Website Privacy Statement on the Collection and Use of Information Gathered from the General Public
Weatherford College maintains the Weatherford College website as a public service. The following statement applies only to members of the general public and is intended to address the types of information gathered from the public and how that information is used.
1. Collection of Information
While using our public web pages, you do not have to identify yourself or divulge personal information. We may collect general information from your web browser that does not identify you personally. This may include data such as IP address, the name of the web page from which you entered our site, which of our web pages you visited and for how long, as well as other general behavior and device data.
We aggregate this information to help us better focus on the needs and interests of our visitors and improve the overall functionality of our website. As you use our website, we will not collect any personal information unless you provide the information to us voluntarily.
2. Personal Information We Collect and Process
When you access or use the Sites, we may collect and process the following types of information from you:
The table below describes the personal information that we collect, why we collect it, and our legal basis for collecting and processing it.
| Purpose of Processing | Categories of Personal Information | Legal Basis |
| As part of the admissions process, we collect applicants' Personal Information to evaluate applications. We may also obtain Personal Information from third parties, such as other schools, references, family members, and educational partners, as part of an application package. | Name, address, contact details, ethnicity, demographic information, educational history, reference letters, and other relevant information as part of the application package. |
Legitimate Interest: Personal Information collected through the application is necessary to evaluate candidates for admissions and for our internal statistical and analytics purposes. Consent: Processing of Sensitive Personal Information for purposes stated above. |
| To evaluate and determine whether financial aid opportunities are available to an applicant | Name, address, contact details, demographic information, salary history, tax forms, and other relevant information to evaluate financial aid eligibility and opportunities. |
Legitimate Interest: Personal Information collected through the financial aid application is necessary to evaluate the applicant's eligibility for financial aid and for our internal statistical and analytical purposes. Consent: Processing of Sensitive Personal Information for purposes stated above. |
| To support course registration | Name, contact information, student ID | Legitimate Interest: Personal Information collected for matriculated students, staff, faculty and members of the public, as appropriate for the course, to register in courses or classes. |
| To process requests for housing and dining services | Name, contact information, student ID | Legitimate Interest: To facilitate provision of online education courses to matriculated students, staff, faculty and members of the public, as appropriate for the course |
| To process employment applications | Name, student ID, demographic information, resumes | Legitimate Interest: For individuals interested in employment opportunities, processing applications. |
| To receive donations | Name, contact information, payment information | Legitimate Interest: To collect and process donations/gifts and donor information. |
| To receive brochures or other information | Name, contact information | Legitimate Interest: To send brochures or other requested information |
| To purchase tickets to events | Name, student ID, contact information | Legitimate Interest via 3rd party contract: To process ticket payment for a variety of events. |
| For event registration | Name, student ID, contact information | Legitimate Interest: To process registration for sports, cultural, educational, and other events. |
| To submit requests for services | Name, student ID, contact information |
Legitimate Interest: To process service requests from students, staff, and faculty. Contract: If there is a contract that governs your use of such services, Personal Information is processed pursuant to that contract. |
| Travel sites | Name, contact information, passport number, emergency contacts |
Legitimate Interest: To facilitate travel arrangements and coordination for students and affiliated travelers through organization programs. Contract: If a contract governs your use of travel sites, Personal Information is processed pursuant to that contract. |
Sharing your Personal Information
We share your information internally to facilitate and manage the purposes listed above. This includes third parties with whom Weatherford College engages to process your Personal Information on our behalf for the purposes stated above, such as vendors who help us with marketing, application processing, and web hosting.
Weatherford College may also share your Personal Data with:
- government and law enforcement agencies or regulators to (1) comply with a legal process, subpoena, order, or other legal or regulatory requirement applicable to us; (2) enforce our terms of use or other policies; or (3) pursue available legal remedies or defend against legal claims.
- other third parties as requested by you are permitted by this and other Organization Name policies and applicable laws and regulations.
Weatherford College will not sell any Personal Information to third parties for their use in direct marketing, advertising, or promotion of their products or services. Still, it may be subject to open record requests.
3. Cookies
A cookie is a small file that contains information about the user and the website and is stored on the user’s computer. The file interacts with the user and the website to provide a webpage tailored to the user by leveraging information stored within it. Cookies can carry all or part of the information stored in the file to other websites the user may visit or to third parties.
Types of Cookies
A third-party cookie is placed by a domain other than that of the website the user is visiting.
A session cookie is temporary, linking user actions during a given browser session. When the browser is closed, the cookie is deleted.
A permanent cookie, also known as a persistent cookie, is stored for a specific period and is activated each time the user visits the website that created it.
Our Use of Cookies
We use third-party, session, and persistent cookies and similar technology to collect aggregate (non-personal) information about the Sites' usage by all our visitors and to help us remember you and your preferences when you revisit the Sites. These cookies may remain in your browser until they expire or you delete them.
Some of these cookies are erased when you close your browser window, and some persist for a period.
Further general information about cookies and how they work is available at www.allaboutcookies.org.
We may allow selected third parties to place cookies through the Sites to provide us with better insights into how the Sites are used, user demographics, or to provide you with relevant advertising. These third parties may collect information about a user’s online activities over time and across different websites when the user uses our Sites.
Adjusting Cookie Settings
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify a browser’s settings to decline cookies entirely or decline third-party cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience all features and content of our website.
You can change your cookie settings by reviewing your internet browser’s cookie options. Most popular browsers will help you better understand your cookie options by providing information on their technical support web pages or directly in the browser software. Typically, such information can be found under the browser’s ‘Help,’ ‘Preferences’ or ‘Options’ menus.
Information stored in cookies is used for internal purposes only. It is not used in any way that would disclose personally identifiable information to outside parties unless legally required to do so.
Blocking Cookies
Should you choose to decline or block cookies by adjusting your browser settings, including cookies essential to the Sites, please note that all or parts of our Sites may not be functional or accessible to you. Our Sites will issue cookies as soon as you visit the Sites, unless your browser cookie settings are configured to prevent this.
Please review the information provided in this notice regarding adjusting cookie settings for the browser of your choice.
4. Advertisements and Third-Party Content
We utilize third-party tools such as those provided by Google, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Instagram to perform tracking specifically for the targeting and tracking of our advertisement campaigns. These tools allow us to target ads based on where users have been on our website and the demographic information known by the tool provider.
Using third-party tracking also allows us to learn more about our website users and gauge the effectiveness of our social media outreach. While we do not share information that could identify you personally, these third parties may be able to associate your device with information provided on other web sites. This may enable them to leverage your Weatherford College browsing history and present targeted advertising on other sites.
Most of the social media platforms we work with can identify you personally if you have an account with them. Your privacy in these cases is governed by your own agreement to the terms of service of the social media platform. You can disable saving third-party cookies in your browser's settings or use your browser's private mode (such as Chrome's Incognito Window) to minimize the data shared and stored in your browser.
5. Logs and Network Monitoring
Weatherford College may maintain log files of access to its site and may monitor traffic for the purposes of problem resolution, information security, site management, and other administrative tasks. Log analysis tools may also be used to create summary statistics to determine which information is of most interest to users, to identify system problem areas, or to help determine technical requirements. This information is not used in any way that would reveal personally identifying information to outside parties unless legally required to do so in connection with law enforcement investigations or other legal proceedings.
6. Information You Provide to Us
If you voluntarily provide Weatherford College with personally identifying information such as by filling out a web-based form, that information may be used in one of the following ways:
- To contact you in response to your request.
To provide you with information about Weatherford College services, events, or news.
To customize our website experiences when you visit and tailor them to your needs.
To process your request internally or conduct the regular business of Weatherford College.
The information you provide may be sent to another person or office that is more appropriate to handle your request. It may also be shared with a third party, but only for the purposes listed above. Third parties are reviewed by Weatherford College administration and information sharing is managed in compliance with Weatherford College policy and local, state, and federal law. No information you provide will be used in any way that would reveal personally identifying information to unaffiliated entities unless legally required to do so in connection with law enforcement investigations or other legal proceedings. We do not personally identify you to anyone outside Weatherford College and the third-party partners mentioned above.
7. Links
This site contains links to other, external, sites not owned or operated by Weatherford College. Weatherford College is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
8. Legal Considerations
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) offers students the ability to request a privacy hold to restrict the dissemination of their directory information. This does not cover browsing activity and targeted advertising; it prevents Weatherford College from identifying you as a student or putting you on a list of students unless there is a justifiable business need to do so.
Since Weatherford College is a public institution, some information collected from our website, server log information, emails, and web-based forms are subject to the Texas Public Information Act (Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code).
9. Your Consent to This Privacy Statement
By using our website, you signify that you agree with the terms of our current Privacy Statement as posted in this area of the web site. If you do not agree with any term in this Statement, please do not provide any personal information on this site. If you do not provide personal information on this site, you may not be able to do certain things, like access particular areas of the site, request certain types of information, or send us email.
10. Our Commitment to Security
This site has security measures in place to protect from loss, misuse and alteration of the information under the control of Weatherford College.
Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job may be granted access to above referenced information. If you are uncomfortable sharing your personal data on the Internet, please contact us using the information provided in section 12 below, entitled, “How to Contact Us.”
11. Changes to this Statement
Weatherford College reserves the right to modify this Privacy Notice at any time. Your continued use of the Sites after any change in this Privacy Notice will constitute your acceptance of such change.
12. How to Contact Us
If there are any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or dealings with this website, you can contact us by email at technologyservicedesk@wc.edu.