Ladder2College

Privacy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 2026

Ladder2College ("we", "us") builds college-planning tools for students and families, including students under 18. Privacy isn’t a setting here — it’s the architecture. This policy explains what we do and don’t do with your information.

The short version

  • Your profile, schools, activities, and essays are stored only on your device.
  • We do not require an account, email, or login to use the app.
  • We do not sell your data or use it for advertising — ever.
  • Content is uploaded only when you choose to run an AI feature, and only the content that feature needs.

What we store, and where

Everything you enter — student profile, GPA and test scores, activities, honors, college list, essays, deadlines, and settings — is saved in local storage on the device you use. We have no server database of your profile, and we cannot see it. If you delete the app or use the in-app "Reset all data" control, that information is gone.

When information leaves your device

AI features (essay feedback, the admissions-officer review, the college-list review, and résumé/LinkedIn import) work by sending the specific content you submit to an AI model provider (Anthropic) to generate a response. This happens only when you tap to run that feature. Two access modes:

  • Your own API key: content is sent directly from your device to Anthropic using a key you provide, stored only on your device.
  • Included AI: content passes through our lightweight AI service, which forwards it to Anthropic and meters free usage per device with an anonymous, randomly generated token. We do not attach your identity, and we do not log or store the content of your requests.

We do not use your submissions to train models. Anthropic’s handling of API content is governed by its own commercial terms and privacy policy.

Information we don’t collect

No name-to-identity linkage, no contact info requirement, no location tracking, no advertising identifiers, no third-party analytics that profile you. The anonymous device token used for Included AI exists only to meter free usage and is not tied to who you are.

Students under 18

The app is designed for high-school students and their families, including students under 18. Because we don’t collect personal information on our servers or require an account, we don’t knowingly build profiles of children. Parents and students control all data locally on the device. If you believe information was shared with us in error, contact us and we’ll help.

Ladder2College is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. We encourage parents and guardians to be involved in a student’s college planning, and any student under 18 should use Ladder2College with their family’s knowledge.

School records you choose to enter (grades, test scores, course rigor) stay on your device. We are not a school official and do not receive student records from any school, so we do not act as a recipient of education records under FERPA.

Human expert reviews

If you choose to send an essay to an independent human reviewer, that essay, its prompt, and its word count are transmitted to our review service and shared with the reviewer you selected, so they can give feedback. Reviewers agree to keep submissions confidential and not to republish them. We identify you to the reviewer only by an anonymous device token — not your name or contact details — unless you include identifying information in the essay itself. Payment is handled by a third-party payment processor; we never see or store full card details.

Your controls

  • Delete everything: Settings → Reset all data wipes local data on that device.
  • Choose your AI mode: use your own API key or the included service, or don’t use AI features at all.
  • Uninstall: removing the app removes its local data.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update the date above and, for material changes, note it in the app.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Reach us at privacy@ladder2college.com.

This document describes our practices in plain language; it is not legal advice. Confirm specifics with your own counsel before relying on it for compliance.