Privacy Policies

Information and services offered on otc.edu are provided by Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) Springfield, Missouri. The purpose of the site is to provide public information about the college and to offer online services to students, college faculty and staff. Online services include, but are not limited to, college admission, class registration, tuition payment, financial aid and class schedules. OTC recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy rights of our users. Any private information, as defined by FERPA and all other applicable laws,  policies and guidelines shared between users and OTC is securely managed and safeguarded.

Changes to Privacy Policy
OTC may make adjustments to our privacy statement at any time because of changes in the law, in technology, in OTC’s business or in our attempts to serve your needs better. We will use every effort to communicate in a timely manner any changes to our privacy statement in the manner described in the OTC’s Website Policies and Disclaimers.

What information does OTC gather?
When you visit otc.edu, OTC’s web server automatically recognizes the Internet domain and IP address from which you accessed the website. This information does not result in the identification of your personal e-mail address or other personal information.  In addition, OTC gathers information regarding the volume and timing of access to our website by collecting information on the date, time and website pages accessed by visitors. We do this so we can improve the content of otc.edu, and this information is not shared with other organizations. Again, only aggregate information is collected, and individual visitors’ personal information is not identified.

If you choose to share personal information with us— by sending us a message, live chat, logging into my.otc.edu or filling out an electronic form with personal information— we will use the information only for the purposes you authorized or in support of college sponsored programs. Some of the information may be saved for a designated period of time to comply with Missouri’s archiving policies, but we will not disclose the information to other third parties or government agencies, unless required to do so by state or federal law or in support of college sponsored programs. If we are required to disclose information about you by law, we will make every effort to notify you of the disclosure in advance.

Online services that are accessible through my.otc.edu provide password-protected access to individuals’ personal records including, but not limited to, personal contact information, class records information and tuition-payment history. This information is accessible only by the individual and approved college administrative staff.

How the Information is Used
Information gathered through otc.edu is used to improve the website experience for our visitors, prospective students, existing students and employees. Information captured in my.otc.edu enables users to access their personal records and utilize online services offered by OTC.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Privacy of Student Records)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, as amended, provides students access to information about themselves, permits students to challenge such information about themselves, and limits the release of such information about students without the student’s explicit written consent. Visit FERPA (Rights to Privacy) – OTC Registrar for more information. 

Live Chat
OTC uses live chat to engage prospective students, existing students, employees and visitors to the website. Live Chat operators can only provide general information and answers to ‘How To,’ ‘Where do I’ and ‘When is the’ questions. No personal or otherwise identifiable information can be released using this method. This includes but is not limited to admissions status, financial aid status, grades, payments or cashier information. Transcripts of all chat sessions are kept on file for a period of 24 hours and then destroyed.

Cookies
Our website may place “cookies” on your computer, unless your browser is set to reject cookies. The cookies enable our website to recognize you when you return to the website at a later date or time and enable us to personalize the website with preferences or information you have provided during previous sessions.

Google Analytics
All OTC websites use Google Analytics; a Web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information such as URLs, Internet domain and host names, browser software, and the date and time that the site is visited. This information is used to monitor the effectiveness of the website and to consider potential improvements to the website. The information is non-personal and is transmitted to and stored by Google on its servers. OTC does not share any specific information about a particular user.

Please visit the following pages for more information on Google Analytics terms of use and Google’s privacy practices. To opt out of Google’s data collection, read more about the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

E-commerce
Several sites within OTC enable you to pay for products or services online with a credit card. Unless otherwise noted, these transactions are encrypted. It is college policy that confidential information you enter in the transaction is used only for the purposes described in that transaction unless an additional use is expressly stated on that site.

Links to Other Websites
Our website may contain links to other public or private entities’ websites, whose privacy practices we do not control.

The Choice to Provide Information
There is no requirement for you to provide any information at our website. However, the online services will not be available to you without proper login. Failure of your browser to provide nonessential technical information will not prevent your use of our website but may prevent you from accessing online services.

Visitor Comments or Review
If you have questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this website or if you choose to review or correct any information, please contact us at web@otc.edu, or call 417-447-7556.

Last Updated: 08/11/2022