Privacy Policy

College Costs Compared ("we", "us", or "our") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit collegecostscompared.com (the "Site"), purchase one of our spreadsheet products, or contact us. By using the Site you agree to the practices described below.

Information We Collect

Information you give us

• Email address — provided at checkout to deliver your download, and through our contact form.
• Name and message — if you submit our contact form.
• Payment information — processed entirely by our payment provider, Stripe. We do not store your card number, CVV, or full bank account details on our servers.

Information we collect automatically

• Technical data — IP address, browser type, device type, referring URL, pages viewed, and timestamps. Used to operate the Site and detect abuse.
• Analytics — we use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the Site (such as pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser type). Google Analytics sets cookies (for example _ga) to measure and report site usage. This information is aggregated and used to improve the Site; we do not use it to identify you personally, and we do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
• Embedded video — video players are loaded in a privacy-enhanced mode and may set cookies only if you choose to press play.
• Local storage — the admin area uses your browser's local storage to keep authorized users signed in. This does not apply to ordinary visitors or customers.

How We Use Information

• To fulfill your order — generate a download link and email it to you.
• To provide customer support and respond to inquiries.
• To send transactional emails (purchase confirmations, updated-file notifications if you purchased the Update Pass).
• To prevent fraud, abuse, and illegitimate downloads.
• To comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not send marketing email unless you have explicitly subscribed.

Third-Party Services

To deliver our products and operate the Site, we share the minimum information necessary with reputable service providers in the following categories:

• Payment processing — a PCI-compliant payment processor handles all card and bank-account information directly. We never see or store your full card number.
• Transactional email delivery — used to send your download link, receipts, and reissue notifications.
• Hosting and infrastructure — used to operate the Site and securely store order records.
• Analytics — Google Analytics, used to measure aggregate Site usage so we can improve it.

Each provider is bound by its own privacy and security obligations, and we share information with them only to the extent needed to perform the service we have engaged them for.

Data Retention

Order records (email, product purchased, transaction reference) are retained as long as we need them to honor reissue requests and meet tax and accounting obligations. Download tokens expire automatically after limited uses. Contact-form messages are retained for as long as needed to respond to your inquiry.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you, or to object to or restrict its processing. To exercise these rights, email us at support@collegecostscompared.com.

Children's Privacy

Our Site and products are intended for use by parents and high-school-aged or older students. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Security

We use industry-standard safeguards (TLS encryption in transit, restricted server access, and Stripe's PCI-compliant payment infrastructure) to protect your information. No system is perfectly secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will revise the "Last updated" date above and, when changes are material, post a notice on the Site.

Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Email support@collegecostscompared.com.