Privacy Policy

This privacy policy describes ELCA Colleges & Universities’ current policies and practices with regard to personal data collected by ELCA Colleges & Universities through this website. This privacy policy does not apply to information collected offline or in any other way. The term “personal data” refers to personally identifiable information about you, such as your name, birth date, email address or mailing address, and any other information that identifies you personally.

Your Consent

By using this website, you consent to our use of your personal data as described in this privacy policy.

Notification of Changes to This Policy

ELCA Colleges & Universities is continually improving and adding new functionality and features to this website and improving and adding to its existing services and programs. Because of these ongoing changes, changes in the law and the changing nature of technology, ELCA Colleges & Universities’ data practices will change from time to time. If and when our data practices change, ELCA Colleges & Universities will post the changes on this website to notify you of the changes. We encourage you to check this page frequently.

Personal Data Collected Through This Website

The only personal data ELCA Colleges & Universities currently collects through this website is the information you give us when you use our site. This includes, for example, the information you provide when you request more information from an ELCA Colleges & Universities participating institution.

ELCA Colleges & Universities uses the information you provide for the purposes for which it was originally collected, for example, to relay your contact information to a participating college or university. ELCA Colleges & Universities also uses this information to help us improve the content and functionality of our website and to better understand the needs and interests of the people and organizations that use our website. ELCA Colleges & Universities may use this information to contact you in the future to tell you about our educational institutions, opportunities and other things we believe will be of interest to you.

ELCA Colleges & Universities may share the personal information you provide to us with consultants and other third parties who act for or on behalf of ELCA Colleges & Universities, for further processing or analysis. In addition, there may be some other, limited circumstances in which ELCA Colleges & Universities may share or transfer the personal information in its databases, for example, to comply with a legal requirement, for the administration of justice, to protect your vital interests, to protect the security or integrity of our databases or this website, to take precautions against legal liability, or in the event of a corporate merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar event.

Anonymous Data Collected Through the ELCA Colleges & Universities Website

In addition to the information you provide when you use our website, ELCA Colleges & Universities uses technology to collect anonymous information about the use of our website. For example, we use technology to track how many visitors access our website, the date and time of their visit, the length of their stay, and which pages they view. We also use technology to determine which web browsers our visitors use and the address from which they accessed our site.

This technology does not identify you personally. It simply enables us to compile statistics about our visitors and their use of our site. ELCA Colleges & Universities uses this anonymous data and shares it with third parties for various reasons, for example, to improve the content and functionality of our website, and to better understand the needs and interests of our visitors.

Cookies

In order to collect the anonymous data described in the preceding paragraph, ELCA Colleges & Universities may use temporary “cookies” that collect the first level domain name of the user (for example, if your email address is “name@xyz.com,” the cookie collects the “xyz.com” portion of your email address) and the date and time you accessed this website. Cookies by themselves cannot be used to discover the identity of the user. A cookie is a small piece of information which is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies do not damage your computer. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie. This enables you to decide if you want to accept it or not. At the present time, ELCA Colleges & Universities only uses temporary or “session” cookies. These “session” cookies expire when your browser window is closed.

In order for certain applications on the ELCA Colleges & Universities website to function properly, if at all, it is necessary for your computer to accept cookies.

Google Analytics & Advertising

ELCA Colleges & Universities uses all features of Google Analytics for Search and Display Advertisers. That includes obtaining specific visitor cookie data, such as the source, medium and keyword used to visit our website. Google Analytics does not store any visitor specific data and we will not use visitor specific data in any way related to Google Analytics, Google Adwords, and Remarketing.

ELCA Colleges & Universities uses remarketing through AdRoll with Google Adwords and analytics to display content specific advertisements to visitors that have previously visited our site when those visitors go to other websites that have the Google Display Network implemented.

ELCA Colleges & Universities and other third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the AdRoll cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on visitor’s past visits to our website.

We take our users’ privacy very seriously. We feel that certain personal information should always be kept private, so we’ve developed restrictions around the types of ads where we don’t allow remarketing. When creating remarketing lists, we can’t use any sensitive information about users.

As AdWords advertisers, we are restricted from and will not perform the following actions:
(a) Running ads that collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) including, but not limited to, email addresses, telephone numbers, and credit card numbers
(b) Creating a remarketing list or creating ad text that specifically targets users in ways that are outlined as “prohibited” in the categories below.

Visitors can opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertisers or opt out of customized Google Display Network ads by visiting the Ads Preferences Manager. You may also visit your own internet provider’s information on opting out.

Links to Other Sites

This privacy policy applies only to this website. This site contains many hyperlinks to websites that are not operated by ELCA Colleges & Universities. These hyperlinks are provided for your reference and convenience only and do not imply any endorsement of the activities of these third-party websites or any association with their operators. ELCA Colleges & Universities does not control these websites and is not responsible for their data practices. We urge you to review the privacy policy posted on any site you visit before using the site or providing any personal data about yourself.

Governing Law

This privacy policy forms part of our website Terms and Conditions and as such shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois.

Questions About Our Privacy Policy

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or concerns about the way ELCA Colleges & Universities uses personal data, please email us at info@whygolutheran.org.