Privacy Policy

Updated June 22, 2023

This policy describes how Spertus Institute might collect, store, or use your information when you fill out a form or application, request support, or otherwise communicate with us.

Note that if you make a payment or purchase, we work with a third-party payment processor to collect and process your payment information.

Questions or concerns? Reading this notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

Summary of Key Points

This summary provides key points. See below for more in-depth information.

What personal information do we process? The information we collect is based on how you interact with Spertus Institute and the services and features you use. In most cases, this includes your name and email address.

Do we process any sensitive personal information? As required by the Federal Department of Education, student applications collect that may include personal information such as ethnic origin and citizenship.

Do we receive any information from third parties? We may receive information from public databases, marketing partners, social media platforms, and other outside sources.

How do we process your information? We process your information to communicate with you; provide, improve, and administer our services; for security and fraud prevention; and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so.

In what situations and with which parties do we share personal information? We may share information in specific situations and with specific third parties. Generally, this only applies to Spertus Institute graduate and certificate students. We do not share information acquired from those who are not Spertus students or library users.

What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information. The easiest way to exercise your rights is by contacting us through the link below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Personal Information You Disclose To Us

In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register for programs, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our offerings, when you participate in Spertus Institute activities, or contact us directly.

Additionally, if you make a payment or purchase, we work with a third-party payment processor to collect and process your payment information.

The information we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us. It may include:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Mailing address
  • Job title
  • Username and/or password
  • Contact preferences
  • Authentication data
  • Billing address
  • Debit/credit card number

Sensitive Information. When necessary, with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, we process the following categories of sensitive information:

  • Information revealing race or ethnic origin
  • Student data

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit or debit card number) and the security code associated with your payment instrument. We work with a third-party payment processor to collect and process your payment information.

Information Automatically Collected

In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our website or use our services.

This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

  • Transactional Information: When you make a purchase or return, we collect information about the transaction, such as product details, purchase price, and the date and location of the transaction.
  • Device and Usage Information: We collect information about how you access our services, including data about the device and network you use, such as your hardware model, operating system version, mobile network, IP address, unique device identifiers, browser type, and app version. We also collect information about your activity on our services, such as access times, pages viewed, links clicked, and the page you visited before navigating to our services.
  • Information Collected by Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: We (and those who perform work for us) use tracking technologies, such as cookies and web beacons, to collect information about your interactions with the services. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us improve our services and your experience, see which areas and features of our services are popular, and count visits. Web beacons (also known as “pixel tags” or “clear GIFs”) are electronic images that we use on our services and in our emails to help deliver cookies, count visits, and understand usage and campaign effectiveness.
  • Location Information: In accordance with your device permissions, we may collect information about the precise location of your device. You may stop the collection of precise location information at any time.

Information We Collect from Other Sources

On occasion, we obtain information from other sources. For example, we may collect information from program or marketing partners or social media platforms. This information may include name, email address, location, and job title.

How Do We Process Your Information

In short: We process your information to communicate with you; provide, improve, and administer our services; for security and fraud prevention; and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so.

We use the information we collect to deliver the educational mission of Spertus Institute. We also use the information we collect to:

  • Facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts. We may process your information so you can create and log in to your account, as well as keep your account in working order.
  • Deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may process your information to provide you with the requested service.
  • Respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may process your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the requested service.
  • Fulfill and manage your orders. We may process your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Services.
  • Save or protect an individual’s vital interest. We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm.
  • Personalize your experience with us.
  • Send you technical notices, security alerts, support messages, and other transactional or relationship messages;
    Carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information is collected.

When and With Whom Do We Share Your Information

We may share information in specific situations and/or with the following third parties.

  • Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
  • Affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this privacy notice. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.
  • Business Partners. We may share personal information with vendors, service providers, contractors and consultants that access personal information to perform work for us, such as [companies that assist us with web hosting, shipping and delivery, payment processing, fraud prevention, customer service, and marketing and advertising]. We call share personal information with our lawyers and other professional advisors where necessary to obtain advice or otherwise protect and manage our business interests.
  • In Accordance with Required Law. We may disclose personal information if we believe that disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law or legal process, including lawful requests by public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
  • Safety. We may share personal information if we believe that your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, if we believe that you have violated the law, or if we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of Spertus, our users, the public, or others.
  • Consent. We share personal information with your consent or at your direction.

Do We Use Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies?

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance the user experience. These functions may collect, store, and/or access your information. For specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies, click on the blue cookie icon on the lower left of your screen.

Is Your Information Transferred Internationally?

In Short: We may transfer, store, and process your information in countries other than your own.

Our servers are located in the United States, however your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in other countries by us or by third parties required to fulfill our services.

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom (UK), these countries may not necessarily have data protection laws or other similar laws as comprehensive as those in your country. However, we will take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and applicable law.

How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless a longer retention period is required by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements).

Do We Collect Information From Minors

We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

What Are Your Privacy Rights

In Short: You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority.

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided below.

However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal, nor when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Account Information

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:
Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Controls for Do-Not-Track Features

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

Privacy Rights for California Residents

If you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information. California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

Do We Make Updates to This Notice

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification.

To Review, Update, or Delete the Data We Collect From You

Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, submit your request.