This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for the Office of Admissions of Michigan State University in association with offering information and services through the web site: admissions.msu.edu ("Site" or "Web Site"). Please note that this privacy statement does not apply to any other websites maintained by Michigan State University.

Information Collection and Use

The Board of Trustees of Michigan State University is the sole owner of information collected by this site. This Web Site (Site) collects general information from you that does not identify you personally. Information collected on this Site is used solely for the Purposes of offering the associated Activities, information and services to you as a visitor of the Site and to improve the Site. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement.

We do not collect Personally Identifiable Information from you, other than what you supply to us on a voluntary basis. However, in order to participate in some Activities, you might be asked to voluntarily provide some Personally Identifiable Information. This could be in connection with the following:

Activities

• Contest registration
• Subscription registration for sites or services which require subscription (such as e-mail newsletters).
• Requests for membership information.
• Fulfillment of your orders for merchandise.
• Gathering your editorial comments and feedback.
• Content submissions, comments and suggestions, or voting.
• Online surveys. The information you may provide in these surveys is used only on an aggregate basis to describe our audiences and assist us in better serving you.
• Participation in community postings, bulletin boards or "chat rooms."
• Making a donation or purchasing goods and services.
• Registration for a course or similar educational experience, in which case handling and use of your personal information will be subject to MSU "Access to Student Information" policies.

This Site also collects Anonymous Traffic Data each time you interact with the Site. This Anonymous Traffic Data is collected from Cookies, 3rd-Party Tracking Cookies, and Server Logs.

Cookies

"Cookies" are small text files used to collect information about website activity. This Site uses cookies to remember if users have logged in while on our site. This Site also users cookies to allow users to automatically login to other Michigan State University sites to which this Site refers users through the login page at login.msu.edu. This allows users to avoid logging in more than once, thereby saving time. Closing all browser windows and tabs will log the user out of all MSU sites and remove these cookies.

In addition, users have the option of disabling or not accepting cookies by changing the preferences on their browsers. If users opt to disable cookies, they will still be able to use the public sections of our Web site. However, they will not be able to use any functionality requiring a login (e.g. accessing secured content, posting to the message boards, etc).

No Personally Identifiable Information (e-mail address, name, etc.) is collected through our use of cookies. Accepting cookies while on this Site will not put the user at risk for direct marketing from other sites or entities.

Tracking Cookies and Web Statistics via Third-Party

This site also sets a persistent tracking cookie from Google.com, using Google Analytics, to aid our collection of Anonymous Tracking Data. Reports provided by Google Analytics aggregate this Anonymous Tracking Data allowing us to track usage of our site. This information helps us understand how users find our sites, which sections of the site are being read, and informs improvements to our content.

Personally Identifiable Information

To ensure anonymity of our visitors, this Site does not connect or associate Personally Identifiable Information to the persistent tracking cookie used to generate Anonymous Traffic Data.

Our use of Google Analytics has been configured to not share data with other Google products and tools. By avoiding any link between Personally Identifiable Information and our gathering of web statistics, our use of Google Analytics is consistent with Google's Terms of Service and MSU policies that protect student information . For more information about Google's privacy practices or for information on how to opt-out of Google Analytics tracking of your web browsing please refer to the following page: http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html

Server Logs

Our Web servers will create log files which contain all or some of the following information:

• The date, time and length of your visit.
• The path taken through our Web site and the browser being used.
• The list of files downloaded and the amount of time spent viewing any video or audio files.
• The Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) of the computer accessing our Site. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Web site.
• Any errors encountered.
• Your connection speed as it relates to your optimal speed for listening or watching video online (stored via a cookie).

Sharing and Retention of Information

If you choose to provide Personally Identifiable Information through this Site, we will not willfully disclose it to any third party without first receiving your permission. However, we may be required to release personal information if required to do so by law, University policy, or contractual obligation.

We may use your Personally Identifiable Information for the Purposes and Activities associated with this Site and related services limited to the administrative unit offering this Site.

We do not share, exchange, rent or sell any Personally Identifiable Information to political parties or candidates for political office.

If you do not want personal information which you voluntarily supply used by us for the Purposes and Activities associated with this Site, you may "opt-out." Please note, however, under certain circumstances, opting out may prevent your participation in Activities for which personal information is needed.

When you engage in financial transactions at our Site, you may be asked for a credit card number. The server that processes your credit card information is secure and your credit card number will be encrypted as it passes through the Internet. Such information is also saved in an encrypted format or in internal systems that are protected by an internal firewall system. This Site complies fully with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.

We may share Aggregate Demographic information with partners to the extent necessary to facilitate provisioning service for this website/service . This information does not include and is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person. We only share this information so that we can secure funding and sponsorship to continue to support our effort to provide information freely to users and benchmark the growth of our Site. As a public institution, these aggregate statistics may be subject to release in accordance with requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Links

This Web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we do not control or claim any responsibility for the privacy practices or content of such other sites. We encourage users to be aware when they leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects Personally Identifiable Information.

Security

This Web site takes reasonable precautions to protect our users' information, and we have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of information under our control.

Surveys

Occasionally, our Site requests information from users via Web surveys. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Information requested may include demographic data (such as zip code and age), but no Personally Identifiable Information will be collected. Survey results will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and performance of this Site.

Notification of Changes

If we decide to change our privacy statement, we will announce the changes on our home page so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy statement in effect when the information was collected. However, if at any point we wish to use Personally Identifiable Information in a manner different from that provided in the privacy statement in effect at the time it was collected, we will notify users by e-mail to request their consent. Users will decide whether or not we use their information in this different manner.

Consent

By using our Site you consent to our privacy statement.

Questions and feedback

Your questions, comments and concerns are always welcome. Please send us your feedback regarding the privacy statement or any other issues.