Effective Date: June 19, 2008
Grand Canyon University (GCU), a top online Christian university, is committed to protecting your privacy while you visit our websites. This policy is designed to explain why we collect information from our visitors and how that information is used and disclosed.
Changes in Privacy Policy
This privacy policy is current as of the effective date set forth above. GCU reserves the right to change this privacy policy from time to time, consistent with applicable privacy laws and principles.
GCU collects both personally identifiable information (PII) and non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) from its visitors. The information collected is used to help us identify our target market and improve the educational services we offer. The collected information is primarily used for marketing purposes and visitors may expect to receive future communication from GCU.
Non-PII is collected automatically through cookies and other Web technology. We also collect certain non-PII when you visit our website, such as the browser you are using (e.g., Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer), your operating system (e.g., Windows XP, Mac OS), the domain name from which you receive Internet access, your IP address and aggregate information regarding GCU Web pages you access or visit.
PII is collected when a visitor fills out a Request More Information Form, application or otherwise provides information to our website. We provide examples of PII that may be collected below.
To receive additional information about GCU, you can fill out our Request More Information Form by submitting PII, including name, address, phone number and email address. This information is collected so that a university representative can contact you. A phone number is also supplied for those who wish to contact GCU by phone.
Our student and faculty sites may also require you to provide specific user identification information, such as username, address, email address and student ID number. This information is collected so our university staff can contact you if necessary. Specific user identification data is also necessary to verify your identity prior to allowing access to some of these sites.
Our Office of Alumni Relations subdomain and other Web pages allow visitors to order products or make donations. In these cases, we require contact information and credit card numbers. This information is used for the specific transaction, to purchase and send products ordered and any receipts. GCU also provides the option of ordering by phone.
It is also possible to apply for employment opportunities through our website. Our online application requests standard employment information, such as an your name, address, phone number, email address, employment history, languages you may be fluent in, education, teaching experience, publications, honors or awards you may have received, work-related skills (e.g. technology experience), professionally related community activities and any licensures, certifications, professional memberships or endorsements you may have.
Our websites have reasonable security measures in place designed to protect against the loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction of information under our control.
We take reasonable steps to ensure the data is reliable, accurate, complete and current for its intended use. Personal information collected from visitors is protected in transmission to our websites with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol encryption. GCU, a top online Christian school, abides by all laws concerning the release of personal information and does not sell or rent any personal information to third parties, except as described below.
Although we take appropriate measures to safeguard against unauthorized disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that the PII we collect will never be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this privacy policy.
We may disclose personal information to third parties who perform tasks on GCU's behalf and to other third parties engaged by GCU in the ordinary course of business, provided that the third party agrees to provide adequate protections for your personal information that are no less protective than those set out in this privacy policy and to use the personal information only for the purposes for which the third party has been engaged by GCU.
We may also disclose PII in response to valid legal processes, such as a court order or a subpoena, in response to a law enforcement agency's request or where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our terms of use or as otherwise required by law. In addition, we may transfer information about you if we are acquired by or merged with another company, or if our assets are acquired by another entity.
We work with Google to display retargeted ads to our site prospects, on our behalf, across the Internet. They collect non-PII about your visits to our website and your interaction with our products and services. The anonymous information is collected through the use of a pixel tag, which is industry standard technology used by most major websites. No PII is collected during this process. If you do not want Google to collect this information, you may opt out of their service. Opting out will not affect your use of our site.
To opt out of Google retargeting, visit google.com/settings/u/0/ads/authenticated?hl=en
Visit the following website to opt out of national campaigns networkadvertising.org/choices
Opt Out
You may make a request to be removed from our mailing lists by sending your name, address and email to:
Grand Canyon University Opt-Out
3300 W. Camelback Road
Phoenix, AZ 85017
If you do not wish to receive marketing emails from us, submit a request to gcu.edu/unsub
You may also email admissionsonline@gcu.edu, with the subject line "Opt-Out"
Limitations
GCU, a top online Christian school, may provide links to other websites; and there are websites that may link directly to GCU. GCU does not endorse these third party websites or the content and has no control over their privacy practices.
This privacy policy only applies to information collected on gcu.edu, grand-canyon.edu, my.gcu.edu and gcu.edu subdomains.
We strongly encourage you to review the privacy policy of each website you visit.
Online Advertising
GCU uses Online Advertising Features including Google, Bing, and Yahoo advertising and cookie tracking implemented on gcu.edu. GCU also uses some or all of the following Facebook and Twitter cookie tracking, web beacons or similar technologies to collect or receive visitor information. These features allow GCU to track impressions on our website, track demographic and interests of visitors, collect data for remarketing purposes and track rich media assisted conversions. If you wish to opt out of these online advertising features, follow the instructions on the corresponding pages:
Google: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Bing: https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/optout-optimization
Yahoo: https://aim.yahoo.com/aim/us/en/optout/
Facebook: facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
Twitter: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170405
GCU's Internet network is guarded by a firewall that protects on-campus students from entering sites that may be unsafe or not in keeping with our Christian values. Sites are selected by category to filter usage. Seven categories are set to make the site unavailable, but pressing the "continue" button allows you through to the site. These site topics include, but are not limited to, drugs, illegal activities, gambling and other questionable sites.
There are eight categories that are identified to make sites wholly unavailable, including, but not limited to pornography, cheating websites, malware, key loggers and sites that promote terrorist activities. The Learning Management System and eBooks websites are specifically white-listed to ensure students are always able to access them.
If you feel a blocked website should be made available, contact the Office of Residence Life, and your request will be reviewed.
The LOPES network, GCU's student intranet, does not authenticate students prior to allowing site access, and their Web filter's reporting capabilities are limited to big-picture summaries that describe general usage. Reporting on individual students will not be possible. GCU does not proactively monitor usage or sites visited.