Last updated on May 20, 2024.

Our Commitment to Privacy

Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, which is owned by Triumph Higher Education Corporation (“AESCA“, “we“, “us“, or “our“), respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy (“Policy“).

Our Policy was developed as an extension of our commitment to combine the highest quality products and services with the highest level of integrity in dealing with our customers and partners. The Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use, disclose and safeguard personal information, and to assist you in making informed decisions, when you access this website, www.escoffier.edu (“our Website“), when you purchase products and services on our Website, or when you otherwise participate in an online program or service through our Website.

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This Policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices, and our customers’ needs and may change from time to time. Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

What Information Do We Collect, and How Do We Collect It?
How Do We Use The Information You Provide To Us
How Do You Unsubscribe from Future Communications?
To Whom Do We Disclose The Information That You Provide To Us
How We Manage Consent
How Can You Access and Correct Your Information
How We Store and Safeguard Personal Information
Retention of Personal Information
Transfer of Personal Information outside of the Country
Children Under the Age of 18
Information for Individual Privacy Rights
What About Other Websites Linked To Out Website
Changes To The Privacy Policy
How To Contact Us

1. What Information Do We Collect, and How Do We Collect It?

When you visit our Website, we collect: (1) on an individual basis, information you choose to provide by which you may be personally identified, including postal address, email address, telephone number, social security number, or credit or debit card number (“personal information”) and (2) on an aggregate basis, website use information through automatic data collection technologies as you and others browse our Website, which may be considered personal information to the extent it may personally identify you.

(1) Personal Information You Choose to Provide

If you choose to access the Website and/or to purchase certain products or services from us, you may voluntarily provide personal information and/or authorization for us to obtain your personal information from various third-party sources, such as credit reporting agencies and other credit services. For example, you may need to provide the following information:

    • Name
    • Mailing address
    • Email address and other email information
    • Credit or debit card number and related information
    • Personal and business phone number
    • Credit or debit card information
    • Information necessary to process admission and/or to assess eligibility to bursaries, scholarships, or financial aid, such as education, employment status, veteran or military status, professional or employment information
    • Other personal information

If you choose to correspond further with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages to us together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received through our Website or by mail and telephone.

In addition to providing the foregoing information, when you enroll in our online programs, we collect certain additional information, including, but not limited to: which courses you have started and completed, your exchanges with instructors and/or other users of the courses, and materials submitted to satisfy program requirements.

(2) Website Use Information

We may collect certain types of information through automatic data collection technologies when you interact with our Website, emails, social media accounts, or online advertising or through other technologies. The information helps us deliver more personalized service on the Website and allows the Website to work correctly. The technologies we use for automatic data collection may include the following.

Cookies:
Similar to other commercial websites, our Website utilizes standard technologies called “cookies” and web server logs to collect information about how our Website is used.

Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user’s web browser on the user’s hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one webpage to simplify subsequent interactions with that website by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user’s transactions on related webpages. This makes it easier for a user to move from webpage to webpage and to complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.

Information gathered through cookies and web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our Website, and the websites visited just before and just after our Website. This information is collected on an aggregate basis and is not associated with you as an individual. We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our Website users’ browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our Website and better serve our customers. This information assists us to design and arrange our webpages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our Website to better meet the needs of our customers and prospective customers.

Cookies help us collect important business and technical statistics. The information in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our Website as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us to count how many people visit our Website and evaluate our Website’s visitor capacity. We do not use these technologies to capture your individual email address or any personal information, although they do permit us to send focused online banner advertisements or other such responses to you.

IP Address:
Your IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider. An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our web server log files whenever a user accesses the Website, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services.

Tracking Options:
Certain websites require cookies to function efficiently. We may use cookies to deliver advertising we believe is relevant to you and to link data collected across other devices you use. You can adjust your browser settings to limit tracking or decline cookies, but, as a result, you may not be able to use certain features of this Website or take full advantage of all of our offerings. Please refer to your device or browser settings for more information on how to delete or decline cookies and control your tracking preferences. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.

Other Technologies, Third-Party Agencies, and Tracking:
We may collect personal information through other technologies as follows.
We may allow a limited number of trusted third parties, including our advertising agencies to install cookies, provide measurement services and display targeted advertisements regarding goods and services that may be of interest to you when you access and use our Website. We do not provide any personal information to advertisers or to third party sites that display interest-based ads on our Website. However, advertisers and other third parties (including the ad networks, ad-serving companies, and other service providers they may use) may assume that users who interact with or click on a personalized ad or content displayed on our Website are part of the group that the ad or content is directed towards. Advertisers or ad companies working on their behalf sometimes use technology to serve the ads that appear on our Website directly to your browser.

We may use analytics providers that use cookies, pixel tags, web beacons, and other, similar technologies to collect or receive information about your use of the Website and your use of other websites or online services. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that advertisers and third-party websites may use, and the information practices of these advertisers and third-party websites are not covered by this Privacy Policy. Please contact them directly for more information about their privacy practices. You can also generally opt-out of receiving personalized ads from third-party advertisers and ad networks who are members of the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) or Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada if you reside in Canada. Please visit the DAA opt-out page and the DAAC opt-out pagefor more information.

Third-Party Social Networks:
Third-party social networks that provide interactive plug-ins to enable social network features (e.g., to connect to Facebook) on the Website may use cookies to gather information on your use of the Website. How this collected data is used by a third party is dependent on the privacy policy of the social network, which is available on the appropriate party’s website. AESCA encourages you to review the privacy policies of third parties as well. Third parties involved may use tracking methods, including, but not limited to, cookies, to achieve their own business goals and purposes by relating and combining information about your usage of the Website to any other personal information they may have collected on you. AESCA may also obtain and use analytical and statistical information from third-party social networks to help us measure performance and effectiveness of content displayed by AESCA on social networks, for example, by measuring impressions and clicks on the content AESCA promotes.

2. How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?

We use information that you provide to us or that we collect about you, including any personal information:

  • to conduct and manage our ordinary business operations, including:
    • processing applications for admission, scholarships, bursaries, and/or financial aid,
    • creating a student account, and
    • authenticating your identity;
  • to communicate with you, including:
    • responding to an inquiry,
    • sending you materials, and
    • otherwise communicating by email, telephone, or mail about our products, services, programs, and other offerings;
  • to provide our products, services, programs, and other offerings;
  • to provide customer service to you;
  • to enhance your customer service experience;
  • to market and otherwise make available our products, services, programs, other offerings, and customer service to prospective customers;
  • to customize the content that you see on our Website;
  • to conduct market research and data analytics by tracking and analyzing currently- or previously-collected information;
  • to notify you about important changes to our Website, new products, services, and special offers we think may interest you; and
  • to meet our contractual, legal, and regulatory obligations.

Limiting Use of Personal Information

Our corporate values, ethical standards, policies, and practices are committed to the protection of customer personal information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to personal and confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, for authorized processes and transactions.

3. How Do You Unsubscribe from Future Communications?

Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our Website and new products, services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional corporate standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of our customers’ personal information. As our customer, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending an email to [email protected].

4. To Whom Do We Disclose The Information That You Provide To Us?

Sharing Information with Strategic Partners

If we enter into strategic marketing alliances or partnerships with third parties, we will not share any personal information about our customers or prospective customers.

Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties?

We may hire service providers, which may be affiliates, to perform services on our behalf. This may include, without limitation, a person or an organization retained by us to perform work on our behalf, including for marketing research, customer service and web-related services, and quality control assessment. We provide them with a limited amount of information which is necessary in order for them to provide the services required. They are prohibited from using the information for purposes other than to facilitate and carry out the services they have been engaged to provide.

We may also disclose personal information to outside parties in the following circumstances:

  • In connection with a sale or transfer of business or assets, an amalgamation, reorganization or financing of parts of our business (including the proceedings of insolvency or bankruptcy). In the event the transaction is completed, your personal information will remain protected by applicable privacy laws. In the event the transaction is not completed, we will require the other party not to use or disclose your personal information in any manner whatsoever and to completely delete such information, in compliance with applicable laws.
  • When legally compelled to do so in response to a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, valid demand, search warrant, government investigation or other legally valid request or inquiry, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
  • To our accountants, auditors, agents and lawyers in connection with the enforcement or protection of our legal rights.
  • When we have reasonable grounds to believe that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property and safety of others and ourselves, in accordance with or as authorized by law.
  • Where otherwise permitted or required to do so by law.

To the extent permitted by law, we may also provide aggregate information about our customers, prospective customers, sales, website traffic patterns, and related website information to our affiliates or other reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifiable information.

5. How We Manage Consent

By visiting our Website (including using our online services, making purchases, creating an account, or participating in an online program) and/or submitting information to us in connection with our products and services, you are providing your consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy. In some cases, your consent may be “implied,” i.e., your permission is assumed based on your action or inaction at the point of collection, use, or sharing of your personal information.

We will generally obtain consent when we want to use personal information for a new purpose or for a purpose other than those stated at the time of collection in this Privacy Policy or in the terms and conditions of a specific product, service, program, promotion, or event you have signed up for, participated in, or purchased. Your consent can be withdrawn at any time, except in limited circumstances, including legal or regulatory requirements or as a result of your contractual obligations with us.

If you choose not to provide us with certain personal information or if you withdraw your consent, where such withdrawal is available, we may not be able to offer you the products, services, or programs that you requested or that could be offered to you.

6. How Can You Access and Correct Your Information?

You may request access to your personally identifiable information that we collect through our Website and maintain in our database, subject to legal restrictions, by emailing us at [email protected]. You can also request to update, add, or remove your personal information at any time by emailing us at [email protected]. It is your responsibility to provide accurate, correct, and complete information.

7. How We Store and Safeguard Personal Information

We take the security of your personal information very seriously and are committed to protecting your privacy by using a combination of reasonable and appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards implemented by us to protect against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification, in light of, among other things, the sensitivity of the information and the purposes for which it is to be used. These measures include access restrictions, encryption, and personnel training concerning the importance of preserving the privacy, confidentiality, and security of the personal information collected. These safeguards also apply when we dispose of or destroy your personal information.

Please be careful whenever sending personal information to us electronically. Please note that transmissions over the Internet are never completed protected or exempt from error, which is why we cannot guarantee the security of the information transmitted electronically since such transmissions are conducted at your risk and peril. More specifically, an email sent to our Website or from our Website cannot be protected. We recommend that you keep this in mind when you determine the nature of the information transmitted electronically. Moreover, please keep confidential your login, password, and other special access elements of our Website, the protection of which is your exclusive responsibility.

8. Retention of Personal Information

Personal information will be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the purposes for which it was collected and for which consent was received, unless otherwise authorized or required by law. Subject to the foregoing, personal information that is no longer required to fulfill the purposes identified in this Policy will be destroyed, erased, or made anonymous.

9. Transfer of Personal Information Outside of The Country

Your personal information may be stored and/or processed by us or our services providers outside of your country of residence. These countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you reside. We use reasonable and appropriate safeguards, such as contractual requirements, to ensure the protection of your personal information wherever it is stored or processed.

As a result of the foregoing, when your personal information is used, accessed, stored, or processed in a country other than your country of residence, it may be subject to the laws of the foreign jurisdiction, including any law permitting or requiring disclosure of the information to the government, government agencies, courts, and law enforcement in that jurisdiction.

10. Children Under the Age of 18

Different laws define the term “child” differently. It is neither our goal nor our intention to collect personal information concerning persons under the age of 18 without the consent of their parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly provide any personal information collected from such persons, regardless of its source, to any third party for any purpose whatsoever.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible that we nevertheless collect such information if same is provided to us. We therefore encourage parents to inform their children about the possible consequences of using our Website and disclosing information through the Website. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we will not assume any responsibility with respect to the use of our Website or disclosure of information via our Website by children without parental or legal guardian consent. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental or legal guardian consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under the age of 18, please contact us by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling us at (855) 280-3980.

CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 18 ARE HEREBY REQUIRED TO OBTAIN THE PERMISSION OF THEIR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN BEFORE PROVIDING ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US.

11. Information About Individual Privacy Rights

In certain circumstances under applicable law, you may have the right to access your personal information (including in a portable format if so requested), to correct your personal information, to delete your personal information, and/or to opt out of the sale of your personal information. We do not sell your personal information to any third party.

To submit a request relating to the foregoing rights, please submit a verifiable request by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling us at (855) 280-3980. We will use your email address to verify your identity. Provided we are able to confirm your identity, we will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe in accordance with applicable law.

California Residents:

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA“), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA“), provides certain rights and protections to California residents. This section is intended to further describe the categories presented in the updated act including (a) what personal information is being collected about them; (b) whether or not their personal information is being shared or disclosed and to whom (c) the right to say no to the sale of personal information; and (d) the right to access their personal information.

Categories of Data AESCA Collects from California and Canadian Consumers: We collect the following categories of data: (a) identifiers, such as a name, email address, telephone number, physical address, unique personal identifier (such as student ID), online identifier, IP address, account name, Social Security number or Social Insurance number, driver’s license number; (b) personal identifiers under Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e), such as education, employment status, bank account information, credit card or debit card number, financial information; (c) protected classification characteristics under California law, such as age, marital status, gender, veteran or military status; (d) commercial information, such as products or services obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies; (e) internet activity, such as browsing history and search history information; (f) geolocation data; (g) professional or employment information, such as consumer-reported current or past job history; (h) inferences drawn from some of the information above (e.g., email open rates and time). The foregoing is an all-encompassing list of potential information collected from request for information through potential enrollment into the program. Personal information collected as described in this Policy that goes beyond name, address, email, location, or program of interest is collected only if one completes the enrollment process to attend our programs. Our institution is required to complete regulatory reporting that specifically asks for information such as marital status, gender, military status, or previous education. If financial information such as Social Security Number, Social Insurance Number, debit or credit card, bank account information is collected, that is maintained in a secure fashion for any financial aid or payment processing information if one decides to enroll into the program.

Demographic & Personal Information: We may collect your name and address if you have requested information from us or have been an active student with us at any point. We also collect phone numbers and email addresses. We may also collect your information regarding your age, gender, race, or ethnicity if that was appropriate information based on your relationship with our institution. We only require information such as age, gender, race, or ethnicity if you decide to enroll with our institution to comply with required regulatory reporting requirements.

Educational Platforms: We collect information you post in a public space on our e-learning platforms. This may include posts you make discussion boards, live chat sessions or social media pages.

Device and location information: We collect the type and make of device you use to access our e-learning platforms. We may also collect information about the browser you are using. We might look at what website you came from, or what website you visit when you leave us. We may collect information across the devices you use to access our e-learning platform. If you use our app, we might look at how often you use the app and where you downloaded it. This might include your device identification number, IP address, or mobile operating system. We may also collect location information. This may include precise location information from your device such as your location when you are on or near campus. If information on location is collected prior to a decision to enroll into the program, this information is used to ensure that we are contacting you at appropriate times based on your location. If you decide to enroll into the program, we use location information to ensure academic integrity.

Enrollment and payment information: We collect information in your application for admission and your application for financial aid, including Social Security number, date of birth, citizenship, and military status, as applicable. We may also collect information about other schools you have attended and income history. We might also collect your credit card or bank account number and billing address. The foregoing is an all-encompassing list of potential information collected from request for information through potential enrollment into the program. Personal information collected as noted in this Policy that goes beyond name, address, email, location, or program of interest is collected only if one completes the enrollment process to attend our programs. Our institution is required to complete regulatory reporting that specifically asks for information such as marital status, gender, military status, or previous education. If financial information such as Social Security Number, Social Insurance Number, debit or credit card, or bank account information is collected, that is maintained in a secure fashion for any financial aid or payment processing information if one decides to enroll into the program.

Requests to Know, Correct, or Delete My Personal Information

If you are a California resident, under certain circumstances in accordance with applicable law, you have the right to request that we:

(a) disclose to you specific details about your personal information that we have collected, used, disclosed, sold, and/or shared and/or a copy of your personal information, including the categories of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose personal information, and if requested, the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you;

(b) correct inaccuracies in your personal information; and

(c) delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions.

To exercise the foregoing rights, please submit a verifiable request by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling us at (855) 280-3980. We will use your email address to verify your identity. Provided we are able to confirm your identity, we will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe in accordance with applicable law.

Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information

Under California law, a “sale” includes disclosing or making available personal information to a third party (other than a service provider or contractor) in exchange for monetary or other valuable consideration, and “sharing” includes disclosing or making available personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising.

If you are a California resident and want to exercise your right to opt out of the sale/share of your personal information, please request an opt-out by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling us at (855) 280-3980. If you opt out of the sale/share of your personal information, we may still process your personal data to show you ads that are not personalized or otherwise provide certain services to advertiser clients that do not involve the sale or sharing of personal information under the CCPA.

Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

Subject to certain conditions and exceptions, you may have the right to limit the use and disclosure of “sensitive personal information,” as defined under California law, including that which reveals a consumer’s social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number; certain financial account details allowing access to such account; precise geolocation; racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership; genetic data; as well as certain processing of biometric information, health information, and sexual life/orientation information. We do not knowingly collect such information unless AESCA is the intended recipient.

Do Not Track Signals

Some web browsers have options that may be characterized as “do not track” settings, which may or may not affect your settings related to our Website. We do NOT understand them to operate in that manner or to signify a “do not sell/share” request made by a consumer under the CCPA.

Non-discrimination

In accordance with applicable law, we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights.

12. What About Other Websites Linked to Our Website?

We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our Website nor the information or content contained therein. Links to other websites are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that may be useful to the users of our Website.

13. Changes to The Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes that we make will become effective when we post a modified version of the Policy on our Website. If the changes made are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice when required by applicable laws. By visiting our Website, purchasing a product, and/or using services after the modified version of the Privacy Policy has been posted or you have been informed of such update, you are accepting the changes to the Privacy Policy. It is your obligation to ensure that you read, understand and agree to the latest version of the Privacy Policy. The “Effective Date” at the top of the Privacy Policy indicates when it was last updated. If significant changes are expected to occur in our Privacy Policy, when applicable, we will notify students in advance and provide a mechanism to opt in or out of these changes.

14. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding our data collection and data protection practices or this Privacy Policy, or those of our service providers, or if you have a complaint in connection with matters relating to this Privacy Policy, you can contact our Privacy Officer as follows:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (855) 280-3980

Mail:
Triumph Higher Education Corporation
Attn: Privacy Officer, Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts
150 North Martingale Rd., Suite 300
Schaumburg, IL U.S.A. 60173