Privacy policy

Last updated October 18, 2026

The short version

You can use Stackwise without an account. Until you choose to save, your answers stay on your device.
If you save, we keep your email address and your answers so you can open them on another device and share them with a parent or student you invite.
Household income and savings answers are encrypted in our database.
No ads, no tracking, no analytics, and we never sell or share your information.
You can delete everything at any time from My profile → Delete my data.

What Stackwise collects

Without an account: nothing leaves your device except requests for the college list. Your answers are stored only on the device you’re using.

If you save your results (by signing in with an emailed code), we store:

Your email address, to sign you in and to send invites you ask us to send.
Your questionnaire answers: home ZIP code, high school graduation year, intended majors, GPA and test scores if you give them, household income range, household size, number in college, savings range, distance and school preferences, where you plan to live each year, whether you’ll have a car, parent employers, union and military connections, and outside scholarships. Income and savings ranges are encrypted at rest.
Your settings in the app (sorting, filters, schools you’re comparing).
The email address of anyone you invite, and whether they’re a parent or the student.

We use this only to calculate your college costs, show scholarships you may qualify for, and keep your profile in sync. We don’t use it for advertising or profiling, and we don’t combine it with data from other companies.

Reminders

If you turn on deadline reminders in the iPhone app, they are scheduled on your phone by iOS. We don’t receive them.

Who else handles data

Stackwise uses a few service providers to run: a hosting company for the website and app server, a database host, and Google Gmail to send sign-in codes. They process data only to provide those services to us. College data comes from public sources (U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard and IPEDS, HUD, and college websites); nothing about you is sent to them.

Students and age

Stackwise is meant for high school students and their families. You must be 13 or older to save a profile; younger students can use the app without an account, or a parent can save the profile. We don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 saved a profile, email us and we’ll delete it.

Keeping and deleting your data

We keep your profile until you delete it. My profile → Delete my data erases your account, your saved profile (for everyone it’s shared with) and the copy on your device, right away. You can also email us to delete your account. Sign-in codes expire after 15 minutes and sessions after 30 days.

Security

All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS). We store only scrambled (hashed) versions of sign-in codes and session keys. Income and savings ranges are encrypted with AES-256.

Estimates, not advice

Stackwise shows projections from public data and the answers you give. They aren’t financial advice or a guarantee of what a college will charge or award. Check each college’s own net price calculator and financial aid offer.

Changes and contact

If we change this policy we’ll update the date above. Questions or deletion requests: charlies3dprinting@gmail.com.