Privacy Policy

Last updated September 20, 2007

SimpleTuition, Inc.
Address:
FinancialAidNight.com, a SimpleTuition, Inc. site
255 Washington Street
Newton, MA 02458
Phone: 617-630-6100
Email: privacy@simpletuition.com

1. Overview:

A. Disclosure Regarding Our Policy.
Thank you for visiting www.simpletuition.com, www.financialaidnight.com, or www.consolidationcomparison.com (the “Site”), a website of SimpleTuition, Inc (“SimpleTuition”, “we”, “us” and/or “our”). This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains our policies and practices with respect to personally identifiable information (collectively, “Personal Information”) collected through the Site. Please take the time to read and understand this Privacy Policy so that you can understand how we use your Personal Information. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PRIVACY POLICY APPLIES ONLY TO PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED THROUGH THIS SITE. WE MAY HAVE DIFFERENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES REGARDING INFORMATION OBTAINED OFFLINE OR FROM OTHER WEBSITES OWNED OR MAINTAINED BY SIMPLETUITION. Remember, if you register with and/or provide any Personal Information to this Site, you agree to these terms.
SimpleTuition, Inc. is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the sites www.simpletuition.com, www.financialaidnight.com and www.consolidationcomparison.com . Because these Web sites want to demonstrate their commitment to your privacy, they have agreed to disclose their information practices and have their privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact the SimpleTuition site coordinator by sending an email to privacy@simpletuition.com. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at TRUSTe WATCHDOG Link*. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.

B. Changes to Our Policy.
Because our business needs may change over time, we reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions from this policy at any time. If at any time in the future we plan to use your Personal Information in a way that differs from this Privacy Policy, we will revise this Privacy Policy to reflect such change. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any changes to this policy means you accept such changes. This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date indicated at the beginning of the policy. Please review this Privacy Policy from time to time and before you provide any Personal Information to the Site.
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so 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 statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our homepage.

2. The Information We Collect:

A. Personal Information.
At the Site, you may be able to request information or register and save your entries for later reference. The types of Personal Information that may be collected at these pages of the Site include: name and email address.
You may also complete an education loan application or a form to confirm your eligibility for such a loan online at our Site. The Personal Information you enter on such pages is used in three main ways. First, we or our agents might use the contact information you list to contact you and help you complete your loan application or form. Second, by submitting your Social Security Number, you are giving us or our agents permission to check your eligibility for an education loan. Third, once the application or form is complete, we will submit it to your chosen lender. For certain lenders, the loan application process must occur offline in hardcopy format. For such lenders, your initial disclosure of Personal Information to this Site will be followed with a paper-based application provided by the lender. Except as permitted by law and/or as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will not share your Personal Information with any person or entity other than the agent that manages the loan and the lender or lenders to which we submit your application or application information at your request.

B. Click-stream Data.
We also may collect certain non-personally identifiable information (that is, generic information that does not identify you personally) when you visit any of our web pages. Such generic information may include the type of loans you have, the amounts of these loans, the type of browser you are using (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer), the type of operating system you are using, (e.g., Windows ‘98 or Mac OS) and the domain name of your Internet service provider (e.g., America Online or Earthlink). As you use the Internet, a trail of electronic information is left at each web site you visit. This information (which is sometimes referred to as “click-stream data,”) can be collected and stored by a web site’s server. Click-stream data can tell us the type of computer and browsing software you use and the address of the web site from which you linked to our Site.

C. Cookies.
To enhance your online experience with us, we may use “cookies.” Cookies are text files placed on your hard disk by our web server to store your preferences. Cookies, by themselves, do not reveal your email address or other Personal Information unless you choose to provide this information to us. However, once you choose to provide the Personal Information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie.
We use cookies as a convenient feature to save you time, to understand how our Site is used, and to improve the content and offerings on our Site. For example, we may use cookies to personalize your experience at our web pages or recall your specific information on subsequent visits. We also may use cookies to offer you products, programs or services. You can opt to have your browser reject cookies. If you do that, you may need to re-register with us every time you visit our Site in order to participate in certain promotions and programs. You should also know that companies that may advertise on our Site (and their agents) might use their own cookies. This Privacy Policy does not cover how these companies use their cookies.

3. How We Use Your Personal Information:

A. Personal Information.
We will use the Personal Information you provide to the Site for the purpose(s) you have requested or we have disclosed in this Privacy Policy. If you want us to stop using the Personal Information you provided in these ways, please email us at privacy@simpletuition.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

B. Click-Stream Data and Other Non-Personally Identifiable Information.
We may use click-stream data and other non-personally identifiable information to anonymously determine how much time visitors spend on each page of our Site, how visitors navigate throughout our Site and how we may tailor our web pages to better meet the needs of visitors. We sometimes use the non-personally identifiable information that we collect to improve the design and content of our Site and to enable us to personalize your Internet experience. We also may use this information in the aggregate to analyze how our Site is used, as well as to offer you products, programs or services. Sometimes we share aggregate information with others, including Related Companies (as defined below) and non-affiliated companies.
We will use your personal information (email) to send you an official, one-time confirmation email to acknowledge your transaction on the site. If you choose to opt in to receive emails for News and Updates we will notify you periodically by email of any significant press releases or site enhancements or changes at our discretion. Also, if you choose to opt in to receive marketing and promotional emails, we will notify you periodically by email of any marketing announcement, promotions or special offers.
We provide you the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having your personally identifiable information used for certain purposes, when we ask for this information. For example, when you fill out our questionnaire you can choose not to check the box to opt-in to receive News & Updates. By default this is selected.
If you no longer wish to receive our email communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each email communication or you may contact us using the information provided at the end of this document.
You will be notified when your personal information is collected by any third party that is not our agent/service provider, so you can make an informed choice as to whether or not to share your information with that party.

4. How We Share Your Personal Information:
We will not share the Personal Information you provide except (a) if it is for the purpose(s) you provided it; (b) such disclosure has been described on the Site and/or in this Privacy Policy or you have otherwise consented to such disclosure; (c) as a result of our belief that the disclosure may be permitted or required by law or may be necessary to protect our company or others from injury (e.g., in response to a court order or subpoena, in response to a law enforcement agency request or when we believe that someone is causing (or about to cause) injury, to or interfere with the rights or property of another); and/or (d) with other persons or companies with whom we contract to carry out our business activities (examples: sending out a promotional item that you have qualified for on the Site, or contacting you to complete your loan application).
We will seek to obtain your consent at the time the Personal Information is collected either by an “opt-in” or “opt-out” method, or by other means (such as sending you an email).
We provide you the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having your personally identifiable information used for certain purposes, when we ask for this information. For example:
1. In the site questionnaire, an email address is requested as a mandatory field. You are presented with a disclosure that the email will not be shared with any unauthorized third parties, and a check box to “opt-out” of receiving emails regarding “News and Updates”.
2. In the “Tell a friend” program your name, email address and the email address of a friend or friends are requested. It is disclosed on the entry form that (i) all information provided is strictly confidential and will only be used to distribute the “refer a friend” email; (ii) information provided will not be shared with any third parties or used for marketing purposes, and (iii) this program is performed using Exact Target, an email management solution provider for SimpleTuition.
You will be notified when your personal information is collected by any third party that is not our agent/service provider, so you can make an informed choice as to whether or not to share your information with that party.
If we do share Personal Information with a non-affiliated company, to the extent practical, we require that they protect such information in a manner that is consistent with this policy or with applicable law. We cannot, however, guarantee how these non-affiliated companies will use your Personal Information.
If you should opt-in to sharing your personal information with a third party, this privacy policy no longer applies to the way your information is treated and you should read the privacy policies of the third party.
Finally, please note that the Personal Information you provide to the Site is considered a company asset and may be included among transferred assets if SimpleTuition, any or all of its Related Companies or any of their assets are ever acquired by a third party. Should this happen, you will be notified.

5. Collection of Information by Others:
Our Site may contain links to other web sites operated by Simple Tuition or third parties (collectively, the “Third Party Sites”). Such Third Party Sites may have information practices that are different from those described in this Privacy Policy. You should check the other privacy notices made available on such Third Party Sites.
On this site we use Exact Target to send all emails and to refer our site to others. When you make referrals, we will share your name and email address as well as the recipient’s email address as necessary for the third party to provide this referral service. This information will not be used for any other purpose. If you choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about our site, we will ask you for your friend’s name and email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site. Exact Target stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program.
You or your friend may contact us at privacy@simpletuition.com or use the link provided in each email, to request that we remove this information from our database.
On this site we also use Zoomerang to allow you to provide feedback by completing customer satisfaction and feedback surveys. When you complete a survey your feedback will be aggregated with the responses of other customers for internal business analysis. No Personal Information is collected in these surveys. This information will not be used for any other purpose.

6. Supplementing Information:
From time to time we may supplement the Personal Information you provide through our Site with information from other sources, such as information validating your address. Thus, information we obtain through our Site may be intermingled with and used in conjunction with information obtained through sources other than our Site, including both offline and online sources.

7. Discussions and Community Tools:
We may, from time to time, make chat rooms, forums, message boards, news groups and other community tools available to you. Please remember that any information, including any Personal Information, that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information for other users to view and for us to use. For example, from time to time, we may use the content you write (including your name or screen name if you post it) for promotional purposes, in email newsletters or elsewhere, and by using our Site or these chat rooms, forums, message boards, news groups, and other community tools, you agree that we may do so. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information in these areas, since anyone - not just us - may use publicly posted information.

8. Security Notice:
We maintain physical, electronic, and managerial procedures in accordance with federal guidance to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access to, maintain data security of and correctly use the Personal Information collected through our Site. However, no Internet or email transmission is ever fully secure or error free. In particular, email sent to or from our Site may not be secure. When your Personal Information is passed on to non-affiliated companies, to the extent practical, we require that they also have in place the appropriate safeguards. We cannot, however, guarantee that they do. Please keep these disclaimers in mind when disclosing any Personal Data via our Site.

9. Accessing or Correcting Your Personal Information:
For instructions on how you can access the Personal Information that we have collected about you through this Site, or how to correct any errors in such information, please email us at privacy@simpletuition.com
If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete, or deactivate it clicking on the link provided at the bottom of our emails, by emailing privacy@simpletuition.com, or by contacting us by postal mail at the contact information listed below.

10. A Special Note for Parents:
Our Site is not geared towards children. Our Site will not knowingly accept Personal Information from anyone under 13 years old. If you believe that your child under 13 has gained access to our Site without your permission, you may contact us at privacy@simpletuition.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it.

11. Other Terms and Conditions:
Your access to and use of this Site is subject to the Terms of Use.

12. How to Contact Us:
If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy you may email us at: info@simpletuition.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or write to us at the following address:

SimpleTuition, Inc.
Attn: Customer Service
255 Washington Street
Suite 355
Newton, MA 02458
© 2007, SimpleTuition, Inc.