PRIVACY POLICY

ACCESS Scholarship Program Privacy Policy

  1. Information Collection

The ACCESS Scholarship Program is committed to maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of applicants, scholars, mentors, peer mentors, research assistants, project staff, faculty, and website users.

ACCESS may collect information necessary for program administration, scholarship eligibility review, student support, communication, evaluation, and reporting. This information may include names, contact information, institutional email addresses, academic program, enrollment status, application materials, financial need certification status, participation in ACCESS activities, survey or interview responses, authorized photos or videos, achievements, LinkedIn profiles, e-portfolio links, and messages submitted through the website contact form.

  1. Use of Information

Information collected by ACCESS may be used to evaluate scholarship eligibility, communicate with applicants and participants, coordinate mentoring and program activities, track academic progress, support scholarship administration, prepare reports and evaluations, improve program services, and recognize authorized scholar achievements.

ACCESS does not sell, rent, or use personal information for commercial purposes.

  1. Privacy, Access, and Protection

Access to personal, academic, financial, application, and participation information is limited to authorized individuals with program-related responsibilities.

Public-facing information, including photos, videos, profiles, testimonials, recognitions, achievements, LinkedIn profiles, or e-portfolios, will only be published when appropriate authorization has been provided.

Surveys, interviews, forms, and evaluations may be used to assess program effectiveness and scholar experience. When information is used for reports, presentations, publications, or assessment purposes, it will be handled according to applicable institutional procedures and, when appropriate, reported in aggregate or de-identified form.

  1. Data Retention and Contact

ACCESS may retain information as needed for program administration, scholarship processing, mentoring, evaluation, reporting, compliance, historical documentation, and institutional recordkeeping.

Individuals may contact ACCESS to request correction or removal of public-facing information, when applicable, or to ask questions about how their information is used.