This Privacy Policy explains how HSCAssociate Pty Ltd (ABN 79 700 889 961) handles personal information in connection with HSCAssociate Scholars. Contact us about privacy at info@hscassociate.com.au.
By using HSCAssociate Scholars, creating an account, applying to become a Scholar, submitting an enquiry, participating in tutoring, making a payment or accessing related services, you acknowledge this Privacy Policy.
1. Scope
This Privacy Policy applies to HSCAssociate Scholars, including marketplace, tutoring, homework, lesson-report, payment-support, parent, student, Scholar and application features.
2. Personal information definition
Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. It may include contact, identity, education, payment-related, usage and communication information.
3. Affected users
This policy applies to Students, parents, guardians, Scholars, Scholar applicants, website visitors, account holders, enquiry submitters and people who communicate with HSCAssociate about Scholars.
4. Account information
We may collect names, emails, phone numbers, authentication details, user role, linked accounts, account status, login events and related profile information.
5. Identity information
We may collect identity information from Scholars and applicants where needed for verification, safety, fraud prevention, payment onboarding, audit or compliance.
6. Scholar applications
Scholar applications may include legal name, contact details, academic results, subjects, school history, tutoring experience, location preferences, profile information, written responses and supporting documents.
7. Academic verification
We may collect, review and store academic evidence, including ATAR information, subject results, certificates or other records used to assess Scholar eligibility and profile accuracy.
8. Working With Children Check and safeguarding
We may collect Working With Children Check information, safeguarding confirmations, status changes and related records needed to assess platform access and child-safety obligations.
9. Public Scholar profiles
Scholar profile information may be displayed publicly, including name, photo, subjects, location region, teaching style, biography, results, availability indicators, capacity and other marketplace content approved for display.
10. Student information
Student information may include name, email, year level, school-related context, subject, tutoring needs, homework, platform practice, lesson participation, progress information and communications.
11. Parent and guardian information
Parent or guardian information may include name, email, relationship to Student, billing role, linked Student records, enquiry information, payment-related metadata and portal activity.
12. Tutoring relationships
We may collect relationship records that identify the Scholar, Student, Customer, subject, rate, status, start date, recurring schedule, manager, payer and acceptance state.
13. Lesson records
Lesson records may include scheduled start and end time, duration, subject, status, attendance, cancellation information, rescheduling history, homework links, report status and payment readiness.
14. Lesson reports
Lesson reports may include lesson summaries, work covered, strengths, focus areas, homework, Scholar notes, publication status and parent or student visibility information.
15. Homework and platform assignments
We may collect assigned tasks, responses, scores, marks, feedback, attempts, timestamps, stimulus exposure, question selection, completion state and related learning data.
16. Payment-related information
We may collect payment metadata, billing customer references, safe card details such as brand and last four digits, payment state, refund state, dispute state, Stripe references and authorisation records. We do not intentionally store full card numbers.
17. Manual payments
Manual payment flows may collect and process information needed to display payment due cards, calculate amounts, submit payment, update status and support refunds or disputes.
18. Automatic payments
Automatic-payment features may store consent records, relationship references, payment method references, consent timestamps, mandate-related metadata and status information needed to process future eligible lessons.
19. Enquiries and communications
We may collect enquiry messages, phone call outcomes, emails, in-platform communications, support requests and communication metadata.
20. Reviews
If reviews or feedback are available, we may collect reviewer identity, rating, text, moderation status, response records and evidence needed for review integrity.
21. Technical and usage information
We may collect device, browser, IP-derived operational metadata, pages visited, feature usage, errors, performance events, logs, security events and approximate location signals where needed to operate and protect the platform.
22. Collection methods
We collect information directly from users, through platform use, from linked Students or parents, from Scholars, from service providers, from Stripe and from records generated by platform workflows.
23. Third-party supplied information
We may receive information from payment providers, verification providers, hosting providers, analytics services, communication tools or other service providers used to operate Scholars.
24. Unsolicited information
If we receive personal information we did not request, we may keep it if reasonably necessary for a lawful platform purpose or delete, de-identify or ignore it where appropriate.
25. Purposes of collection and use
We use personal information to operate Scholars, create accounts, verify Scholars, show profiles, manage enquiries, support tutoring, assign homework, publish reports, process payments, maintain security, provide support and comply with law.
26. Marketplace matching
We may use information about subject, year level, location, availability, profile content, enquiry behaviour and platform quality to support search, filtering, ranking and matching.
27. Fraud and safety
We may use information to detect, prevent and investigate fraud, payment abuse, false lesson records, unsafe conduct, unauthorised access, harassment, academic misconduct and other platform risks.
28. AI and automated systems
Scholars may use AI-assisted or automated systems for learning support, marking assistance, classification, recommendations, summaries, fraud checks, safety checks or operational triage. These systems may be reviewed and improved over time.
29. Tutoring relationship disclosures
We may disclose relevant Student, Customer, Scholar, schedule, homework, lesson, report and payment information to the people involved in a tutoring relationship according to their role.
30. Scholar access boundaries
Scholars may access information needed for their own tutoring relationships. They must not access, copy, use or disclose student information for unrelated purposes.
31. Parent access boundaries
Parents or guardians may access information for Students they legitimately manage or are linked to. Access may include tutoring summaries, lesson reports, homework visibility, payment status and relationship details.
32. Student access boundaries
Students may access their own tutoring, homework, payment and marketplace information according to the features available to their account and any parent or guardian relationship.
33. Service providers
We may disclose information to service providers that help with hosting, databases, authentication, storage, email, payments, analytics, monitoring, security, document handling, customer support and development operations.
34. Stripe
Stripe may process payment, card, identity, connected account, payout, refund, dispute, authentication and risk information. Stripe's own terms and privacy practices may apply to its processing.
35. Legal disclosures
We may disclose information where required or authorised by law, court order, regulator request, child-safety obligation, tax obligation, payment network rule or lawful enforcement request.
36. Fraud investigations
We may disclose or review information where reasonably necessary to investigate fraudulent billing, payment disputes, chargebacks, false records, account misuse or safety concerns.
37. Business transfers
If HSCAssociate is involved in a restructure, merger, investment, sale, financing, acquisition or transfer of business assets, personal information may be disclosed or transferred subject to confidentiality and applicable law.
38. Overseas disclosures
Some service providers may process or store information outside Australia. We take reasonable steps to use providers with appropriate security and privacy commitments.
39. Direct marketing
We may send relevant updates about Scholars or HSCAssociate where permitted by law. Users may opt out of marketing communications where required.
40. Scholar marketing
Scholar public profiles and marketplace pages may be used to promote the Scholar's tutoring services through Scholars, subject to profile settings, platform controls and applicable law.
41. Cookies
We may use cookies, local storage and similar technologies for authentication, security, preferences, analytics, performance and product improvement.
42. Storage
Information may be stored in databases, file storage, logs, backups, payment systems, support systems and document stores used to operate Scholars.
43. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
44. User security
Users are responsible for keeping account credentials secure, using trusted devices where possible and notifying us promptly of suspected account compromise.
45. Data breaches
If a data breach occurs, we will assess it and take steps required by applicable law, which may include notification to affected individuals or regulators.
46. Retention
We retain personal information for as long as reasonably needed for platform operation, legal compliance, safety, audit, payment, tax, dispute, fraud-prevention and legitimate business purposes.
47. Application retention
Scholar application records may be retained even if an applicant is declined or withdraws, where reasonably necessary for audit, verification, safety, future applications, complaints or legal compliance.
48. Tutoring-record retention
Tutoring relationship, lesson, homework, report, payment and acceptance records may be retained after a relationship ends for safety, audit, dispute, tax, payment and legal purposes.
49. Account closure
If an account is closed, we may retain records that are necessary for legal, payment, safety, audit, dispute, fraud-prevention or operational purposes.
50. Destruction and de-identification
Where information is no longer reasonably needed, we may delete, destroy, archive or de-identify it according to operational and legal requirements.
51. Access
You may request access to personal information we hold about you. We may need to verify your identity and may refuse or limit access where permitted by law.
52. Correction
You may request correction of inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading personal information. We may ask for evidence where needed.
53. Scholar-profile corrections
Scholars should keep profile information accurate and may request corrections to public profile information, verified results, availability or profile status where appropriate.
54. Children and young people
Because Scholars involves school students, we handle student information carefully and may involve parents or guardians where appropriate or required.
55. Children's Online Privacy Code
Where a Children's Online Privacy Code or similar legal requirement applies, HSCAssociate will take reasonable steps to align relevant handling of children's personal information with applicable requirements.
56. Anonymity and pseudonymity
Because Scholars requires identity, safety, tutoring, payment and relationship records, it may not be practical to use core features anonymously or pseudonymously.
57. Privacy complaints
Privacy complaints can be sent to info@hscassociate.com.au. Please include enough information for us to understand and assess the concern.
58. OAIC escalation
If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy complaint, you may be able to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or another relevant regulator.
59. Policy changes
We may update this Privacy Policy. If changes are material, we may provide notice or require acknowledgement before continued use of relevant features.
60. Acknowledgement
Acknowledging this Privacy Policy confirms that you have been given notice of how we handle personal information. It is not the same as accepting a service contract.
61. Version records
HSCAssociate may keep document version, effective date, acknowledgement and hash records for audit and compliance purposes.
62. Contact
For privacy requests, complaints or questions, contact HSCAssociate Pty Ltd at info@hscassociate.com.au.
63. Schedule 1 - Common information flows
Student information may flow to the relevant Scholar and linked parent or guardian. Scholar profile information may be public. Payment metadata may flow between HSCAssociate, Stripe, the Scholar and the Customer as needed for payment handling.
64. Schedule 2 - Payment information flows
Stripe may receive card, customer, connected account, payment, refund, authentication, mandate and dispute information. HSCAssociate stores only the payment references and safe metadata needed to operate Scholars.
65. Schedule 3 - Learning information flows
Homework, platform practice, responses, marking outputs, lesson reports and student progress information may be visible to the Student, relevant Scholar and linked parent or guardian according to platform role and relationship rules.