Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting our Kirkwood Community College (Kirkwood) website.  Kirkwood recognizes the importance of and is committed to protecting the privacy rights of our students, employees, and community business partners.

Information collected will be used for College purposes only.  By visiting any of our websites, you are accepting the practices described within this document.  The following speaks to Kirkwood’s online information handling practices.

Information collected and stored automatically by the use of Kirkwood Web sites

Kirkwood websites are designed to provide information and to efficiently provide online services to our students, employees, and community business partners.  Following industry standards and best practices, our servers log information about your visit in order to continuously improve its usability.  This information does not contain personal data, but does contain:

  • The IP address of the device from which you accessed our Website
  • The name of the domain from which you access the Internet
  • The type of browser and operating system used while visiting our Website
  • The date and time(s) of your visits to our site
  • The pages, files, documents and links that you visit
  • The Internet address of the website from which you linked to this Website

COOKIES AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Cookies are small text files that can store information to your browser as a result of visiting a website.  Kirkwood makes use of cookies to enhance your current and future visits to our website.  No personal information is collected through these cookies.  Kirkwood does not store any personal identifying information within client side cookies other than a temporary session id which is used to identify a user moving from page to page.  You can control your cookie preferences, including options to refuse cookies, from within your browser settings.  However, disabling cookies can cause problems with advanced features on some websites.

Some of our websites use Google Analytics to monitor web traffic. Google Analytics provides us aggregate data which contains no specific information that can be linked to an individual.  If you wish to opt out of this web tracking, Google Analytics provides an opt-out browser plugin (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/).

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII)

Kirkwood will only collect PII which you knowingly and voluntarily provide.  If you provide us with PII, we may use this information to contact you in regards to your implied interest in the College.  Transmission of PII is secured with SSL encryption to ensure the privacy of this sensitive information.  The PII we do collect is stored in databases and files that are protected and secured via industry accepted best practices. 

Any information received by the College through our Website is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 ( FERPA ) - http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
Section 438, Public Law 90-247 Title IV, as amended, 88 Stat 571-574 (20 USC 1232g) otherwise known as the Buckley Amendment Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Some information submitted by users may be considered Protected Health Information (PHI). The College complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ( HIPAA ), which regulates the use and disclosure of PHI.  The following is a summary link - http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/

At no time do we disclose PII except under the following conditions:

  • We have your consent to share the information
  • We need to share your information in order to provide the service or product you requested
  • When required to do so by subpoenas, court orders, or any other legal process

STUDENTS WHO ARE CITIZENS OF EU COUNTRIES

Kirkwood follows the GDPR rules to the extent that they do not conflict with State or Federal rules.

DISCLAIMER

Kirkwood may provide links to other websites of interest in order to provide services for its users.  Kirkwood is not responsible for the content and privacy practices of these websites.  The use of such linked sites is subject to the privacy statements and use requirements of each respective site; please check each site for its respective privacy policy.

PRIVACY STATEMENT REVISIONS

Periodically, this privacy statement may be updated to accommodate changes to our information security program or web environment.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

If you have any questions or comments about our stance and approach to Privacy, you may send us an email privacy@kirkwood.edu