Privacy Policy

Effective Date: July 8, 2026

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how Wingate University ("Wingate University,” “we,” or “us”) collects, uses, and discloses information that can be used, directly or indirectly, to identify you (“Personal Information”). This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information that we collect online and offline when you visit our website (the “website”).

Categories of Personal Information We Collect

Information You Provide to Us

We collect Personal Information that you provide directly to us, including the following:

Identifiers and Other Contact Information: We may collect certain identifiers from you, such as your name, address, email address, social media handles, and phone number.
Demographic information: gender, photography, religious affiliation, and ethnicity (such information is only collected with your consent or as required by applicable law).
Student applicant information: Personal Information collected as part of the application process (such information includes the information listed in this section).
Payment information: credit card or bank account information processed by our third-party service providers.
Student information: degrees, majors, sports participation, awards, transcripts, clubs and activities.
Family information: spouse/partner names, children's names and birth dates, and familial relationships.
Financial aid information: financial information used to provide financial aid to students (including social security number and financial data).
Alumni information: event attendance, volunteer interests, organization affiliations, committee participation, awards and honors.
Donor information: giving information regarding any donation which is made, including wealth assessment information and indicators of interest in giving.

In addition to the information listed above, the University may also collect, use, store, and transfer student education records. These records are subject to the University's FERPA Policy and the University follows FERPA regulations with regard to data sharing.

We may also collect certain health and medical information, including medical history. The Student Health and Counseling Center requires that you provide your immunization history to confirm that you have received the vaccinations required for enrollment at Wingate. You are encouraged to provide additional health information that can assist the Student Health and Counseling Center to address your health needs. Further, a student with a disability has the right to request academic and non-academic accommodations ensuring equal access to courses, course content, programs, services, and facilities. Students are not required to disclose their disability status; however, if they are seeking accommodations relative to their disability, they are responsible for making a written request to the Office of Disability Support Services and providing the appropriate current documentation. This health and medical information is kept strictly confidential and is not disclosed without your written consent, except where required by applicable law or in other lawful circumstances.

Information We Collect Automatically

We automatically collect certain Personal Information about your interactions with us on our website, including:

Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity Information: We collect information about your activity on our websites, such as your browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interaction with our website.
Device and Usage Information: We collect information about how you access our websites, including data about the device and network you use, such as your hardware model, operating system version, mobile network, IP address, unique device identifiers, and browser type. We also collect information about your activity on our websites, such as access times, pages viewed, links clicked, and the page you visited before navigating to our websites.
Information Collected by Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: We use tracking technologies, such as cookies and web beacons, to collect information about you. For more information about our use of cookies, see the Cookies and Similar Technologies section below.

Information We Collect from Other Sources

We obtain some of the Personal Information described above from other sources. For example, we may collect Personal Information from affiliates, analytics providers, and other third-party information providers.

Purpose and Use of Personal Information

We use your Personal Information for a number of legitimate purposes, all in support of Wingate University and its mission. We use your information to:

Keep you updated with information about Wingate University;
Conduct business dealings with our partners, service providers, contractors and processors;
Process your application to Wingate University;
Provide alumni and student services;
Enable the Student Health and Counseling Center to provide you with medical services;
Process purchases you make at Wingate University;
Provide financial aid packages and services;
Process information that you send us through our online forms;
Communicate with you about Wingate University;
Fundraise for Wingate University;
Conduct philanthropic preference research to inform our fundraising strategy and target our communications;
Provide, maintain, and improve our website;
Monitor and analyze trends, usage and activities in connection with our websites;
Send you information about events and volunteer activities;
Detect, investigate, and prevent security incidents and other malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity;
Protect the rights and property of Wingate University and others;
Comply with our legal and financial obligations;
Carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected; and
Create and analyze aggregated (fully anonymized) information for statistical research purposes in support of our educational mission.

Disclosure of Personal Information

We disclose the categories of Personal Information described above in the following circumstances or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

Affiliates: Personal Information may be disclosed between and among Wingate University and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and other companies under common control and ownership.
Our Service Providers, Contractors and Processors: We may disclose the Personal Information described above to service providers, contractors and processors that provide services to Wingate University, such as providers of data analytics, software and IT, and cloud storage.
Disclosing to Advisors and Lawyers: We may disclose Personal Information to our lawyers and other professional advisors where necessary to obtain advice or otherwise protect and manage our business interests.
Disclosure of Personal Information During Change of Ownership: We may disclose Personal Information in connection to, or during negotiations concerning, any merger, sale of Wingate University assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.
Legal Disclosures: We may disclose Personal Information if we believe that disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law or legal process, including lawful requests by public authorities. We may also disclose Personal Information if we believe that your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, if we believe that you have violated the law, or if we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of Wingate University, our users, the public, or others.
With Your Consent: We disclose Personal Information with your consent or at your direction.

COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

In accordance with applicable law, we may use cookies, pixels, web beacons or other tracking technologies (collectively, “cookies”) on our websites. A cookie is a small amount of data that is transferred to visitors’ web browsers and/or stored on your device as you are browsing; they are processed and stored by your web browser.

We may use the following types of cookies on our website:

Cookie Type	Description
Analytics Cookies	Analytics cookies allow us to understand more about how many visitors we have to our website, how many times they visit us and how many times a user viewed specific pages within our website. Among other Analytics Cookies, we use Google Analytics Cookies for these purposes. For more information about Google Analytics, please refer to “How Google Uses Information From Sites or Apps that Use Our Services,” which can be found at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, or any other URL Google may provide from time to time.
Essential Cookies	These are cookies that our website needs in order to function, and that enable you to move around and use the website and features. Without these essential cookies, the website will not perform as smoothly for you as we would like it to and we may not be able to provide the website or certain services or features you request. Examples of where these cookies are used include: to determine when you are signed in, to determine when your account has been inactive, and for other troubleshooting and security purposes.
Advertising Cookies	Advertising cookies may be placed by us or third parties to enable third-party ad networks to recognize a unique cookie on your computer or mobile device. The information that is collected and shared by these types of cookies may also be linked to the device identifier of the device you are using to allow us to keep track of all the websites you have visited that are associated with the ad network. This information may be used for the purpose of targeting advertisements on our website and third-party sites based on those interests.

We may use the information collected through tracking technologies for several reasons, including:

To make our website easier to use.
To gather metrics about how users interact with our website.
For security reasons.

Opt-Out Preference Signals

At this time, our website is not configured to recognize opt-out preference or do-not-track signals.

California Shine the Light

If you are a California resident, California law permits you to request certain details about how your Personal Information is disclosed to third parties for third parties’ direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose your Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use commercially reasonable technical, administrative and physical security measures to protect your Personal Information, including generally accepted industry standards to protect the Personal Information submitted to us during transmission and once we receive it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is absolutely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a breach that we are required by law to inform you of, we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.

MARKETING

In certain cases, Wingate uses text messaging and mobile alerts. Our mobile platforms give you the choice to opt-in to receiving text messages on the mobile phone number(s) you have shared with us as further described below. Once you have opted-in, depending on the choices you made, we or our service providers may send you text messages (i) regarding University events; (ii) to investigate or prevent fraud; (iii) to alert you in the event of an emergency; or (iv) for transactional and promotional purposes. We may send you text messages and alerts using autodialed technology. If you opt-in, standard messaging and data rates may apply. You can always opt-out of text messages by replying STOP and can turn off push notifications through our mobile application or by adjusting the settings on your mobile device. To the extent you have opted-in to receive marketing offers and deals via text from Wingate University, Wingate University does not share information regarding this opt-in with third parties other than authorized service providers or allow others to send you text messages based on this consent.

We may send promotional email communications about Wingate University. If you receive promotional communications from us and would like them to stop, you can do so by following the directions in the relevant email.

These choices do not apply to mandatory service communications that are part of certain of our services, or to surveys or other communications that may have their own unsubscribe method. For that reason, you may still receive certain communications from us after you opt-out of receiving marketing email communications.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

Wingate is located in the United States and our websites are operated in the United States. Our websites and our services are not targeted at individuals outside the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information we collect, including Personal Information, will be transferred to, and processed, stored and used by us and other third parties outside of the country in which you reside, including in the United States. The data protection laws in the United States may differ from those in the country in which you are located. By providing Personal Information through our websites, you agree that the Personal Information will be transferred, processed, used, and stored as set forth in this policy and the laws of the United States.

Retention of Personal Information

We store Personal Information for as long as necessary to carry out the purposes for which we originally collected it and for other legitimate business purposes, including to meet our legal, regulatory, or other compliance obligations.

CHILDREN

This website is not intended for or directed at children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If you learn that your child has provided us with Personal Information without your consent and they are under the age of 13, please alert us at the contact information detailed in the Contact Us section below. We will take prompt steps to remove the Personal Information from our systems.

Links to External Websites

This website provides links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by Wingate University. Please note that these websites’ privacy policies may differ from those of this Privacy Policy, and this Privacy Policy only applies to Personal Information collected on this website. We have no control over third-party websites and are not responsible or liable for the privacy or business practices of any third-party websites linked on our website. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any website you may visit, as we are not responsible for such websites’ content and policies.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Except to the extent limited by applicable law, we reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our practices by prominently posting notice of the update on our website. Any updates will become effective after posting the updates to this Privacy Policy and apply to all Personal Information collected about you. If we make any changes to this Privacy Policy that materially impact previously collected Personal Information about you, we will, to the extent that we have your email address, notify you by email and/or obtain consent where required by applicable law.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us with the information below:

Mail: 211 East Wilson Street Wingate, NC 28174
Telephone: (704) 233-8000