the Services we offer. As an example, if we know which University you attend, we may use that information to determine if you are eligible for additional discounts offered only to students at that University.

We may use information we collect from you or friends you refer to send news and information about our Services and to communicate with you about products, services, promotions, and scholarships we offer. For instance, if you previously expressed interest in studying in London and we launch a new program in London, we want you to know about it! You may always opt-out of these communications by following the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email or text.

We may also use information about you to track and analyze trends and usage in connection with our Services; to process and deliver grants, scholarships and promotions; to protect our rights or property; to verify your identity; to investigate and prevent fraud or other illegal activities; and for any other purpose disclosed to you in connection with our Services.

Sharing Of Information

We may share personal information about you as follows:

• With Universities (both domestic or abroad) and your identified contacts, in order to provide, maintain, and improve our Services, as well as to bill or collect a debt associated with those services;
• With third parties to provide, maintain, and improve our Services, including service providers who access information about you to perform services on our behalf, such as verification or payment services;
• With third parties who run advertising campaigns, special offers, or other events or activities in connection with our Services and on our behalf;
• If we believe that disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; to enforce applicable agreements or policies; to protect the security or integrity of our Services; and to protect us, our Sellers, end users, or the public from harm or illegal activities; and
• With your consent.

Sharing excludes text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Public Information and Third Parties

Information shared in public forums, is just that—public. Keep the following in mind when utilizing our site to share information within public forums:

• We have public blogs on our Websites. Any information you include in a comment on our blog may be read, collected, and used by anyone. If your Personal Information appears on our blogs and you want it removed, contact us. If we’re unable to remove your information, we’ll let you know why.
• Our Websites include social media features, like the Facebook Like button. These features may collect information about your IP address and which page you’re visiting on our site. They may set a cookie to make sure the feature functions properly. Social media features and widgets may be hosted by a third party or directly on our site. We also maintain presences on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Any information, communications, or materials you submit to us via a social media platform is done at your own risk without any expectation of privacy. We cannot control the actions of other users of these platforms or the actions of the platforms themselves. Your interactions with those features and platforms are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide them.
• Our Websites may include links to other websites, whose privacy practices may be different from ours. If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to read carefully the privacy policy of any Website you visit.

Security

We are committed to the protection of your data. We take reasonable measures, including administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, to help protect the information we collect from loss, theft, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. We work with a third party data center, Amazon Web Services, Azure Cloud Services, and Software as a Service providers—such as Salesforce—to host our Websites, services, and software in secure production environments that use firewalls and other technology to reasonably prevent access from outside intruders.

Our credit card processing vendor uses security measures to protect your information, both during the transaction and after it’s complete. Our vendor bases its internal controls on the comprehensive framework provided by the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and is certified compliant with all Payment Card Industry (PCI) DSS 3.0 standards. As part of our annual audit, we collect and review SSAE 16 certifications from all third party vendors with access to payment information.