Last updated: October 7, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how 4Thought101, Inc. ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use 4Thought101 (the "Service"). We do not sell your personal information.
We do not use third-party analytics, and we do not track the pages you view or the features you use for advertising or profiling.
Because we do not track you across other websites, there is no cross-site tracking to opt out of. Where the law treats Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track browser signals as an opt-out request, we honor them; since we do not sell or share personal information, these signals do not change how we handle your data.
When you use AI-assisted features, such as the chat assistant, we send relevant information from your account to our AI provider, Anthropic, so it can respond in context. This can include the planning data you have entered: your applications, tasks, requirements, scholarships and notes; athlete recruiting records, including offers; your academic record, such as GPA, test scores, class rank, courses and activities; and your Explore preferences. In a parent's view, the student's first name is included. For a student under 18 on a parent-managed account, the assistant is told the student is under 18. The full list of fields is on our AI Transparency page. Anthropic processes this data as our subprocessor. Its commercial terms say it does not use this data to train its models and deletes it within 30 days, or keeps it for up to 2 years if its own safety systems flag a request. Social Security, card and bank numbers typed into the chat are removed before anything is sent.
The chat assistant is for planning and is not a crisis service. No one at 4Thought101 reads or reviews your chats, and we do not alert parents, schools or anyone else about what is said in them. If you or someone else may be in danger, call or text 988, or call 911.
Help, our assistant for questions about using 4Thought101, is available on every plan. It sends Anthropic only your question, the earlier messages in that Help conversation, and your account's role and plan. It never sends your planning data. The scholarship link reader sends Anthropic the text of the public web page you paste, and nothing from your account.
We share information with service providers that help us operate the Service, and only as needed for them to do their job. These include providers of:
These providers may only use your information to perform services for us and are bound by confidentiality obligations. We may update the providers we use from time to time as our infrastructure evolves. The types of providers we use, and what each receives, are described at 4thought101.com/subprocessors. Your browser also loads maps and campus photos directly from outside services, which see your IP address but none of your account data. That page lists them too.
We may also share information when required by law, to protect rights and safety, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets (in which case we will notify you).
We do not sell your personal information, we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not share it with colleges, scholarship providers, or recruiters.
If a parent or guardian is linked to a student account using a parent code, that person can see, but not change, the student's planning records through a family view. Creating that link is a choice. A student who manages their own account can remove a link at any time in Settings. When a parent or guardian created the account for a student under 18, that adult manages it until the student turns 18.
We keep your information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal, security, or fraud-prevention purposes.
Some records have shorter limits, applied automatically every day. Security and error logs and the history of changes to your profile are deleted after 12 months.
Accounts with no sign-in activity from the student or a linked parent for 24 months are considered dormant. We send a warning to the account email and any linked parent, and if there is still no activity 60 days later, we delete the account and its data as described above. Accounts with an active paid subscription are never treated as dormant.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
To exercise these rights, email support@4thought101.com. We will respond within 30 days. Before acting on a request, we may take reasonable steps to verify your identity, such as confirming the request comes from the email address on your account. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.
For a supervised account, one created and controlled by a parent or legal guardian for a student under 18, the parent or guardian may exercise these rights on the student's behalf, including access, correction, and deletion. We verify these requests against the account relationship, meaning the active parent link on the account, rather than by collecting additional identity documents.
The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us information, email us and we will delete it.
Students aged 13 to 17 use the Service through a supervised account. A parent or legal guardian creates and controls the account, agrees to our Terms of Service on the student's behalf, and consents to the collection of the student's information as described in this policy. The student receives their own supervised login, and the parent or guardian can view the information in the account for as long as it remains supervised. We do not collect or store birthdates; when setting up the account, the parent or guardian confirms that the student is at least 13. When the student turns 18, they can take control of the account by confirming their age and accepting the Terms as themselves. If an adult enters information about a minor in their care, the adult is responsible for ensuring they have the right to share that information with us. A supervised student can use the chat assistant, which is told the student is under 18 and to send money decisions and big commitments back to a parent or school counselor.
We use technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information, including encryption, access controls, and optional two-step sign-in. No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you, and the parent or guardian who controls a supervised account, as the law requires. To report a security concern, email support@4thought101.com.
We offer the Service only in the United States, and we store and process your information in the United States. If you use the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.
If a school or school district contracts with us to offer 4Thought101, we handle student data provided under that contract as a "school official" under FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), acting under the school's direction and subject to a signed student data privacy agreement. In that case, the agreement with the school controls how that data is used, and the school owns it. Consistent with the rest of this policy, school-provided student data is never sold and is never used for advertising or profiling. Schools and districts can reach us at support@4thought101.com.
The Service may contain links to external websites, such as college and scholarship pages you choose to track. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their practices.
We may update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, notify you through the Service or by email.
Questions or requests? Email support@4thought101.com.