Privacy Notice

The Ohio Tuition Trust Authority (the "Authority") is committed to responsible information handling practices. When you access or use the CollegeAdvantage website, you agree to the terms and conditions outlined below in this Internet Privacy Policy (this "Policy"). If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this site. Since we may change this Policy from time to time, your use of this site will be subject to the most current Policy version. Therefore, you may want to check this Policy from time to time.

The Authority has a responsibility to protect its computing resources. If we believe an attempt is being made through the Internet to break into or otherwise abuse our computer systems or business information, we will use the information in our computer logs, and other means available, to determine those responsible. As part of these legal efforts, we may share the information we gather with law enforcement agencies or other authorized entities.

Terms and conditions

Public Records

Visitors should be aware that, subject to certain statutory exceptions, most documents and records maintained by the state of Ohio, including but not limited to electronic data, are public records under Ohio law. Therefore, information submitted through this website may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request.

Collection of Personal Information

We collect nonpublic personal information about you and provided voluntarily by you on applications, correspondence, forms, or through other forms of communication, as well as transaction information with respect to your account(s), in order to open and maintain your CollegeAdvantage account(s).

It is the Authority's policy to protect the confidentiality of customer information, whether or not a person currently participates in CollegeAdvantage. In particular, it is not only Authority policy not to, but also statutorily prohibited for the Authority to sell information about CollegeAdvantage account owners or CollegeAdvantage accounts to any outside firm. Safeguards and procedures are in place to prevent unauthorized access to computer systems and to protect personal information from unauthorized use. The Authority maintains the highest standards in limiting the number of employees who may access your confidential personal information. A small group of Authority and recordkeeping services provider employees may access such information for limited business purposes. For instance, an account owner may call our customer service department and give permission to a customer service representative to access his or her account to answer questions about the account. Another example would be for an OTTA or recordkeeping services provider employee to access information of the account owner and other parties named on the account in order to process a requested withdrawal from the account. Any individual has the right to request a copy of the confidential personal information on file with the Authority.

Under certain circumstances, the Authority does share information with outside vendors or agencies that provide services to CollegeAdvantage, such as financial institution, recordkeeping services, fulfillment, mailing, market research, recordkeeping, and data processing vendors. In those cases, the firms with whom the Authority does business enter into confidentiality agreements, and the information is limited to only what is necessary to generate mailings, process transactions, analyze operations, and perform other services related to your CollegeAdvantage account(s). The Authority may also share information with other agencies as required by law or pursuant to agency authority. Information submitted through this website may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request, unless it is subject to a statutory exception.

Voluntary Submissions

If you are submitting a message to the Authority that requires a response, you may need to provide some specific, personal information. This information can include your full name, account number, Social Security number, or your home address.

It is voluntary for you to engage in these activities. CollegeAdvantage Online Account Access does use an encryption feature to add more security.

Usage Statistics

In order to generate usage statistics to help us improve our website, we automatically collect certain information on every visitor to the website. However, this information does not disclose "personal identifiers" (such as name, address, telephone number, email address, etc.). Each time a request is made to view a page within this website, our website creates a log file capturing generic user information. Examples of this type of information include the type of Internet browser or computer operating system you are using, the date and time you accessed this site, the Internet protocol address of the individual computer (or proxy server) making the request, and the Internet address of the site from which you may have linked to this site.

All information collected by way of server log files is used in aggregate form only and may be analyzed for trends and statistics.

Cookies

The CollegeAdvantage website uses electronic "cookies" to collect and temporarily store various types of information about users. The information from cookies is used to monitor website traffic patterns, collect anonymous data about website use, etc. This information helps CollegeAdvantage improve our site and provide better service. Our interactive programs use cookies to track the information you input into the program. The cookies allow the programs to operate correctly and to know where to return the "results." Temporary cookies may be used when necessary to complete a transaction, to process data submitted to us online, or to facilitate ongoing Internet interaction. Information collected on our websites, including cookies, may also be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request.

Security

This website will follow Ohio state laws that require the establishment of reasonable precautions to prevent personal information from unauthorized modification, destruction, use, or disclosure. We take very seriously the integrity of the information and systems that we maintain. Therefore, we have instituted security measures for all information systems under our control. These security measures are designed to identify attempts to tamper with this website. Information collected through these security measures may be used in connection with a criminal prosecution or other legal proceeding.

The CollegeAdvantage website and computer systems are for legal and authorized use only. Unauthorized access, attempted access, or use of this or any related system is a violation of state and/or applicable federal law, and may be subject to prosecution. Individuals using this system without authority, or in excess of their authority, are subject to having their activities on the site monitored, recorded, and their access revoked without prior notification.

All CollegeAdvantage web pages are secured through encrypted communication to our servers. In addition to securing your traffic, we have implemented what is known as Extended Validation. Extended Validation gives you a chance to verify a website's owner. Verifying the website owner is important because it helps you avoid being the victim of a phishing attack. All of our websites are owned by the Tuition Trust Authority of Ohio and that can be checked by clicking on the green lock in your browser when you come to our website (all major browsers support Extended Validation - the bar and lock turn green so you know the site has been validated and can be checked by you).

You are responsible for protecting the security of any access security device, including your user name and password. You agree to keep all access security devices and means to attain an access security device confidential to prevent unauthorized access to your account and to prevent unauthorized use of the service. In the event you believe the security of your access security device is compromised, you must change the components of the device. It is your obligation to inform us if you believe unauthorized use has occurred. We can cancel your access to this service at our discretion and without prior notification.

Confidential Personal Information

Ohio Revised Code section 1347.15 requires the Authority to adopt administrative rules regulating access to the confidential personal information the Authority keeps, whether electronically or on paper. The administrative rules may be found here.

The Authority and its employees' access to your confidential personal information is also governed by our Policy on Protecting Privacy, which you may access here: CPI Policy

Access and Dispute of Information Rights

Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code, sections 149.43, 1347.08 and 1347.09, users have rights to their information given to this site, in respect to inspecting, correcting and disputing. This is applicable to any information collected, used or maintained on this web site.

Link Policy

The Authority operates this website as a public service to Ohio residents and visitors worldwide. The website provides links to external websites that are not maintained or controlled by the Authority.

The Authority is not responsible for the content of external websites. A link to a non-governmental website does not constitute endorsement.

Disclaimer

The information the Authority provides on our website is made available for the convenience of our customers. While the Authority makes every attempt to ensure the information provided is reliable, human or mechanical error remains a possibility. Therefore, the Authority does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of information, and will not be held responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the use of, or results obtained from the use of the information. This applies to sites hyperlinked to and from the CollegeAdvantage website.