Privacy statement

Effective date: September 2020

What is Pearson Pathways?

Pearson Pathways (the “Service”) is a service provided by Pearson Education, Inc. (“Pearson” or “we” or “us”) that allows learners to explore professional and higher education program offerings, receive recommendations, submit an online application to one or more programs offered by our academic partners and obtain support in doing so.

What does this Privacy Statement cover?

This Privacy Statement explains the way Pearson collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected through the Service. This Privacy Statement applies only to services and the site and webpages related to the Service, including contact forms and questionnaires you may complete to obtain more information and recommendations. Other websites and programs, including other Pearson sites, may have their own privacy policies and practices.

What personal information does Pearson collect? How does Pearson use that personal information?

Account Data. If you set up a user account with Pearson, Pearson will collect and process personal information, including your name, email address, username and password, to set up, maintain and enable your access to the account.

Information Requests and Questionnaires. If you complete a questionnaire or contact form on a webpage or otherwise request help or information from us, we will collect personal information that you provide on the questionnaire and contact form, such as your name, email address and information about your background, interests and goals. We use this information so that we can contact and communicate with you, provide program recommendations, answer your questions and provide information and messages to you about educational programs.

Cell Phone — Text Messaging and Calls. If you provide your cell phone number to us and indicate that we may contact you by phone or text message, we may call you and send you text messages to share information related to the Service and to provide support to you. Message, call and data rates of your carrier may apply. You may opt out of receiving these calls and text messages at any time by telling us in a phone call, contacting us or following the instructions contained in a text message. You are not required to provide your cell phone or consent to receiving phone or text messages in order to recieve information and support through the Program.

Payment Data. If you pay any fees or make any purchases through Pearson, Pearson will collect information needed to process payment and communicate with you about it. Payment Data may include, as applicable, order details, name, institution name and address, email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information and any instructions. Payment data submitted will be disclosed to your financial institution and Pearson’s payment processing vendor for the purpose of processing payment.

Application and Enrollment Data. If you apply to an eligible educational program through the Service, we will collect the personal information requested in the application form. In addition, we may collect personal information in providing support to you in exploring and applying to eligible educational programs. The information collected in the online application and in providing support to you may include personal information about your employment history and educational background, such as employers, work experience, schools, areas of study, grades, transcripts and other educational records, together with personal financial information and any other information that you may choose to share or that may be requested in the application and enrollment process for an eligible educational program.

Educational Program Support. If you enroll in an eligible educational program, we may receive personal information from the educational institution for the purpose of providing educational program support services to you. These support services may include course selection and registration assistance, degree audits and assistance to help you be successful and stay on track to complete an educational program and assist you in obtaining financial aid. The personal information may include information about your coursework, grades and other educational records, together with any other personal information that you may choose to share or that may be requested to enable us to provide appropriate support.

Educational Courses. If you register for or purchase educational courses offered through or by Pearson, personal information will be collected and processed for the purpose of delivering such educational courses to you. This personal information may include assignments, student coursework, responses to interactive exercises, assessments, scores, grades and instructor comments. Additional information about how Pearson handles personal information in connection with its courseware is explained in our Digital Learning Services Privacy Notice. Personal information collected by an educational institution or education provider in connection with their courses and programs are subject to the privacy policies of such educational institution or education provider.

Certification Programs. If you register for and take a certification examination offered through or by Pearson, personal information will be collected and processed for the purposes of providing such examination and certification to you. Personal information collected in connection with a certification program will be subject to the privacy policies of the certification provider.

Feedback. Pearson may provide you with the opportunity to respond to surveys and to evaluate and provide feedback on the Service and eligible educational programs offered through the Service. Participation is optional. Pearson may use that information to respond to you about your feedback and to address any issues that you may identify. Pearson may also use survey responses to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or webpages, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

De-Identified Data. Pearson may de-identify and aggregate information collected in connection with the Service and use it to maintain, support and evaluate the efficacy of the Service; conduct educational research; develop new products and services; and for other purposes. Unless required to do so by law, Pearson will not attempt to re-identify such de-identified data.

Does Pearson use personal information for marketing purposes?

Pearson may use the personal information collected through the Service to provide messages and information about eligible educational programs and services that may be available through the Service, from Pearson, or from selected education providers. If you do not want to receive such messages and information, you may indicate your preferences and opt-out at any time by contacting us or responding to a text or following instructions contained in an email message. Pearson will not use personal information collected as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.

Does Pearson collect children’s personal information through the Service?

The Service is directed to learners pursuing professional and higher education. It is not designed for or directed to children under the age of 13. Pearson will not knowingly collect personal information of children under the age of 13 through the Service.

How does Pearson protect personal information?

We use appropriate commercially reasonable data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of personal information.

Does Pearson share or disclose personal information?

Except as specifically stated in this Privacy Statement, it is our policy not to share or disclose personal information collected through the Service with third parties other than affiliates of Pearson and other companies and organizations who perform work for or with us under contract and are committed to protect the privacy of personal information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Statement. These affiliates, companies and organizations may also contact and communicate with you, address your requests and provide information and messages to you, on our behalf.

We will disclose personal information included in your online application to those educational programs, schools or universities that you designate in the application process provided through the Service.

We also may disclose personal information, as follows: (a) with your consent; (b) in response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law; (e) to protect the security and safety of you and other persons, our systems and the data we hold, consistent with applicable law; (c) in connection with a sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of our company or its assets; (d) to address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities; (e) in order to enforce the Terms of Service for the Service and any other applicable terms or contract applicable to your online application to a school or university, education provider or certification provider designated or selected in the application process provided through the Service; or (f) as required or permitted by law.

Can personal information be corrected?

To correct or update any information you previously provided to us, please contact us at admissions@pearsonpathways.com.

Do our sites collect additional information or use cookies?  Do they respond to “do not track” signals?

Cookies and Related Technologies. Our site and webpages for the Service may use cookies and related technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, personalize content, control security and provide interest-based messages and advertising. These cookies may include Google Analytics cookies that enable us to obtain web trend and analytic information that we use for system administration, to identify problems and improve service. You have a variety of tools to control the use of cookies and technologies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies. You may choose to disable or block these technologies, but that may prevent or limit the functionality of the site and webpages for the Service.

Application and System Logs. Pearson may automatically collect log data related to interactions with our site and webpages in order to ensure availability and security. This log data may include browser type, type of computer/device and technical information about the means of connection, such as operating system, internet service provider and IP address. Log data is collected and used to monitor the health of the websites, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and address security issues and appropriately scale computing resources.

Do Not Track. Do Not Track (DNT) is a proposed mechanism for allowing website visitors to control the collection of certain usage data. Although there has been research into the development of a standard to support the use of DNT signals, there is no adopted standard to follow. The Webpages do not currently respond to Do Not Track signals.

Is this Privacy Statement subject to change?

This Privacy Statement may be revised from time to time through an updated posting. Pearson will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Updates may be made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If Pearson reasonably believes the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of your personal information, Pearson will endeavor to notify you by email or another appropriate way.

What is Pearson’s contact information?

To contact us about this Privacy Statement or the Service, please contact us at admissions@pearsonpathways.com.

California Supplemental Privacy Statement

If you are a California resident, please also read our Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents, which provides information about your California privacy rights and additional information required by California law.