Welcome to CollegeTalk ("CollegeTalk," "we," "our," or "us"). Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how CollegeTalk LLC collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects your information when you access or use the CollegeTalk website, applications, and related services (collectively, the "Services").

CollegeTalk connects prospective college students with verified current college students for paid one-on-one conversations about college life, academics, campus culture, and related topics. By using our Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Services.

1. Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on how you use CollegeTalk and whether you register as a prospective student or a college student.

Information You Provide

When you create an account, we may collect information including:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Password
• Account type (Prospective Student or College Student)

We also require email verification before an account may be fully activated.

Prospective Student Information

If you register as a prospective student, we may collect:

• Expected major
• Application status (such as Exploring, Applying, or Deciding)
• State of residence
• Interests
• Optional profile photo

Prospective student profiles are not publicly searchable. During scheduled interviews, your first name, last initial, and optional profile photo may be visible to the college student participating in the interview.

College Student Information

If you register as a college student, we may collect:

• College or university
• Major
• Optional minor
• Year in school
• Biography or profile description
• Interests
• Optional clubs and organizations
• Profile photograph
• Introduction video
• Availability
• Pricing for interview sessions
• Ratings and reviews
• Reliability metrics and interview history displayed on your profile

College student profiles are only visible to authenticated users of CollegeTalk. They are not intended to be publicly accessible through internet search engines.

2. Student Verification Information

To help maintain trust and authenticity on the platform, every college student must complete a verification process before offering interviews.

Verification may include:

• A current academic transcript
• Verification of an active educational email address
• A profile photograph
• An introduction video
• Additional information reasonably necessary to verify student status

Verification is performed manually by members of the CollegeTalk team.

Academic transcripts are used solely to verify enrollment and, where applicable, to display GPA information after review by CollegeTalk. Verification documents are never made publicly available through CollegeTalk.

Transcripts are not shared with other users and are accessible only to authorized CollegeTalk personnel involved in the verification process.

Unlike verification documents, introduction videos are part of a college student's profile and are intended to be viewed by authenticated CollegeTalk users.

3. Information Collected During Interviews

CollegeTalk facilitates online video interviews between prospective students and verified college students.

During interviews, we may collect:

• Audio
• Video
• Meeting metadata
• Connection information
• Interview duration
• Scheduling information

Interview sessions may be recorded to help protect users, investigate reports of misconduct, prevent fraud, enforce our Terms of Service, and maintain the safety of the platform.

Recordings are not routinely reviewed by CollegeTalk employees. Access to recordings is limited and generally occurs only when reasonably necessary, including when a user submits a report regarding an interview or when required to comply with applicable law.

Users cannot download interview recordings through the CollegeTalk platform.

4. Payment Information

Prospective students purchase platform credits that may be redeemed to book interviews with college students.

Payment processing is handled by Stripe. CollegeTalk does not collect or store complete credit card numbers or other full payment card information.

College students receive payments through Stripe after successfully completing eligible interviews. To facilitate payouts, Stripe may collect financial or banking information directly from college students in accordance with Stripe's own privacy practices.

5. Communications

When you use CollegeTalk, we may send service-related communications including:

• Email verification messages
• Security notifications
• Account-related notices
• Updates regarding changes to our policies
• Customer support communications

We may also send promotional or marketing communications regarding new features, services, or opportunities. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in those communications. Even if you opt out of marketing emails, we may continue sending important service-related communications necessary to operate your account.

We may provide notifications within the CollegeTalk platform regarding bookings, cancellations, rescheduling, and account activity.

6. Information Collected Automatically

When you use our Services, we may automatically collect certain technical information, including:

• IP address
• Browser type
• Device type
• Operating system
• Log information
• Date and time of access
• Error reports and diagnostic information

This information helps us operate, secure, troubleshoot, and improve CollegeTalk.

At this time, CollegeTalk does not use third-party analytics platforms or advertising cookies to track user behavior across websites.

7. How We Use Your Information

CollegeTalk uses the information we collect to provide, operate, improve, and protect our Services.

Specifically, we may use your information to:

• Create and manage user accounts.
• Verify the identity and student status of college student applicants.
• Display college student profiles to authenticated users.
• Facilitate interview scheduling and video sessions.
• Process purchases of platform credits.
• Process payouts to eligible college students.
• Respond to customer support requests.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, harassment, and other prohibited activity.
• Investigate reports submitted through our reporting system.
• Improve the reliability, security, and performance of the Services.
• Send account-related notifications and important service announcements.
• Send promotional or marketing communications, where permitted by applicable law.
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

8. How Information Is Shared

CollegeTalk does not sell your personal information.

We only share information when necessary to operate the Services, comply with legal obligations, or protect our users.

Service Providers

We work with trusted third-party providers that help us operate CollegeTalk, including providers that assist with:

• Payment processing
• Video conferencing
• Email delivery
• Cloud hosting and infrastructure

These providers may access information only as necessary to perform services on our behalf and are contractually or legally obligated to protect that information.

When you make a purchase or receive payouts as a college student, certain payment and financial information is collected directly by Stripe and handled according to Stripe's own privacy practices.

CollegeTalk does not store any card information on its platform.

Information necessary to establish and maintain video sessions may be processed by Daily in order to provide interview functionality and recording capabilities.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if we believe doing so is necessary to:

• Comply with applicable law.
• Respond to lawful legal requests.
• Protect the rights, safety, or property of CollegeTalk, our users, or others.
• Investigate fraud, abuse, or security incidents.
• Enforce our Terms of Service.

Business Transfers

If CollegeTalk is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, bankruptcy, asset sale, or similar business transaction, user information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.

9. Public Information

To help prospective students make informed decisions, certain information about college students is visible to authenticated CollegeTalk users.

Depending on what a college student chooses to include, this may include:

• First name and last initial
• Profile photograph
• Introduction video
• College or university
• Major
• Optional minor
• Year in school
• Biography
• Interests
• Clubs and organizations
• Ratings and reviews
• Reliability information
• Interview history metrics

College student profiles are intended to be viewable only by logged-in users of CollegeTalk.

Prospective students do not maintain publicly viewable profiles. During interviews and other interactions, college students may see the prospective student's first name, last initial, and optional profile photo.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Provide the Services.
• Verify student accounts.
• Maintain platform integrity.
• Investigate reports or disputes.
• Comply with legal obligations.
• Resolve security or fraud issues.
• Enforce our agreements.

Interview recordings are retained only as long as reasonably necessary to operate the Services, investigate reported misconduct, comply with legal obligations, and support trust and safety efforts.

Verification materials are retained for as long as reasonably necessary to maintain verified student accounts and meet legal or operational requirements.

When information is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to securely delete or anonymize it where appropriate.

11. Account Deletion

Users may request deletion of their CollegeTalk account by contacting us.

When an account is deleted, we will make reasonable efforts to remove or anonymize personal information that is no longer necessary for legal, security, fraud prevention, or operational purposes.

For college student accounts, deletion generally includes removal of the student's profile, ratings, reviews, profile media, and associated public information from the platform, except where retention is required by law or necessary to resolve disputes or enforce our policies.

Some information may remain in backups or archived systems for a limited period before being permanently removed.

12. Security

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

These measures include, where appropriate:

• Encryption of data transmitted between your device and our Services using HTTPS.
• Secure authentication procedures.
• Access controls for sensitive information.
• Manual review of student verification materials.
• Monitoring for suspicious activity.

No method of transmitting or storing information over the Internet is completely secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials and should notify us immediately if they believe their account has been compromised.

13. Children's Privacy

CollegeTalk is designed for individuals who are preparing to attend college and current college students. Many prospective users are between the ages of 16 and 18.

CollegeTalk is not intended for children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 16 without appropriate authorization where required by law, we will take reasonable steps to delete that information.

If you believe a child under 16 has created an account, please contact us using the information provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.

Parents and guardians are welcome to participate in interviews alongside prospective students; however, parent accounts are not currently offered.

14. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including the right to:

• Access the personal information we maintain about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Request deletion of your account and personal information, subject to legal and operational requirements.
• Opt out of receiving marketing emails.
• Request additional information about how we process your personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information below.

We may request additional information to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.

15. International Users

CollegeTalk is operated from the United States.

If you access the Services from outside the United States, you understand that your information may be transferred to, processed in, and stored in the United States or other countries where our service providers operate. Those countries may have data protection laws that differ from the laws of your jurisdiction.

By using the Services, you consent to such transfers where permitted by applicable law.

16. Third-Party Services

The Services may integrate with or rely upon third-party providers to deliver certain functionality.

These providers maintain their own privacy policies and practices. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing information through their services.

Third-party providers currently used by CollegeTalk may include providers for:

• Payment processing
• Financial payouts
• Video conferencing and recording
• Cloud hosting and infrastructure

CollegeTalk is not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party services that operate independently from our Services.

17. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our Services, technology, legal requirements, or business practices.

When we make material changes, we will update the "Effective Date" at the top of this Privacy Policy and may provide additional notice through the Services or by email where appropriate.

Your continued use of CollegeTalk after an updated Privacy Policy becomes effective constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

18. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, or would like to request deletion of your account or exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at:

We will make reasonable efforts to respond to inquiries as promptly as possible.

19. Summary

At CollegeTalk, our mission is to help prospective students make informed college decisions by connecting them with verified current college students in a safe and trustworthy environment.

We collect only the information reasonably necessary to operate our Services, verify student identities, facilitate interviews, process payments, maintain platform safety, and improve the user experience.

We do not sell personal information, and we are committed to handling user data responsibly and transparently.