Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all users who visit, browse, submit inquiries on, or otherwise interact with the OnlineDegrees website and its associated counseling services. It covers:

• Personal data collected via our inquiry forms, contact forms, and newsletter subscriptions.
• Behavioural data collected automatically through standard web analytics tools.
• Communications between users and our academic advisory team via phone or email.

This Policy does not apply to third-party websites or university portals linked from our Platform. Those platforms maintain their own independent privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.

We collect two categories of personal data: information you provide directly, and information collected automatically when you use our Platform.

We do not collect sensitive personal data such as Aadhaar numbers, financial account details, health information, or biometric data. We do not require you to create an account to use our Platform.

We collect data through the following methods:

• Inquiry Form: When you submit an academic counseling request, we collect your name, phone, email, city, budget preference, and preferred course.
• Contact Us Form: When you send a message to our team, we collect your name, email, phone, preferred course, and message content.
• Newsletter Subscription: When you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address only.
• Automated Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies to collect technical and usage data when you browse our Platform. See Section 8 for more detail.
• Phone Calls: If you call or are contacted by our counseling team, notes from that conversation may be retained for service quality purposes.

We use your personal data only for the purposes described below. We rely on your consent (provided when you submit a form) and our legitimate interest in delivering academic counseling services.

1. To respond to your academic counseling inquiry and recommend suitable online universities based on your preferences.
2. To follow up on your inquiry via phone call or email within a reasonable timeframe.
3. To send you newsletter updates on admission deadlines, scholarship announcements, and regulatory changes, if you subscribed.
4. To improve our Platform by analysing aggregated, anonymised usage patterns — helping us refine the comparison tool, blog content, and university listings.
5. To comply with applicable legal obligations or to respond to lawful requests from regulatory authorities.

OnlineDegrees does not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party. We may share limited personal information only in the following specific circumstances:

• Partner Universities: With your consent (implied by submitting an inquiry), we may share your name, phone number, and course preference with a relevant partner university to facilitate your counseling request. We require partner universities to handle this data with equivalent confidentiality.
• Technology Service Providers: We use trusted third-party services for email delivery, analytics, and website hosting. These providers access data solely to perform services on our behalf and are bound by confidentiality agreements.
• Legal Compliance: We may disclose your data if required by a court order, government authority, or applicable Indian law. We will notify you of such requests where legally permissible.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• Encrypted data transmission via HTTPS/TLS across all Platform pages.
• Restricted access to personal data — only authorised counseling and administrative staff can access submitted inquiries.
• Regular security reviews of our Platform infrastructure.
• Secure storage of submitted form data with access control and audit logging.

While we implement industry-standard security practices, no method of data transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We encourage you to use a private network when submitting personal information and to contact us immediately if you suspect any unauthorized access to your data.

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with legal obligations:

• Inquiry & Contact Data: Retained for up to 12 months from the date of submission to support ongoing counseling follow-ups. After this period, it is securely deleted or anonymised.
• Newsletter Subscriber Email: Retained until you unsubscribe from the newsletter list.
• Analytics / Usage Data: Retained in aggregated, anonymised form for up to 24 months for Platform improvement analysis.
• Legal Compliance Records: Retained for as long as required by applicable Indian law.

Our Platform uses cookies and similar technologies to provide a better user experience and to understand how visitors use the site. The cookies we use are:

• Essential Cookies: Required for basic site functionality such as remembering your comparison selections within a session. These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics Cookies: Used to understand aggregate usage patterns (e.g., most visited pages, filter selections). These are anonymised and do not identify individual users.
• Preference Cookies: Used to remember user interface preferences to improve your next visit.

We do not use cookies for advertising, behavioural targeting, or cross-site tracking. We do not use third-party advertising networks on our Platform.

Most browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. Disabling analytics cookies will not affect your ability to use the core Platform features. To opt out of Google Analytics tracking (if applicable), you can use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

As a user of OnlineDegrees, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data. To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Grievance Officer (Section 13).

We will respond to all rights requests within 30 calendar days. Requests may be subject to identity verification. There is no fee for exercising your rights.

OnlineDegrees is primarily intended for prospective students aged 17 and above exploring higher education options. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 13 years.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child under 13 has submitted personal information through our Platform, please contact us immediately at support@onlinedegrees.com. We will promptly delete such information from our records.

Users between 13 and 17 years of age should use the Platform under the guidance of a parent or guardian, and the parent/guardian consents to the processing of the minor's data by accepting this Privacy Policy on their behalf.

Our Platform contains links to university websites, accreditation body portals (UGC-DEB, AICTE, NAAC), and external reference sources. These external sites are not operated by OnlineDegrees and are governed by their own privacy policies.

Our Platform may also embed fonts from Google Fonts. This service may collect standard technical data such as your IP address as part of its delivery infrastructure. Please refer to Google's Privacy Policy for more information.

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our data practices, legal requirements, or Platform features. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this document will be revised accordingly.

For significant changes that materially affect how we use your data, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you through a prominent notice on the Platform or, where we hold your email address, via direct notification. We recommend bookmarking this page and checking it periodically.

Your continued use of the Platform after a policy update constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

In compliance with applicable Indian data protection regulations, we have appointed a Grievance Officer to address privacy-related concerns, data requests, and complaints from users.

• Name: Privacy Grievance Officer, OnlineDegrees
• Email: support@onlinedegrees.com
• Phone: 6375079973 (Mon–Sat, 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM IST)
• Response Time: We acknowledge all privacy grievances within 7 business days and aim to resolve them within 30 days.

If you believe your privacy rights have not been adequately addressed by us, you may also contact the relevant data protection authority under applicable Indian law.