1. Who we are and what this policy covers
Studying Plus LLC ("Studying Plus", "we", "us") is a Michigan limited liability company based in Taylor, Michigan, USA. This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information when you use our website, enquire about or book an educational tour, use our study abroad guidance, use the Opportunities Portal, contact us by phone, email or text message, or pay us.
It does not cover the websites of universities, airlines, hotels or other third parties we link to. Our contact details for privacy requests are in section 16.
2. Information we collect
2.1 Information you give us
- Identity and contact: name, email, phone number, mailing address, country, and for schools and organisations, the organisation name and your role.
- Booking and travel: participant names and dates of birth, passport or national ID details, visa history, emergency contacts, rooming preferences, and dietary, accessibility or health information needed for safe travel.
- Academic and professional: school history, grades, test scores, CV, study goals and preferences, when you use our study abroad guidance.
- Portal profile: your role (student or organisation), field of study or sector, skills, availability, portfolio link, project listings, applications and messages.
- Payments: payer name, billing address, amount, card brand and last four digits, and payment reference. We do not receive or store full card numbers (section 6).
- Communications: enquiries, messages, call notes, survey answers and your consents, including text-message opt-in.
2.2 Information collected automatically
Device type, browser, IP address, pages viewed, approximate location from your IP address, and, in the portal, sign-in events and security logs. Your theme, currency and saved enquiry drafts stay in your own browser (section 14).
2.3 Information from others
Schools, group leaders, parents or guardians who register participants; universities and government bodies responding to applications; payment providers confirming a payment; and, in the portal, the student or organisation you interact with.
2.4 Sensitive information
Passport or ID numbers, health and accessibility details, and information about minors are collected only when the service needs them, and with your consent or, for minors, the consent of a parent, guardian or authorised school. Never send us a payment card number by email, text or chat.
3. How we use information
| Purpose | Examples | Legal basis where GDPR or UK GDPR applies |
|---|---|---|
| Provide the services you request | Process bookings and applications, build itineraries, run portal accounts | Contract |
| Take payments and issue refunds | Collect deposits, refund cancellations, keep chargeback evidence | Contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests |
| Keep travellers safe | Use emergency contacts and medical needs, handle incidents | Consent, vital interests, legitimate interests |
| Meet legal duties | Tax and accounting records, immigration and sanctions checks, lawful requests | Legal obligation |
| Communicate and support | Answer enquiries, send trip updates and reminders | Contract, legitimate interests |
| Moderate the portal | Review project listings, handle reports, enforce academic-integrity rules | Legitimate interests |
| Secure and improve the service | Detect fraud and misuse, understand how the site is used | Legitimate interests |
| Marketing emails or texts | News and offers, only if you opt in | Consent, which you can withdraw at any time |
We do not make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects.
4. We do not sell your personal information
We do not sell, rent or lease personal information. We do not share it with advertisers or for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not share mobile numbers, or text-message opt-in data and consent records, with any third party for marketing. We use your information only for the services you ask for and the purposes listed above. If this changes, we will update this policy before the change and ask for your consent where the law requires it.
5. Who we share information with
We share information only as needed for the purposes in section 3.
| Recipient | What they receive | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Travel suppliers: airlines, hotels, coach and activity operators, local partners | Names, dates of birth, passport details, dietary and medical needs | To deliver your trip |
| Universities and schools | Application details | To act on your application at your request |
| Government bodies: visa, immigration and border authorities | Identity and travel details | Where required to enter or study in a country |
| Payment providers: Wise, PayPal and any other payment provider we add, and their banks | Payer details and amount | To take and refund payments |
| Technology providers: website and portal hosting, database, email delivery | Account, enquiry and usage data | To run our website and portal |
| Professional advisers: lawyers, accountants, insurers | Records relevant to their advice | To meet legal and financial duties |
| Authorities and courts | Information they lawfully require | To comply with law or protect rights and safety |
| A successor business | Records held by us | If we merge or restructure, the new owner remains bound by this policy |
| Other portal users | See section 8 | To connect students and organisations |
Service providers act on our instructions and may not use your information for their own marketing. Payment providers also handle payment data under their own privacy notices.
6. Payments and card data
- Payments are processed by Wise, PayPal and any other payment provider we add. We never see or store your full card number, security code or bank login.
- Online card details are entered on the payment provider's secure page. Card data is encrypted in transit.
- If we take cards in person, the card is read by a terminal operated by our payment provider. We keep only the card brand, last four digits, amount, date and transaction ID.
- We keep payer name, billing details and refund records to account for payments and answer disputes.
- Payment providers may run fraud and identity checks. We may verify your identity before sending a refund.
- Please do not send card numbers by email, text or chat. If you do, we will delete the message and ask you to use a secure payment link.
7. Text messages
We do not share, sell or rent your mobile number, or any personal information collected through text messaging, with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text-message opt-in data and consent records will not be shared with any third party. We use your mobile number only to send the messages you have opted in to receive. The full text-message terms are in section 17.
8. Opportunities Portal
- Accounts. You sign in with a one-time code sent to your email, or with a passkey. We do not store passwords. We store your email, role, profile, listings, applications and messages.
- What others can see. Organisations see a student's profile when the student applies to one of their projects. Students and other signed-in users see organisation profiles and approved project listings. Email addresses and phone numbers are shared with the other party only after an application is accepted.
- Messages. Messages are visible to the two people in the conversation. Our moderators can read them if a report is made or to enforce the portal rules.
- Moderation. Every project is reviewed before it appears. We keep reports and moderation decisions to protect users.
- No payments. The portal does not process payments between users. See Part D of our Refund and Cancellation Policy.
- Age. You must be 16 or older to hold a portal account.
- Deleting your account. You can ask us to delete your account at any time. Your profile and listings are removed. A conversation you shared with another user may remain visible to them, and we keep safety records for the period in section 10.
9. How we protect information
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS), encrypted storage through our hosting providers, passwordless sign-in for the portal, and access limited to staff who need the information for their role. Payment card data stays with our payment providers. We review who has access periodically. If a security incident affects your information, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires, including under Michigan's data breach notification law and, where it applies, within 72 hours to the relevant data protection authority. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. How long we keep information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Passport and ID details, medical and dietary information for a trip | Deleted 90 days after the trip ends, unless needed for an incident or claim |
| Booking, invoice and payment records | 7 years, for tax, accounting and chargeback evidence |
| Study abroad application files | 2 years after our last contact, or until you ask us to delete them |
| Portal profile and messages | While your account is open. Deleted within 30 days of account deletion |
| Portal reports and moderation records | Up to 12 months after the report is closed |
| Text-message opt-in and consent records | While you are subscribed and for 4 years after you opt out |
| Website and security logs | 12 months |
When information is no longer needed, we delete or anonymise it. We may keep it longer where the law requires or to defend a legal claim.
11. Children and young people
Our website and portal are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information without the verifiable consent of a parent, guardian or school with authority to give it. Portal and marketing accounts are for people aged 16 and over.
For school and group trips, the school or parent registers participants and confirms they may share the participant's details with us. We collect only what travel requires. A parent or guardian can ask to see or delete a child's information at any time. If you believe a child has given us information without permission, contact us and we will delete it.
12. International transfers
We are based in the United States and work with suppliers and institutions around the world. Your information may be sent to countries whose data protection laws differ from yours. Where the law requires it (for example for people in the EEA or the UK), we rely on safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, or on your consent, or on the transfer being necessary to deliver your booking.
13. Your rights
We give these rights to every user, wherever you live, subject to legal exceptions such as financial records we must keep:
- Access the personal information we hold about you
- Correct information that is wrong or incomplete
- Delete your information
- Restrict or object to how we use it
- Receive a copy in a portable format
- Withdraw consent at any time
- Opt out of marketing emails and text messages
- Not be treated differently for using these rights
To use a right, contact us (section 16). We may ask you to verify your identity. We reply within 30 days. If you are in the EEA or the UK, you may also complain to your data protection authority. California residents have additional rights where the California Consumer Privacy Act applies to us.
14. Cookies and similar technologies
Our website stores small items in your own browser to remember your theme, currency, saved enquiry drafts and tour comparison picks. The portal uses a session cookie to keep you signed in and to protect your account. We load our fonts from Google Fonts, which means Google receives your IP address when a page loads. Our pages also ask our own portal server for the day's exchange rates, which sees your IP address in the same way as any web request; we do not use that request to identify you. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking. Enquiry forms prepare an email in your own email application; nothing is sent until you press send there. If we add analytics, we will update this section first and ask for consent where the law requires it. You can clear stored items in your browser settings at any time.
15. Changes to this policy
We update this policy when our practices change. The effective date at the top shows the latest version. For material changes we will post a notice on the website, and email active customers, at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Where the law requires your consent to a change, we will ask for it.
16. Contact us
Studying Plus LLC (Studying Plus Global)
Taylor, Michigan, USA
Email: info@studyingplus.org
Contact form: studyingplus.org/contact.html
Send privacy requests to the email above with "Privacy request" in the subject line.
17. Text-message terms
- Program. Studying Plus LLC sends text messages about bookings, itineraries, reminders and support replies. If you opt in separately, we also send news and offers.
- Opt-in. By ticking the text-message box on a form, or by texting us to join, you agree to receive text messages from Studying Plus LLC at the number you gave. Consent is not a condition of any purchase.
- Frequency. Message frequency varies with your bookings and requests.
- Cost. Message and data rates may apply.
- Opt-out. Reply STOP at any time. We send one confirmation and then stop.
- Help. Reply HELP, or contact us at the email address in section 16.
- Carriers. Mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
- Privacy. We do not share, sell or rent your mobile number or opt-in consent. See section 7.