Last updated on April 2025.
South University (South University, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting any personal information that we maintain about you. We want you to understand what kinds of information we may collect from you, how this information may be used, the steps we take to protect it, choices you have regarding our use and disclosure of personal information about you, and other information about our privacy practices. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") applies to the online collection of information by our website, https://www.southuniversity.edu/ including any content, functionality, and services offered on or through https://www.southuniversity.edu/ (the "Website").
We provide this Policy to ensure that those who provide personal information to us understand what personal information we may collect and hold, what we may use it for, and how we keep it safe. You may have legal rights to access the personal information we hold about you and to control how we use it, as set forth in this Policy. Our collection and use of your personal information is in accordance with this Policy.
Applicability of this Policy (and limitations)
We may collect and use your personal information and the contents of your online communications on or through the Website as necessary to operate the Website and provide you with our services and content. We use the term “personal information” to describe information that can reasonably be associated with you and can be used to identify you. Personal information does not include information that has been deidentified or aggregated.
Third Party links
Our Website may contain links to other sites, including but not limited to social media sites. You should review the privacy policy of each website visited through this Website before disclosing any personal information. To the extent we provide links to third-party websites, such links do not constitute our endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation of the third parties, the third-party websites, or the information contained on those websites, and we are not responsible or liable for your use of such third-party websites. Where appropriate, you should review the privacy policies of any websites or applications before submitting your personal information.
Processing information controlled by a third-party
We sometimes handle information provided by a third-party partner or customer. In such a scenario, we process the information solely on the instructions of the entity that provides the information, which retains control of the information. For example, this Policy does not apply to personal information that we may collect or receive from our service providers or other third-party partners, including educational providers.
Where our use of your personal information is not covered by this Policy, you may need to contact the entity that collected your information, and on whose behalf the processing of your information is carried out in order to understand your privacy rights.
How we collect your information
We may collect personal information from the following sources:
- Directly from you when you:
- Submit a Request for Information form
- Submit a Contact Us form
- Use the chat feature on our website
- Call, email, or text us
- Apply to enroll and/or enroll in one of our educational programs
- Request a student ID
- Register for classes
- Apply for financial aid
- Create a student account, including a student portal, LMS or other account
- Order or purchase educational or other products and services
- Attend our courses, programs or other events where we collect information about you
- Submit a review or student testimonial
- Use one of our career resources
- Use one of our online learning management, student portal, or other interactive tools
- Indirectly from your interactions with our technologies or our Sites
- Their service providers and third parties (such as through ACT.org or other educational services and when you apply for an open position with South University)
Information we collect
We may collect a range of information from you if you visit our Website depending upon the features you use.
Information we may collect includes personal information, such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, or other identifiers that you may provide in the course of completing a form or transaction on the Website. We may collect additional information, such as credit card numbers or Social Security numbers, from individuals using certain features such as accepting resumes from job applicants or collecting application of financial aid information from students and applicants.
We may collect information about the browser and/or device that you are using to access our Website (such as the type of browser or device you are using, browser settings, and the device identification number). Device information may or may not be personally identifiable depending upon whether it is linked to the identity of the user.
We may automatically log information, such as a user's IP address, domain name, browser type, date and time of access, and other log file data.
We may also collect statistical or non-personally identifiable information about our users, such as which pages are visited, how long a visitor stays on a particular page, the website from which a user came to our site, or similar such information. We also may collect aggregate information such as the total number of unique or return visitors to our site, using our application, or visiting a particular page in a given timeframe. We may use this information to measure the use of our sites and applications and to improve our content. We may use Google Analytics, a third-party provider of analytics tools or a similar third-party service to analyze information about visits to our website. For information about opting out of Google Analytics please visit: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Sensitive Personal Information
We collect Personal Information that is defined as “Sensitive Personal Information” under certain state privacy laws, including driver’s license, state identification card, passport, or other government issued identification card, social security numbers, race or ethnic origin, and health information. We use and disclose Sensitive Personal Information only as necessary: (i) to process your request for employment, (ii) provide services and benefits in connection with your employment, (iii) to comply with the law, and (iv) for business purposes reasonably expected within the scope of your employment.
Legitimate Purposes for Using Your Information
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose and complies with data protection laws.
We may use the information we collect through the Sites for the following purposes:
- To respond to requests for information or to facilitate transactions or communications that users of our sites or users of our mobile applications request;
- To process requests and applications for prospective students;
- To process registration, financial aid, academic and other interactions with our students;
- To facilitate the educational experiences and career services offered to our students and alumni;
- To improve and administer our websites and mobile applications.
- To carry out our educational mission and facilitate the education of our students;
- To better understand the needs of the users of our sites and mobile applications and create content that is relevant to the user;
- For marketing and market research purposes;
- To generate statistics and de-identified data;
- To personalize content for the user;
- To notify the user of any changes with the Sites which may affect the user;
- To enforce the terms of use for Sites;
- For historical, statistical or business planning purposes;
- To prevent fraud and investigate potential misconduct; or
- To comply with law and legal process.
How We May Share Your Information with Third Parties
We will not disclose your personal information to third parties other than as described in this Policy unless we have your permission or are required or permitted to do so by law. We may share such information with our affiliates as necessary to carry out the purposes for which the information was supplied or collected. Similarly, third party contractors, consultants and/or vendors engaged by us to provide services may have access to your personal information. These third parties will be subject to their own data protection requirements providing the same or greater level of security provided by us and in most instances will also have entered into a written agreement with us which addresses the protection of your personal information.
- We may disclose information with your consent or as otherwise necessary or appropriate to process a transaction that you may request.
- We may disclose information that we collect through our Website with agents, affiliated businesses, and service providers providing services on our behalf.
- We may disclose information, as applicable, to the U.S. Department of Education; state or provincial education agencies, to other regulators, or our accrediting organizations.
- In the event that our company or some of our assets are sold or transferred or used as security or to the extent we engage in business negotiations with our business partners, the information collected on our websites or mobile applications, including this site, may be transferred or shared with third parties as part of that transaction or negotiation.
- If we receive a request from law enforcement officials or judicial authorities to provide information on individuals, we may provide such information. In matters involving claims of personal or public safety or in litigation where the data is pertinent, we may use or disclose your personal information without a court order.
- We may use information you submit to investigate security breaches, misconduct, or otherwise cooperate with authorities pursuant to a legal matter.
Also, we may share personal information about you with third parties when we engage them to perform services, including maintenance services, hosting, data storage, security, analytics and data analysis, payment processing, marketing, email and text message distribution, customer service, providing certain interactive tools, and conducting surveys.
The Use and Function of Cookies and Other Web Tracking Technologies
We may utilize "cookies," web beacons and other similar technologies on our Website. We may use first and/or third party "browser" or "HTTP" cookies, which are unique text files that may be used for data analysis, and enable our website to tailor information for the visitor. We may use browser cookies for purposes such as to personalize the user's experience on our site, to remember a user when the user registers for products or services, for fraud prevention, or to track visits to our Website. We also may use "web beacons" (also referred to as pixel tags, clear gifs or other terms) or similar technologies to collect information such as how long a visitor remains on a particular page. If you do not want us to deploy browser cookies to your device when you visit our Website, you may set the browser to reject cookies or to notify the user when a website tries to place cookies in the browser program (see below). Rejecting cookies may affect your ability to use some of features offered by the Website. If you use our Website without setting your browser to block cookies, you consent to the placement of cookies on your device.
Third parties, including our service providers or marketing partners, may collect information about a visitor to our site over time and/or across different websites when the visitor uses our Website. This information often is aggregate data or individual information that is tied to a browser or device rather than specific identifiers such as the visitor's name and address, but some of this information might be considered to be personally identifiable under some federal or state laws.
Your Ability to Limit the Use and Functionality of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Some Internet browsers have begun to offer what often is referred to as "do not track" mechanisms for browser users to automatically signal privacy preferences to websites that they visit. Internet browsers have only begun to include these features relatively recently and there is not yet a consensus about what steps a website should take when it receives a do-not-track signal from a site visitor's browser or what information collection or use restrictions should be applied when a do-not-track signal is received. As a result, our Website does not currently respond to do-not-track-signals.e continue to monitor do not track developments and may revisit the issue in the future.
In the meantime, you can exercise other choices available to you, including limiting the placement of browser cookies on your device using your browser's cookie control features and other choices described in this Policy. Information and opt-out choices for ads placed by Google are available at: www.google.com/settings/ads. You additionally have a number of choices regarding our collection and use of information through our Website:
- In cases where you are requested to affirmatively provide information, such as to complete a form, or an application, or a survey on our Website, you may decline to do so. Please understand, however, that in some cases certain information is required to complete an application, form or survey, and if you decline to provide the information requested you may not be able to submit the application or request or to use certain functionalities of our websites or mobile applications.
- If you would like to restrict our placement of cookies on your device, please see the FAQ "What Choices Do I Have About the Placement of Cookies on My Device?" above.
- If you prefer that we no longer contact you about potential educational opportunities at our school, please e-mail us at sumarketingcompliance@southuniversity.edu.
- If you would prefer not to receive e-mail marketing messages from us, please use the opt-out instructions included in the email message to opt-out of additional communications.
- You may be given additional choices in the context of particular preferences tools or functions that we make available.
What Rights Do I Have With Regard To My Personal Information?
If the information that you provide through the Website is included in an educational record then we provide access to that information in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), as applicable.
You may additionally have the following rights with regard to your personal information, as provided under certain state privacy laws:
- No more than twice in any 12-month period, request disclosure of the following information:
- Categories of Personal Information we collect.
- Categories of sources from which Personal Information is collected.
- Business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling Personal Information.
- Categories of Personal Information sold or disclosed to third parties.
- Categories of third parties with whom such Personal Information is sold or disclosed.
- Specific pieces of Personal Information we collect.
- Request to correct inaccurate Personal Information.
- Request deletion of your Personal Information, subject to the exceptions provided by law.
- Opt-out from having your Personal Information sold to third parties or shared with third parties, if applicable.
- Limit use and disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information for any purpose other than the pre-approved business purposes set forth in the CCPA. Our use of Sensitive Personal Information is already limited to the approved business purposes identified above.
Requests can be submitted by calling (866) 629-2901 or via email at sumarketingcompliance@southuniversity.edu. Only you, or a person authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your Personal Information.
The verifiable consumer request initiated by you or your authorized agent must:
- Include your full legal name, email, and phone number, which we will need to contact you in order to verify that you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative.
- Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.
We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Information relates to you. Making a verifiable request does not require you to create an account with us. One of our representatives will contact you in order to verify your identity. You may need to provide additional information in order to verify your request. Depending on the nature of the request, we may require additional verification actions be taken, including but not limited to providing a signed declaration under penalty of perjury that you are the person whose Personal Information is the subject of the request. We will only use this information to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.
We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:
- Engage in employment related activities and take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our employment relationship with you.
- Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
- Exercise a right provided for by law.
- Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 seq.).
- Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with expectations based on your employment relationship with us.
- Comply with a legal obligation.
- Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.
We endeavor to respond to a verifiable request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded.
Applicable state privacy laws provide the right to be free from discrimination if you choose to exercise your rights under the statute, and we will not retaliate against you for the exercise of your rights.
Privacy Rights of Data Subjects under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA, 2023)
As an Indian resident, you have the following rights under the DPDPA, 2023:
- Right to Access: You may request access to the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to Correction: You may request corrections to any inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to Erasure: You may request the deletion of your personal data under certain conditions.
- Right to Data Portability: You may request that your personal data be transferred to another data controller in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
- Right to Restrict Processing: You may request the restriction of processing your personal data in certain circumstances.
- Right to Object: You may object to the processing of your personal data in certain situations.
- Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us by phone at (866) 629-2901 or via email at sumarketingcompliance@southuniversity.edu. We will respond to your request in accordance with the DPDPA, 2023.
Retention of your Personal Information
We retain your personal information for the period of time reasonably required for the purposes for which it was collected, any compatible purposes which we subsequently establish, or any new purposes to which you subsequently consent, or to comply with legal, regulatory and our own policy requirements. Personal information will be kept for a shorter or longer period of time if so required by law or our policies, if the information becomes subject to a legal hold (for example, following a communication from our regulator) or if we have identified through a data protection impact assessment that a different retention period is appropriate. Please contact us using the information below if you have any questions about retention periods.
How We Protect Information We Collect From You
We recognize that you may be concerned about the security of your personal information and we are committed to employing reasonable technology in order to protect the security of our website. Even with such technology, no website is 100% secure. We take reasonable measures that we believe are appropriate to protect your information from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. We will ask any agents and service providers to whom we may transfer your information take comparable steps to protect that security.
If you use this site or mobile application, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any user ID and password or other access credentials that you may be provided. You should notify us immediately if any user ID and password or other access credentials we may issue you are compromised.
Compliance with Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA")
COPPA regulates the collection of personal information online from children under the age of 13. This site is not intended or designed to attract users under the age of 13 or to collect personal information from such users. We do not collect personally identifiable data from any person we know to be under the age of 13 and those under 13 should not submit any personal information through this site. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under the age of 13 we will remove the information from our files.
Changes to this Policy
If we make any material changes to this privacy policy we will change the "last updated" date so that you can quickly determine whether there were material changes since the last time you reviewed the policy.
Contact for questions regarding this Policy
If you have questions concerning our privacy practices, contact us at:
Marketing Compliance Department
South University
709 Mall Boulevard,
Savannah, GA 31406
Phone: (866) 629-2901
Email: sumarketingcompliance@southuniversity.edu