1. What We Collect

Information you give us directly.

We collect personal information when you request information about our programs, apply for admission, register for a campus visit or event, make a purchase through our bookstore or other online services, fill out a contact form, or create an account in an alumni or university community. Depending on the context, that may include your name, mailing address, email address, phone number, date of birth, academic background, and payment details.

Information collected automatically.

Like most websites, ours logs technical data when you visit: your IP address, browser type, device, pages viewed, time on page, and how you arrived at the site. This data is used in aggregate; we look at patterns across many visitors to understand what's working and what isn't. We do not tie this technical data back to you as an individual.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use information for the purpose you gave it to us. If you submitted a request about admissions, we use your contact information to respond to that request. If you registered for an event, we use it to process that registration. We do not repurpose your data for unrelated uses without your consent.

More specifically, we may use your information to:

• Respond to inquiries about programs, admissions, financial aid, or campus life
• Process your application, event registration, or online purchase
• Send program updates, event announcements, scholarship information, or other university news by email, mail, phone, or SMS (standard message and data rates may apply)
• Improve website content and functionality based on how visitors use the site
• Meet legal or regulatory obligations You can opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any message, or by contacting privacy@vanguard.edu.

3. Cookies and Site Analytics

Cookies are small files stored in your browser. We use them to keep the site functional (remembering what's in your cart, keeping you logged in during a session, and understanding which pages visitors find useful). We do not use cookies to build profiles on identified individuals.

We may also use web beacons (small invisible images sometimes called pixel tags) and third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics to measure traffic and usage patterns across the site. Those tools collect aggregate, anonymized data. We do not allow outside advertisers to place cookies or display banner ads on our websites.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically. You can change that in your browser's privacy settings, though turning cookies off may affect how some pages work.

4. When We Share Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. The limited situations in which we do share information are:

• Vendors and service providers. We work with outside companies to process payments, deliver email, manage event registrations, and provide other services on our behalf. Those vendors are required by contract to keep your information confidential and to use it only for the task at hand.
• Internal university offices. Your information may be shared with the Vanguard department or office best positioned to help with your request.
• Legal requirements. We may disclose information in response to a valid court order, subpoena, or government investigation, or when required by law.
• Safety. If we have a good-faith reason to believe disclosure is necessary to protect the safety or rights of a person or the university, we may share relevant information with appropriate parties.

5. FERPA

Vanguard University is subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which governs the privacy of student educational records. FERPA gives currently enrolled students the right to access their records and generally prohibits the university from releasing them without written consent.

Where FERPA and this Privacy Policy conflict, FERPA controls. For questions about student records specifically, contact the Office of the Registrar. Students who believe the university has violated FERPA may file a complaint with:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202

6. Security

We use encryption (SSL/TLS) whenever you transmit sensitive information to us, and we limit access to personal data to staff and partners who have a legitimate need for it. Those individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations.

That said, no internet transmission is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee that your information will never be intercepted. Email in particular is not a safe channel for sensitive data; please do not send Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or similar information by email.

For the purposes of this policy, sensitive information means: any combination of name, home address, and date of birth; and always, regardless of context, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and driver's license numbers.

7. Your Choices

You have real options when it comes to how your information is used:

Opt out of communications.

Unsubscribe from any email using the link at the bottom of the message, or contact privacy@vanguard.edu with your name, phone number, and a description of what you'd like to stop receiving. We will process requests promptly, though communications already in the queue may still arrive.

Update or correct your information.

Contact the office that holds your records: the Registrar for current and prospective students, University Advancement for alumni and donors, and Human Resources for employees and staff.

Request removal from mailing lists.

Some departments maintain their own lists independently of the central database. If a central opt-out doesn't resolve the issue, you may need to contact that office directly. 8. Children Our public website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted information to our site, contact privacy@vanguard.edu and we will delete it.

9. Visitors from the European Economic Area

If you are in the EEA, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or equivalent local law gives you rights beyond what is described above. These include the right to access the data we hold about you, correct it, request its deletion, restrict how we process it, and receive a portable copy. You may also withdraw consent at any time.

We process data about EEA individuals only where we have a lawful basis, typically to fulfill a request you made, to meet a legal obligation, or based on your consent. To exercise any of your rights, contact privacy@vanguard.edu. We respond within the timeframes required by law.

We do not accept personal data submissions from anyone under 13 in the EEA. For users between 13 and 17 in the EEA, we will hold any submitted data pending receipt of parental or guardian consent; if consent is not provided promptly, the data will be deleted.

10. Links to Other Websites

Our site links to third-party websites (athletics partners, external scholarship databases, accrediting bodies, and others). Those sites have their own privacy policies, and this one does not apply to them. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of sites we link to.

11. Changes to This Policy

We update this policy when our practices change. When we do, the revised version will appear on this page with a new effective date. We encourage you to check back periodically. Continued use of our website after a revision is posted constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

12. Contact

Privacy questions, opt-out requests, and data correction requests can all be directed here:

Website Management
Vanguard University
55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Email: privacy@vanguard.edu
Website: www.vanguard.edu