Last updated: [Month Day, Year]
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern access to and use of EduShieldID's identity verification and financial-aid eligibility platform (the "Service"), provided by [Company Legal Name] ("EduShieldID," "we," "us"). By creating an account, accessing the school administration portal, or completing a verification as a student, you agree to these Terms. If you are using the Service on behalf of an Institution, you represent that you have authority to bind that Institution.
The Service is used by two categories of users:
EduShieldID verifies student identity through document capture, liveness detection, and OCR analysis (via our provider, Persona, and related tooling), matches the result against roster data supplied by the Institution, and applies automated fraud-risk scoring. The Institution's administrators, not EduShieldID, make the final decision to approve or deny a verification or eligibility determination. EduShieldID provides the tooling and data; it does not make enrollment, admissions, or financial-aid decisions on an Institution's behalf.
You must provide accurate, current information when creating an account and keep your login credentials confidential. You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account. Institutions are responsible for the accounts of their administrators and for ensuring those administrators are authorized to handle student data under FERPA and the Institution's own policies.
You agree not to:
Institutions are responsible for: (a) having a lawful basis, consistent with FERPA and applicable state law, to collect and share student data with EduShieldID; (b) providing accurate roster and eligibility data for matching; (c) reviewing verification and fraud-risk outputs before acting on them; and (d) promptly notifying EduShieldID of any suspected unauthorized access to their administrator accounts.
Institutions pay fees according to the order form or subscription plan agreed with EduShieldID. Fees are billed on a recurring basis and are non-refundable except as required by law or expressly agreed in writing. Late payments may result in suspension of an Institution's access to the Service.
EduShieldID retains all rights, title, and interest in the Service, including its software, verification workflows, fraud-scoring models, and branding. These Terms do not grant you any rights to our intellectual property beyond the limited right to use the Service as intended.
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available." Identity verification and fraud-scoring results are provided as decision-support tools; EduShieldID does not guarantee that any verification outcome, fraud score, or roster match is error-free, and Institutions remain responsible for their own enrollment, admissions, and financial-aid decisions. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, EduShieldID will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, revenue, or goodwill, arising from use of the Service. Our aggregate liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the fees paid by the relevant Institution in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim.
We may suspend or terminate access to the Service for any account that violates these Terms, poses a security risk, or upon expiration or termination of an Institution's subscription agreement. Institutions may terminate their subscription as set out in their order form. Certain records may be retained after termination as required by our data-retention obligations or applicable law.
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to Institution administrators in advance of taking effect. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
These Terms are governed by the laws of [State/Jurisdiction], without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, unless a separate signed agreement with an Institution specifies otherwise.
Questions about these Terms can be directed to legal@[yourdomain].com.
Last updated: [Month Day, Year]
EduShieldID ("EduShieldID," "we," "us," or "our") provides an identity verification and financial-aid eligibility platform used by educational institutions ("Institutions") to verify students ("Students," "you"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. It applies to the EduShieldID website, student portal, school administration portal, and related services (together, the "Service").
Because EduShieldID processes education records on behalf of Institutions, in most cases the Institution is the party responsible for the student data under FERPA, and EduShieldID acts as a "school official" with a legitimate educational interest, bound by the same use and re-disclosure restrictions as the Institution. If you are a student with questions about how your specific school uses your data, you should also contact your Institution directly.
We collect the following categories of information:
We do not sell student personal information, and we do not use it for behavioral advertising.
We retain verification records, submitted documents, and audit logs for as long as needed to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, satisfy the retention requirements agreed with the relevant Institution, and meet our own legal, accounting, and security obligations. Retention periods for specific record types are set out in our data-retention schedule, available to Institution administrators on request. Students can review applicable retention windows in the Privacy Settings page of the student portal.
We apply technical and organizational safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the data we handle, including encryption of sensitive fields at rest, encrypted transmission (TLS), role-based access controls, rate-limiting, two-factor authentication for administrative accounts, and audit logging of access to verification records. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Depending on your location and your Institution's policies, you may have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of your information, or to object to certain processing. Because much of this data is held on behalf of an Institution under FERPA, requests to access or amend education records should generally be directed to your Institution, which may route the request to us. You can manage cookie preferences at any time as described in our Cookie Policy, and manage certain retention and notification preferences from your account's Privacy Settings.
EduShieldID is hosted in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have different data protection laws than your home jurisdiction.
The Service is intended for use by or on behalf of students in connection with an Institution's enrollment or financial-aid processes. Where a Student is a minor, we rely on the Institution's authority under FERPA and applicable state law to process the minor's information, rather than obtaining separate consent directly from the minor.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify Institution administrators and update the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the Service after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
Questions about this Privacy Policy can be directed to privacy@[yourdomain].com.