Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 29, 2026 · Effective: April 29, 2026

FrankVentures LLC (“FrankVentures,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates College App Insider (the “Service”). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share information about you when you use the Service. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into the Terms of Service.

1. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly

Account information: name, email address, and password.
Profile information: graduation year, GPA, SAT/ACT scores, state, intended majors, family financial-need level (a tier indicator only, not a dollar figure).
Application content: saved schools, application status, essays and drafts, activities, recommender details, deadlines, demonstrated-interest touchpoints, document references, and any notes you create.
Communications: any message you send to support or to a counselor you invite.
Payment information: processed by Stripe; we do not store full card numbers. We retain the last four digits and the customer ID for billing reconciliation.

Information collected automatically

Usage data: page views, feature usage, click events, errors, and timing metrics. Collected via PostHog product analytics.
Device data: browser type, operating system, IP address (truncated for analytics), device-class, and approximate region.
Cookies and local storage: session cookies for authentication and local-storage keys for offline functionality. See Section 6.

Information from third parties

Public school data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, the Bureau of Labor Statistics OES, the Common Application Member Requirements file, individual schools' published Common Data Sets, and similar public sources. This data is about schools and occupations, not about you.

2. How We Use Information

We use information to:

Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Service;
Authenticate you and prevent fraud or unauthorized access;
Provide product features (e.g., compute your chance estimate, surface deadlines, build the punch list);
Communicate with you about your account, including service announcements, security notices, billing, and (with your opt-in) the weekly digest and deadline reminders;
Respond to support requests;
Detect, investigate, and prevent abuse, fraud, and security incidents;
Comply with legal obligations;
Develop new features by analyzing aggregated, de-identified usage patterns.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your application materials, essays, or stored content to train any third-party model.

3. How We Share Information

We share information only as described here:

Service providers (data processors)

We share necessary information with vendors that operate parts of the Service under our instructions and contractual data-protection terms:

Cloudflare (hosting and edge networking);
Neon (managed PostgreSQL database);
Resend (transactional email and digest delivery);
Stripe (subscription billing and payment processing);
Anthropic (intelligent features such as essay drafting suggestions and brainstorming; we send only the inputs needed to generate a response, and Anthropic's commercial terms prohibit use of inputs for training);
PostHog (product analytics; configured to truncate IP addresses).

Each provider's privacy practices are governed by their own policies, which we recommend you review.

Counselors or family members you invite

If you generate a counselor share link or invite a family member, the recipient can view the curated subset of data we expose to them (saved schools, statuses, deadlines, and rec-letter tracking; not financial-aid documents or full essay text). Sharing is at your discretion and you can revoke a link at any time.

Legal and safety

We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required to comply with law, valid legal process, or government request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of FrankVentures, our users, or the public.

Business transfers

If FrankVentures is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction subject to terms consistent with this Privacy Policy.

4. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. You may delete your account at any time from /settings; on deletion we remove your application content within thirty (30) days. Backup copies may persist for an additional ninety (90) days. Aggregated and de-identified data may be retained indefinitely.

5. Your Rights

You can access, correct, export, or delete your personal information from within your account. Specifically:

Access & correction: view and edit your profile and application content directly in the app.
Export: download a copy of your data in JSON or CSV via the export tools.
Delete: delete individual items or your entire account from settings.
Marketing preferences: opt out of the weekly digest and deadline reminders from email preferences.
Right to opt-out of arbitration: see Section 13.5 of the Terms.

For requests we can't fulfill in the app, email privacy@collegeappinsider.com. We respond within thirty (30) days; complex requests may take up to forty-five (45) days.

6. Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies for authentication (session cookie for NextAuth) and local storage for offline functionality and to remember your preferences (storage keys prefixed with ica_). These technologies are necessary for the Service to operate and are not used for cross-site tracking or advertising. Product analytics via PostHog uses a first-party cookie configured to truncate IP addresses.

7. Children's Privacy

The Service is intended for high-school students aged 13 and older and the parents and guardians who assist them. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian who believes a child under 13 has provided personal information to the Service, contact privacy@collegeappinsider.com and we will delete it.

8. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards including encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+), encryption at rest at the database layer, access controls, secure password hashing (bcrypt), and regular review of vendor security postures. No system is perfectly secure; you are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials. If you suspect a compromise, contact security@collegeappinsider.com immediately.

9. International Users

The Service is operated from the United States. By using the Service from outside the U.S., you consent to the transfer of your information to and processing in the U.S. We do not currently offer the Service to users in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom; if you are located in those jurisdictions, please do not use the Service.

10. California Residents (CCPA / CPRA)

California residents have the right to know what personal information we collect, the purposes for collection, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose it, and to request access, correction, or deletion. You may also request that we limit the use of sensitive personal information; we do not use sensitive information for purposes beyond operating the Service. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. To exercise California rights, email privacy@collegeappinsider.com with the subject line “CCPA Request.” We will not discriminate against you for exercising any right under the CCPA.

11. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version with a revised “Last updated” date and, for material changes, notify you by email or by a banner on the Service. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

12. Contact

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, email privacy@collegeappinsider.com.

FrankVentures LLC
Attn: Privacy
[LLC business address on file with the Texas Secretary of State]

See also: Terms of Service · Methodology