Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how DegreeCap collects, uses, shares, retains, and protects personal information when you use the service.

Depending on how you use DegreeCap, we may collect:

• Name, email, account role, and contact details
• Country of residence, nationality, education level, desired degree, and field of study
• Material-request and document-delivery information
• Organization profile and verification information
• Usage, analytics, security, abuse-prevention, and payment transaction information

We collect information needed to create, secure, administer, and personalize Student, Parent/Guardian, Teacher, School, and Grant Provider accounts. Please keep account information accurate and current.

Students under 16 are generally required to use DegreeCap with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. DegreeCap may collect the guardian's name and either an email address or telephone number for this purpose. Guardian information is private account and compliance information.

When you request materials, we collect the information needed to identify the requested organization, understand the request, deliver documents, maintain request history, and support the participating users. A material request is not an admission, grant, or scholarship application.

We collect organization profiles, representative contact information, verification details, materials, Grant information, and related operational records submitted by Schools and Grant Providers.

We may collect page views, session identifiers, device or browser information, approximate network information, security events, and rate-limit records. We minimize raw identifiers where practical and use this information to operate, understand, secure, and prevent abuse of DegreeCap.

Where paid services apply, payment providers such as Stripe process payment card details. DegreeCap does not store full payment card numbers. We may retain transaction identifiers, status, amount, currency, and records needed for delivery, accounting, security, and disputes.

We use information to:

• Provide accounts, discovery, material requests, document delivery, and organization connections
• Verify organizations and administer requests and payments
• Communicate about the service and provide support
• Improve reliability, accessibility, and product performance
• Protect users, investigate abuse or fraud, enforce terms, and meet legal obligations

DegreeCap does not sell personal information.

We may share information with participating organizations as described below, with service providers acting for DegreeCap, when directed or consented to by the user, or when reasonably necessary for legal, safety, security, fraud-prevention, or dispute-resolution purposes.

When a user requests materials from a School or Grant Provider, DegreeCap may share information reasonably necessary for that organization to respond to or fulfill the request. Guardian contact details are not automatically included in ordinary School or Grant Provider material requests.

Published School, Grant Provider, and Grant profiles and materials may be publicly visible. Users should not place private personal information in public profile fields. Private user profiles and guardian compliance information are not public.

DegreeCap uses reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, including access controls, validation, private storage paths, abuse controls, and protected payment workflows. No system can guarantee absolute security.

When an account is deleted, certain request, delivery, payment, security, fraud-prevention, and operational records may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for legitimate business, legal, security, fraud-prevention, dispute-resolution, and record-keeping purposes. Historical request records may remain available to a participating organization. Where appropriate, personal identifiers may be removed, de-identified, or shown as “Account deleted.”

DegreeCap and its service providers may use cookies, browser storage, session identifiers, and similar technologies for authentication, preferences, security, analytics, and reliable service operation. Browser controls may affect some functionality.

We use service providers for infrastructure, authentication, databases, file storage, security, analytics, communications, and payments. These providers process information under their own terms and privacy commitments and only as reasonably necessary for their functions.

DegreeCap is operated from Japan. Information may be processed or stored in Japan and other countries where DegreeCap or its service providers operate. Those locations may have privacy laws different from the user's country.

Students aged 16 or older may generally register independently. Students under 16 must use DegreeCap with parent or legal guardian involvement and consent. If applicable law requires consent or other protections at a different age, those local requirements take precedence. DegreeCap does not require date of birth for this registration process.

Depending on applicable local law, users may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, or portability of personal information. Rights may be subject to identity verification, lawful exceptions, and records DegreeCap must or may reasonably retain.

We may update this Privacy Policy as DegreeCap, applicable requirements, or our practices change. We will post the revised version and effective date and provide additional notice where reasonably required.

Privacy questions and requests may be sent to contact@degreecap.com.