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College Board Terms of Service for CSS Profile® and IDOC (Consumer)


  1. You are permitted to access and use the features and functionality of INSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTATION SERVICE ("IDOC") or CSS PROFILE® ("CSS Profile") solely to provide financial information or documentation to an institution or scholarship program seeking to process your application for financial aid and solely in accordance with the user information provided online and by your institution or scholarship program(s) ("Permitted Use"). "You" or "you" means a student or their parent(s) or other legal guardian(s).
  2. By clicking the "Agree" button (CSS Profile) or the acceptance box (IDOC), You agree that you have read and understand these Terms of Service and that your use of the service conforms to them. If You do not agree to these Terms of Service, DO NOT click on the "Agree" button (CSS Profile) or the acceptance box (IDOC) and You will not be able to proceed to use the websites for the service(s).You understand that College Board is not granting to You any license or sublicense to IDOC or CSS Profile , and that You are granted only limited rights of online access to use the features and functionality of these services.
  3. You understand that your application or information provided to an institution or scholarship program(s) via IDOC or CSS Profile does not provide or automatically generate a final determination, or actual award, of financial assistance. College Board has no responsibility or liability in connection with any financial assistance or award that You may or may not receive.
  4. College Board will only share the information You provide in CSS Profile with the institutions or scholarship program(s) that You select.  The institutions You select will receive the information from your application they requested. Not all institutions request all information. When you use a CSS Profile Fee Waiver to complete your CSS Profile, College Board will advise the institution or scholarship program(s) receiving your information that You have used a CSS Profile Fee Waiver. If an institution or scholarship program has provided You with a payment code to use for the CSS Profile fee, the institution or scholarship program(s) that gave You the payment code will know whether You used it to send your information to that institution or scholarship program. Some institutions may elect to not receive certain documents via IDOC. If You have uploaded a document that the institution has selected not to receive, that institution will not receive the document via IDOC.
  5. College Board will have no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or damage which may be incurred by You, your parents or legal guardians as a result of:
    1. Invalid or insufficient data that You, your parents or legal guardians enter or upload; or
    2. Any course of action taken by You, your parents or legal guardians in reliance on your estimated financial assistance; or
    3. Any deadlines set by an institution which You, your parents or legal guardians miss; or
    4. Any communications from your institution or generated by IDOC or CSS Profile that You, your parents or legal guardians delete, do not respond to or otherwise fail to adhere to the instructions provided; or
    5. Your use of the IDOC or CSS Profile services other than in accordance with the Permitted Use.
  6. You agree not to allow any person to use your account (other than an agent acting on your behalf) to access any features of the services that may require registration. College Board retains the right to deny access to anyone who we believe has violated these Terms of Service.

    You shall not use the service, allow others to use the services, or knowingly condone use of the services by others, in any manner that attempts to, or is likely to gain unauthorized access to the services, other users' accounts, names, passwords, and user information.
  7. When You begin your CSS Profile application You will be asked to include your preferred first name. Your preferred first name will then be used throughout the application, will be seen by anyone who logs into your CSS Profile application such as your parent(s) or legal guardian(s), will be shared with any institutions that receive your profile application, and will be used in future CSS Profile communications. Do not share your preferred first name with us if You do not want this information to be shared with institutions, or visible in the CSS Profile application.
  8. You will access IDOC and CSS Profile through a College Board website. You understand that there is a risk of interruption to websites. You understand that College Board accepts no responsibility for security of information transmitted over the Internet. College Board engages third parties (“Service Provider(s)”) to assist in processing CSS Profile and IDOC applications. The Service Providers, including FolderWave, Inc., Recordsforce, Inc., Microsoft Azure, DocuSign Inc., Cerburus FTP Server, FIS Worldpay, Twilio SendGrid, ContactUS and Alorica Inc., are engaged for the sole purpose of providing the following services:
    1. FolderWave, Inc. develops and maintains the system which collects documentation and information from applicants and their families relevant to financial aid need analysis, and then makes such information available to the applicant-designated institution on a secure website and via secure data transfer.
    2. Recordsforce, Inc. provides document processing services including the scanning and keying of paper documents and electronically uploaded documentation provided via the IDOC consumer interface.
    3. Microsoft Azure is a sub-contractor of FolderWave, Inc. that provides hosting services for the system.
    4. Cerberus FTP Server is a sub-contractor of FolderWave, Inc. that allows for a secure transfer of data to institutions and programs.
    5. Twilio SendGrid is a sub-contractor of FolderWave, Inc. that allows email communication to applicants, institutions and programs.
    6. FIS Worldpay is a company that College Board uses to process your credit card payments.
    7. DocuSign Inc. allows IDOC users to fill out certain required forms online and apply an e-Signature to the form.
    8. Alorica Inc. And ContactUS provide College Board with customer support services.
  9. You understand that all title and proprietary rights in and to IDOC and CSS Profile are owned by College Board, including copyright, trade secrets and trademarks. Other than solely in connection with the Permitted Use, You are prohibited from copying, disseminating, publishing, displaying or distributing in any form, or reproducing the content in whole or in part. You also agree that You will not, and will not encourage anyone else to: copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code, data layouts, algorithms and/or formulas of, decrypt, modify, or create derivative works of the IDOC or CSS Profile systems, system updates or any part.
  10. College Board may use data and information you provide in CSS Profile or IDOC to maintain, develop, support, improve, and diagnose CSS PROFILE and IDOC.
  11. GENERAL DISCLAIMER. COLLEGE BOARD AND ITS AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING COLLEGE BOARD SERVICES INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THAT USING CSS PROFILE OR IDOC WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OR PROVIDE YOUR DESIRED RESULT. YOU ACCEPT COLLEGE BOARD SERVICES AS IS.
  12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT FINALLY DETERMINED TO BE PROHIBITED BY LAW, COLLEGE BOARD’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU, YOUR PARENTS OR LEGAL GUARDIANS OR ANYONE CLAIMING BY OR THROUGH YOU OR ON YOUR BEHALF, FOR ANY CLAIMS, LOSSES, COSTS, OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RESULTING FROM OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO COLLEGE BOARD OR COLLEGE BOARD SERVICES, FROM ANY CAUSE, SHALL NOT EXCEED $100.00. IN ADDITION, COLLEGE BOARD WILL NOT BE LIABLE IN ANY EVENT FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, OR SPECIAL DAMAGES.
  13. Other than disputes involving infringement of College Board's intellectual property rights, all disputes against College Board and/or any or all of its contractors, that relate in any way to CSS Profile or IDOC, shall exclusively be resolved by a single arbitrator through binding, individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), under the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect at the time a request for arbitration is filed with the AAA. Copies of the AAA Rules can be located at adr.org. Unless the parties mutually agree otherwise, the seat and the place of the arbitration shall be New York, New York. The parties agree that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. governs this provision, and it is the intent of the parties that the FAA shall pre-empt all State laws to the fullest extent permitted by law. No arbitration may be maintained as a class action, and the arbitrator shall not have the authority to combine or aggregate the disputes of more than one individual, conduct any class proceeding, make any class award, or make an award to any person or entity not a party to the arbitration, without the express written consent of College Board. By agreeing to arbitration in accordance with this section, You, your parents and legal guardians are waiving your rights to have your dispute heard by a judge or jury. Each party will be responsible for its own fees and expenses incurred in connection with the arbitration, regardless of its outcome. For purposes of this provision, each College Board contractor is a third-party beneficiary of this section, is entitled to the rights and benefits hereunder, and may enforce the provisions hereof as if it were a party hereto.
  14. IDOC or CSS Profile services may be taken down periodically for scheduled maintenance and technical fixes.
  15. For Users outside the United States: IDOC and CSS Profile operate on a software as a service platform that is located in the United States. Therefore, your information will be transferred from your location to the United States. When You furnish information to College Board's IDOC or CSS Profile services, You are consenting to a cross-border transfer of that information. You agree to comply with all local rules regarding online conduct and acceptable content. Specifically, you agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of data or information exported from the United States or the country in which you reside. If You choose not to provide your information, please notify the institution(s) requesting your information.
  16. You agree and understand that College Board's Terms of Service located at Legal Terms for Students - College Board Privacy Center also apply to your use of IDOC and CSS Profile.
  17. You agree You will not use services designed by external parties to allow automated, manual or other means to obtain, harvest or aggregate any data, software, code or other content from CSS Profile and/or IDOC including, without limitation –
    1. Manual or automated software, devices, scripts robots, other means or processes to access, "scrape", "crawl" or "spider" the Services or any related data or information
    2. Bots or other automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages
    College Board reserves the right to monitor and/or restrict such services if we believe that they have been used to access our site. You further acknowledge and agree that College Board shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with your use of or reliance on any such services available on or through any such site or resource.