Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice

Last updated February 17, 2023.

Welcome to usnews.com, which is published by U.S. News & World Report, L.P. (“U.S. News”). This Privacy Policy applies to www.usnews.com, our paid content, and any other of our or our affiliates’ websites, emails, digital services or mobile or other applications on which a link to this Privacy Policy appears (collectively, the “U.S. News Services” and include without limitation collegeadvisor.com, which is operated by USN College Advisor, Inc.), all of which U.S. News Services are provided by U.S. News or one of its affiliates at any time and from time to time in its sole discretion. (As used in this Privacy Policy, “U.S. News” includes any affiliates of U.S. News that operate a U.S. News Service and include without limitation USN College Advisor, Inc.) U.S. News may change, suspend or discontinue any or all of the U.S. News Services at any time. U.S. News does not control and is not responsible for, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to, any third-party site to which the U.S. News Services link or that links to any U.S. News Services.

You agree that your use of the U.S. News Services is subject to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy in its entirety, please do not use any U.S. News Services. This Privacy Policy may be modified at any time and from time to time; the date of the most recent changes or revisions will appear on this page. Continued access to the U.S. News Services by you will constitute your acceptance of any changes or revisions to this Privacy Policy.

If you are a resident of California, please see the separate U.S. News California Privacy Notice for additional information applicable to California residents.

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom or Switzerland, please see the “Users in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom and Switzerland” section of this Privacy Policy.

Information Collected by U.S. News

U.S. News collects information from you through means that include but are not limited to:

• Account registrations
• Subscriptions to email newsletters
• Event registrations
• Sweepstakes entries
• Saved pages, such as articles, cars and hotels
• Your use of certain tools on the U.S. News Services, such as the “My Fit” tool in our Education section
• Forms on the U.S. News Services that you complete requesting information or services from U.S. News or third parties

Information we (and third parties we feature on the U.S. News Services) may collect from you may include personally identifiable information including but not limited to your:

• Name
• Telephone number
• Postal address
• Email address
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Job title
• Employer and industry
• Personal preferences
• Credit card number, which U.S. News passes to third-party credit card processors and card issuers; U.S. News does not store any credit card numbers (see “How We Use and Share Information Collected from Users” below)

U.S. News may also collect information that does not identify you by name when you visit the U.S. News Services, including but not limited to:

• Your internet protocol (“IP”) address
• Geolocation
• Browser configuration
• Device type
• Unique device identifier
• Type of operating system you are using
• Information about your Internet service provider
• Time of your visit
• Whether you are a returning visitor
• Any referring website

You can register for or log into your account on certain U.S. News Services through Facebook, Google or Apple. If you choose to do so, we will have access to some of your account information from that service, such as your name, email address and other information in that account, as authorized by that service.  You authorize us to collect, store and use any such information available to us from that service in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  You have the ability to disable the connection between the U.S. News Service and your Facebook, Google or Apple account at any time.  U.S. News does not share any information about your use of the U.S. News Services with Facebook, Google or Apple.  U.S. News, and not Facebook, Google or Apple, is responsible for the U.S. News Services and the content contained therein.

U.S. News may also collect information about you from publicly and commercially available sources, as permitted by law, which we may combine with other information we receive from or about you.

How We Use and Share Information Collected from Users

We, our affiliates or our service providers may use the information you supply to fulfill your requests for products and services, to respond to your inquiries, and to offer other products and services from either us or third parties which may be of interest.

Some sections of the U.S. News services permit users to submit reviews, questions, answers to questions submitted, comments or other content for publication on the U.S. News Services (“User Comments”).  If you choose to submit User Comments, we may publish your name, screen name or such other information that you provide.  You may receive an email from us when other users respond to or interact with your User Comments.  (See “How to Unsubscribe from Email” below.)  Please keep in mind before you submit any User Comments that your User Comments as well as any personal information you provide may be available to the public in perpetuity and may appear in third-party search engine results.  We do not remove User Comments at the writer’s request.

If you register to attend one of our live events or webinars, we may share your personal information, including your name, email address, job title, employer, and mailing address, with third parties including the sponsors of such event or webinar.

Certain outside companies, institutions or organizations offer promotions or services on the U.S. News Services.  U.S. News may earn a commission from any products or services you purchase from such entities.  If you are interested in such promotions or services, you may be asked to share personal information to be able to receive more information about the promotion or service.  In some cases, U.S. News will collect personal information from you and provide it to such outside entity at your direction (who may share it with its business partners).  In other cases, such outside entity will collect personal information from you directly and may share it with U.S. News, in which case U.S. News may use your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy as though you had provided it directly to U.S. News.  The personal information requested from you for such promotions and services will generally include your name, telephone number, postal address and email address and other information related to the specific promotion or service offered and will be subject to the outside entity’s privacy policy as well as this Privacy Policy.  U.S. News is not responsible for the privacy practices of such outside entities.  If you do not wish to receive further communications from them, you will need to so notify such outside entities.

If you make a purchase on any U.S. News Service, we may collect your credit card information to process your payment for the product or service you are requesting. During the ordering process, such credit card information is transmitted either to U.S. News or to the particular supplier or service provider who provides the service you are purchasing. In both cases, credit card information is immediately transmitted to third-party credit card processors and card issuers that use your information to process your order. U.S. News does not store any credit card numbers.

We offer various tools for users of certain of our Education pages and our Education app that allow you to save and compare schools and to assess their suitability to your needs based on personalized criteria you provide.  We may use information you provide through these tools and your navigation on our Education pages and in our Education app to infer which K-12 schools, colleges, universities, online or graduate programs you may be interested in, and we may share your personal information with them or their third party representatives. 

From time to time, the U.S. News Services may conduct research surveys on behalf of itself through email invitations, online pop-up surveys or focus groups.  When participating in a survey, U.S. News may require you to provide your email address, age, gender, household income, demographic and other data.  The information you submit through a survey or focus group may be used by the U.S. News Services for research and measurement purposes, including to measure the effectiveness of content, advertising or programs, and otherwise in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

If you enter into any sweepstakes we offer, you must agree to the rules of such sweepstakes, which may require you to allow the sweepstakes sponsor to use your name, voice and likeness for promotional purposes in connection with the sweepstakes.  We may use your personal information provided in your sweepstakes entry in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  Your sweepstakes entry information will be shared with the sweepstakes sponsor, who may use it for marketing purposes in accordance with its own privacy policy, and with the sweepstakes administrator for purposes of administering the sweepstakes.  If you are a sweepstakes winner, your name may be disclosed on a winners list and as required by law.

We may use information we collect from and about you to facilitate the delivery of interest-based advertising to you on the U.S. News Services and on third-party websites on behalf of U.S. News or third-party advertisers. See “Use of Cookies” below.

When you use the U.S. News Services, we may share information that we collect from you, such as your email (in hashed form), IP address, or information about your browser or operating system, with our service providers. These service providers return an online identification code that we may store in our first-party cookie for our use in online, in-app, and cross-channel advertising and it may be shared with advertising companies to enable interest-based and targeted advertising. To opt-out of this use, please visit Digital Advertising Alliance’s Your AdChoices.

We sometimes use information that we or our service providers collect through our use of cookies and other tracking technologies to manage and optimize the U.S. News Services, including to improve the design, delivery and content of the U.S. News Services and to enable us to personalize your user experience. We may also use the information we collect in the aggregate to analyze how visitors use the U.S. News Services or for other purposes, and we may share such aggregated data with third parties. See “Use of Cookies” below.  Google Analytics is one of the analytics providers we use.  You can read about how Google uses information from the U.S. News Services, and you can prevent Google’s use of your data by installing this Google Analytics Opt-out Browser plugin.

In addition, U.S. News may disclose information we maintain (A) if in good faith we believe that such disclosure is necessary to (1) comply with the law or legal process; (2) protect and defend our rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the U.S. News Services; or (4) protect the personal safety, property, or rights of our users or the public, or (B) in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, in which case we will transfer such information to the buyer or successor entity in any such corporate transaction.

We will retain your personal information for as long as legally necessary or permitted so we can provide you with the products and services you have requested and to communicate with you as per your preferences.  Please note that we may convert, or permit others to convert, your personally identifiable information into deidentified data or aggregate consumer information, in which case it will no longer be considered your personally identifiable information.

Data Security

We use commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect the information we collect online.  Personal information is transferred via secured protocols and stored in an encrypted location with controlled access. Please note that since no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is completely secure, we are unable to guarantee security of your information.

Links to Third-Party Sites

The U.S. News Services may link to third-party websites and services that are outside of our control. U.S. News is not responsible for the privacy or security of any information collected by such third-party websites or services. You should review the privacy policies applicable to any such third-party websites or services that you use.

We use Google Maps API on our content products including but not limited to our Best Cars product.  The use of Google Maps features and content is subject to (1) Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service at https://maps.google.com/help/terms_maps.html; and (2) Google Privacy Policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

How to Unsubscribe from Email

If you decide that you do not wish to receive email communications from U.S. News and others, you may opt-out of receiving further commercial emails and other communications by clicking “Unsubscribe” or “Manage my email preferences” in any email.  Please note that even if you opt-out of receiving further commercial emails, you may still receive transactional emails.

Use of Cookies

U.S. News and some advertisers, service providers and other third parties that help manage and optimize the U.S. News Services may place cookies on your computer or mobile device in connection with your use of the U.S. News Services.

“Cookies” are pieces of information that are placed in a storage place on your computer or mobile device when you visit the U.S. News Services. Cookies recognize your web browser; they do not contain information that is, in itself, personally identifying unless you have specifically provided such information. While you can disable cookies (follow your web browser’s instructions to do so), it may interfere with the proper functioning of the U.S. News Services. Because an industry-standard Do-Not-Track protocol has not yet been established, we currently do not recognize any browser signals as “do not track” or “do not sell” requests. However, you may refuse through your web browser to accept cookies in order to prevent tracking activities. Please note that your web browser may not permit you to block the use of non-cookie tracking technologies, and those browser settings that block cookies may have no effect on such techniques.

Cookies and other tracking technologies are placed on your computer or mobile device to improve the design, delivery and content of the U.S. News Services and to enable us to personalize your user experience. Cookies help deliver and measure the effectiveness of advertisements, calculate unique site visitors, track usage throughout our site, and make the login process more convenient for the U.S. News Services that use logins. If you have provided your email address for any U.S. News Services (for instance, when registering to use the U.S. News Services, subscribing to a newsletter or alert, entering a sweepstakes, or engaging in other actions where you provide your email address), we will track your usage of the U.S. News Services across different devices you use in order to provide you a more personalized experience on the U.S. News Services and for purposes of site analytics and interest-based advertising.

Advertisers and service providers may use cookies and other tracking technologies to recognize your computer or device and/or to collect and record information about your visits to the U.S. News Services and other websites, so that they can facilitate feature functionality, measure the effectiveness of ads, track page usage and paths followed during visits, and provide interest-based advertisements to you. These companies may provide this data to us. We do not have access to or control over these advertisers’ or service providers’ use of cookies or other tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about certain kinds of online interest-based advertising, please visit National Advertising Initiative Consumer Opt Out, Digital Advertising Alliance Your AdChoices, or AdChoices for your mobile device.  U.S. News does not provide any assurances that these third-party tools, programs or statements are complete or accurate.

We also contract with certain third parties to help manage and optimize the U.S. News Services who may also use cookies or other tracking technologies to collect information about your use of the U.S. News Services. Some of the things this information is used for include delivering advertisements, measuring the effectiveness of advertisements, and learning how visitors use the U.S. News Services. For more information about such third parties, see “Cookies on the U.S. News Services” below.

Information for Users in Europe and Elsewhere Outside of the United States

If you use the U.S. News Services outside of the United States, you understand that U.S. News may collect, process, and store your personal information in the United States and other countries. The laws in the U.S. regarding personal information may be different from the laws of your state or country. Any transfers of personal information will comply with safeguards as required by relevant law. If applicable, you may have a right to claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of relevant data protection laws.

Users in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom and Switzerland

If you are a resident of the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the following information applies with respect to personal data collected through your use of the U.S. News Services.

Purposes of processing and legal basis for processing

As explained above, U.S. News processes personal data in various ways depending upon your use of the U.S. News Services. We process personal data on the following legal bases: (1) with your consent; (2) as necessary to perform our agreement to provide the U.S. News Services; and (3) as necessary for our legitimate interests in providing the U.S. News Services where those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedom related to data privacy.

Right to lodge a complaint 

Users that reside in the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland have the right to lodge a complaint about our data collection and processing actions with the supervisory authority concerned. Contact details for data protection authorities are available here.

Withdrawing Consent

If you wish to withdraw your consent to the use of technologies such as cookies to deliver relevant advertising on the U.S. News Services and across the internet, personalize content and perform site analytics, you should disable cookies on your browser by following your web browser’s instructions. Once you do so, you will not be able to access the U.S. News Services unless you subsequently provide your consent for the use of such technologies.

Third-Party Tracking Technologies

More information about third-party tracking technologies on the U.S. News Services, including the ability to opt out, is available in the “Cookies on the U.S. News Services” section below.

Transfers

Personal information we collect may be transferred to, and stored and processed in, the United States or any other country in which we or our affiliates or subcontractors maintain facilities. U.S. News will ensure that transfers of personal information to a non-EEA country or an international organization are subject to appropriate safeguards.

Your Rights

You may be entitled to certain rights under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the UK Data Protection Act 2018 or the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection with respect to the processing of your personal data, which include the right to access and rectify your personal data and to request erasure of your personal data. To exercise these rights, contact [email protected].

Children Under Age 13 (16 in EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland)

No one under the age of 13 should provide any personally identifiable information to U.S. News. U.S. News does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 without verified parental consent. In the event that we learn that we have collected such information from a child under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete this information from our database as quickly as possible. If you believe the U.S. News Services have collected any personally identifiable information about anyone under 13, please contact us at [email protected]. For residents of the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the provisions of this paragraph apply to children under the age of 16.

Nevada Residents

Users of the U.S. News Services who are Nevada consumers have the right to submit a verified request that the U.S. News Services do not sell such Nevada consumer’s covered information. Such right is further described, and the terms are defined, in Nevada Revised Statutes 603A (the “Nevada Internet Privacy Law”). The U.S. News Services do not currently sell any covered information as defined in the Nevada Internet Privacy Law. Nevada consumers may register an email address to which identity verification instructions will be delivered if the U.S. News Services begin selling covered information, as defined by the Nevada Internet Privacy Law, in the future. Any Nevada consumer who wishes to so register should send his/her email address and a request to register to [email protected] with “Nevada Do Not Sell Request” in the subject line and the message of the email. Should a Nevada consumer’s registered email address subsequently change, such Nevada consumer must contact [email protected] to inform the U.S. News Services of such change (specifying the Nevada consumer’s old and new email addresses), as the U.S. News Services will not search any other records in the event a registered email address is no longer valid.

Cookies on the U.S. News Services

U.S. News relies on third parties to provide many features of the U.S. News Services. Some of them use data about your use of the U.S. News Services and other sites. Below is a list of third parties with links to more information about their use of your data.

Site Operations

These cookies enable features that are necessary for providing the U.S. News Services to you, such as loading required scripts, serving video content, or providing email signup services.

Site Analytics

These cookies allow us to understand how the U.S. News Services are being used, track site performance and make improvements.

Advertising

These cookies are to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from repeatedly appearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

Social Media

These cookies enable the sharing of content from the U.S. News Services through social networking and other sites.

How to Contact Us

If you have questions about our Privacy Policy, you may contact us at:

Attention: Copyright Agent
U.S. News & World Report L.P.
129 W. 29^th Street, 11^th Floor
New York, NY 10001
(t) 212.210.6390
[email protected]