Privacy Policy

ISP-14: Information Services Privacy

Purpose

The Information Services Privacy Policy details Parkland College’s standards and procedures related to information collected from technology users, including students, faculty, staff, and community visitors. This policy is necessary to comply with various international, federal, and local laws and regulations. Publication of this policy is also required to conduct business with technology companies that collect and process consumer information.

Policy Statements

Parkland College is committed to protecting the information it collects and retains about students, employees, and community visitors. The College works diligently to safeguard its constituents’ identities and privacy and to comply with applicable rules and regulations. By using Parkland College’s information resources, users accept the practices described in this policy, which describes how the College processes, uses, and discloses user-related information.

14. Information Services Privacy

14.1 Parkland College Public Website Privacy Policy

Parkland College values and is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy sets out the basis on which any data we collect from you or that you provide to us will be processed by the College. When using our site, you accept the practices of how we process, use, and disclose the information we collect. Parkland College will never sell personal information about any employee, student, or community visitor to any third party.

In operating our site, Parkland College may:

14.1.1 Collect and process data and resources you access on our site. This data may include, but is not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs, aggregate data based on certain characteristics, and other communication data, including your IP address, the date and time you accessed or left the site, and which pages you viewed. Some parts of our site use cookies and other technologies to collect this information about your general internet usage.

  • Cookies are text files with small pieces of information installed on your computer’s browser to improve navigation and web experience. Specifically, cookies are used to track, personalize, and save information about each user’s session. A “session” refers to the time a user spends on our website. All computers can decline cookies. You can do so by activating your browser’s setting, which allows you to disable the cookies settings. Please note that you may be unable to access particular parts of our site should you choose to decline cookies.

  • When users access a web page, the webserver will log where the request originated, the date and time of the web request, the referring site, and what pages were requested. We, or a contracted third party vendor, may record IP addresses and device IDs for analysis and marketing purposes.

14.1.2 Use the information you provide the College through filling forms on Parkland College sites to satisfy your requests and to support the College’s programs. Such information may include your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, program of interest, desired location, expected start term, date of birth, and Social Security number.

14.1.3 Use any personal information for any legal purpose and institutional research and reporting. Information may be accessed by or transferred to third parties, including but not limited to contractors working with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Colleague or records imaging systems, who are contractually bound to abide by our privacy policy.

14.1.4 Respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.

14.1.5 Contact you at the telephone number, if you provide it to us, through a College representative and potentially by using automated technology (including texts/SMS messaging) or a pre-recorded message. Your consent is not an obligation to receive any of our products and services.

14.1.6 Use data collected for direct marketing purposes related only to the College and its programs. As you browse our website, advertising cookies will be placed on your computer so that we can understand your interests. Our digital advertising partner then enables us to present you with retargeting advertising on other sites based on your previous interaction with the College’s website. We may also share your ID information with our digital advertising partners, who have agreed to protect the confidentiality of the data, to gather additional information such as name, address, social media handle and email address, to use for direct marketing about the College.

14.1.7 Use data such as browser type and version, screen size, and color depth to make our site accessible to a widely varying audience. Our web team monitors search terms entered into the College’s search engine to improve the site. We do not track search terms back to any individual user.

14.1.8 Provide third parties, such as Google Analytics, with statistical information about our site’s users and monitor and analyze our site traffic and usage patterns.

Security

Parkland College uses reasonable methods consistent with industry best practices to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the appropriate use of your personal information. The academic and financial information stored about each student is secured and managed in compliance with all state and federal laws, including but not limited to the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

By accessing third-party websites through our site using hyperlinks we provide, you consent to those websites’ terms and privacy policies. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies whatsoever, as we have no control over them.

User Age

In compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, our site is not intended for anyone under the age of 13 to create an account, register, or pay for classes. Users under age 13 may not submit or post any information, including personally identifying information, on our site. By using our site, you affirm that you are at least 13 years of age. We are not liable for any damages that may result from a user’s misrepresentation of age. Only parents or guardians may provide information about their child under the age of 13 when registering their child to participate in activities sponsored by Parkland College.