Privacy Policy

Majuu Scholars Program ("Majuu Scholars," "we," "us," or "our") operates the study-abroad consulting platform available at www.majuuscholarsprogram.com and its associated scholar portal and administrative systems.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information about individuals who interact with our website, create scholar accounts, or engage our consulting services. It applies to all personal data processed in connection with our operations, whether you are a prospective student, an enrolled scholar, a sponsor, or a visitor to our website.

This policy is designed to comply with applicable privacy laws, including the Pennsylvania Personal Information Protection Act, applicable provisions of the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, and, where relevant, the principles of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Majuu Scholars Program is a study-abroad consulting firm with offices in the United States and Kenya. We guide students — primarily from Kenya and other East African nations — through the process of applying to, gaining admission to, and relocating for higher education in the United States.

The data controller responsible for your personal data is:

We collect information through three primary channels:

3.1 Information You Provide Directly

When you register, create a scholar profile, or engage our services, you may provide:

• Identity data: full legal name, date of birth, gender, nationality
• Contact data: email address, phone number, WhatsApp number, county and sub-county of residence
• Academic data: highest level of education, courses of interest, preferred university, IELTS scores
• Financial data: sponsor name, sponsor occupation, bank statement information, payment amounts and methods, proof of payment
• Immigration data: passport details, DS-160 confirmation number, visa appointment date and location, I-20 document details, SEVIS ID, visa outcome
• Travel data: departure date, airline, flight number, US address, arrival date
• Program agreement: electronic signature and date of signing our program agreement and student handbook acknowledgement

3.2 Documents You Upload

As part of our service delivery, you upload sensitive documents to our secure storage system. These may include:

• Passport (all pages)
• Academic transcripts and certificates
• Bank statements (sponsor and student)
• Financial affidavits
• Statement of purpose drafts and final version
• Recommendation letters
• IELTS and other qualification certificates
• Visa appointment confirmation documents
• MRV fee receipts and I-901 payment confirmations
• Flight booking confirmations

3.3 Automatically Collected Data

When you visit our website or use our platform, we automatically collect:

• IP address and approximate geographic location
• Browser type, version, and operating system
• Pages visited, time spent, and navigation paths
• Device identifiers and screen resolution
• Referring URL

This data is collected through our hosting infrastructure and analytics tools. It does not include information that directly identifies you unless you are logged in.

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

Where the GDPR or Kenya Data Protection Act applies, we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

• Performance of a contract: Most processing is necessary to deliver the consulting services described in our program agreement, including managing your scholar profile, reviewing documents, and facilitating university and visa applications.
• Consent: Where we share your data with specific third parties (such as universities or immigration attorneys), or send non-essential communications, we will seek your explicit consent.
• Legitimate interests: We process certain usage and technical data to improve our platform and prevent fraud, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: We may process or retain data to comply with applicable laws, regulations, or lawful government requests.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share your information with third parties for their independent marketing purposes. We may share your data in the following limited circumstances:

6.1 Service Providers

We use trusted technology service providers who process data on our behalf, subject to strict contractual data protection obligations. These include:

• Clerk: Authentication and identity management
• Supabase: Secure database storage and file storage
• Vercel: Platform hosting and content delivery

6.2 Educational Institutions

With your knowledge and as part of our core service, we submit your academic records and application materials to US universities and colleges on your behalf.

6.3 Government Authorities

Where required by law or for the purpose of your visa application, we assist in the preparation of materials for submission to the US Department of State, US Embassy, or USCIS. You retain control over all final submissions.

6.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or where necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Majuu Scholars Program, our clients, or the public.

Majuu Scholars Program operates across two jurisdictions — the United States and Kenya. When you use our platform, your data is stored on servers located in the United States (via Supabase and Vercel infrastructure). If you are located in Kenya or the European Economic Area, your data is transferred internationally.

We take the following measures to protect transferred data:

• All data is encrypted in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher
• All data is encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption
• Our service providers are contractually bound to data protection standards
• We maintain data processing agreements with all sub-processors

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to deliver our services and fulfill the purposes described in this policy. Specifically:

• Active engagement data (profile, documents, stage progress) is retained throughout your active enrollment and for three (3) years after the conclusion of your engagement with us.
• Financial records (payment history, fee confirmations) are retained for seven (7) years to satisfy tax and accounting obligations.
• Communication records are retained for three (3) years after the last interaction.
• Website usage data (analytics) is retained for twelve (12) months.

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymized. You may request earlier deletion subject to our legal retention obligations (see Section 10).

We take the security of your personal data seriously, particularly given the sensitive nature of the documents we hold on your behalf. Our security measures include:

• End-to-end TLS encryption for all data in transit
• AES-256 encryption for all data and documents at rest
• Authenticated access controls — only you and your assigned advisor can access your documents
• Multi-factor authentication enforced for all administrative staff accounts
• Role-based access controls that limit staff access to only the data necessary for their function
• Regular security reviews of our technology stack and third-party providers
• Audit logs recording all access to scholar documents and profile data

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@majuuscholarsprogram.com. We will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to ensure proper functionality and improve your experience. The types of cookies we use are:

• Strictly necessary cookies: Required for authentication (session tokens managed by Clerk) and core platform functionality. These cannot be disabled without breaking the service.
• Performance cookies: Anonymous data about how visitors interact with our site, used to identify and fix issues. No personally identifying information is collected.
• Functional cookies: Retain your preferences such as your last active stage or saved form progress.

We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings, though disabling strictly necessary cookies will prevent you from accessing your scholar account.

Our platform is intended for individuals who are at least 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under 18 without verifiable parental or guardian consent.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us at info@majuuscholarsprogram.com and we will take prompt steps to delete such information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we do, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• Notify active scholars via their registered email address at least 14 days before any material changes take effect
• Display a notice within the scholar portal for 30 days following any significant update

Your continued use of our services after the effective date of any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please reach out to us through any of the following channels:

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction — in Kenya, this is the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC); in the EU, this is your local supervisory authority.