Privacy, in plain language.

What we collect

When you fill out a form on this site, we collect what you type. The forms are the information request (the "Get Started" box), the tour request, the salon appointment request, the scholarship application, and the graduate story form. Depending on the form that is your name, phone number, email address, the program and campus you are interested in, your preferred times, your high school and graduation year, your question or your story, and, for the scholarship, the essay and the transcript you upload.

Every form is protected by a bot check from Cloudflare (Turnstile). It looks at your browser to tell a person from a script and may set a cookie of its own for that purpose; it does not read what you type. To stop abuse, the site also keeps a scrambled (hashed) version of the sending connection's address for about a day after a submission, and accepts no more than six submissions from one connection in fifteen minutes.

How the site is measured

The site measures how it is used, so we know what's working. A first-party cookie named mc_vid holds a random visitor ID for about 13 months and is renewed each time you visit. Your browser keeps the current visit's session details, and a copy of that visitor ID, in its own storage. With these we measure the pages you view, which sections of a page you spend time on, the links and buttons you click, how you use a form (which fields, in what order), and which ad, search, social post or link brought you here, including the click IDs that ad platforms such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok add to their links. Our analytics never reads what you type into a form, with one exception: when you send a form, it reads the one contact field marked for this, your phone number or email, to connect your visits to your inquiry. Unless your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, the site also remembers a campus in your browser when you view a campus page or choose a campus in a form, and uses it only to count which campus your visit concerns.

When you send a form, the phone number or email you entered is matched to your visit, so we can see which page, ad or link led to your inquiry, and that information travels with your inquiry to our admissions team. If you give the same phone number or email on another device, the visits on that device can be connected to these ones.

If your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, we don't set or use a visitor ID, we remove our visitor cookie if it is there, and your visits are not linked together.

On haysacademy.edu, the school's own domain, the site also loads Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Ads and the Meta (Facebook) pixel. They set their own cookies and tell Google and Meta when someone visits a page or sends a form. The school's marketing agency configures those tags inside Google Tag Manager, and they can do more than count: when you send a form, Meta's advanced matching and Google's enhanced conversions may send the name, email and phone number you entered to Meta and Google in hashed (scrambled) form, and Google Ads remarketing lets Google show the school's ads to people who have visited. The school's tag manager can also load other measurement tools its marketing agency configures, such as a session-replay service. The school uses all of this to measure and target its advertising. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, none of these tags are loaded. Google and Meta explain what they collect and how to opt out on their own pages: how Google uses information from sites that use its services and Meta's cookies policy.

What we do with it

We use it to respond to you, that's the whole point. Admissions texts, calls or emails you back about programs, tours and enrollment; the salon desk confirms appointments; the scholarship committee reads applications; graduate stories are used only with the permission the form asks for. We also look at the visit measurements above to understand which pages and ads work. The school does not sell your information and does not add you to anyone else's marketing lists.

Who sees it

Your inquiry goes to the admissions staff of the campus you chose (or both campuses if you did not choose one), by email, and into the school's customer-relationship system, which the school's marketing agency runs for it and which is where follow-up calls and texts are made from. Salon appointment requests go only to the salon desk, not to admissions or the customer-relationship system. Scholarship applications go to the financial aid director and the scholarship committee, and the applicant's contact details (never the files) go into the customer-relationship system like any other inquiry.

The companies that run the site's plumbing handle your information on the school's behalf and under its instructions: Cloudflare hosts the site, stores inquiries and scholarship files, and provides the bot check; Microsoft delivers the staff email. Google and Meta receive what the section above describes, on haysacademy.edu only. Nobody else gets it, unless the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Inquiries stay in the school's admissions records so staff can follow up and answer you later; ask and we will delete yours. Scholarship essays and transcripts are kept in private storage that is not reachable from the web; committee members open them through links that expire 90 days after the application arrives. Applications are kept until the award is decided and the cycle closes, and are deleted on request at any time. The visitor cookie lasts about 13 months from your last visit, and the hashed connection record about a day.

Calls, texts and email

Every form has a consent checkbox before we contact you. By checking it you agree that Hays Academy of Hair Design may call, text and email you at the number and address you gave about programs, tours and admissions. Texts may be sent with automated technology. Consent is not a condition of enrollment: you can always call either campus instead. Message and data rates may apply, and message frequency varies. Reply STOP to any text and we stop; reply HELP for help. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.

Your choices

Reply STOP to end texts. Turn on Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track in your browser and the site measures your visit without a visitor ID and loads no ad-platform tags. Clear your browser's cookies and site data to remove the visitor ID and the remembered campus. Opt out of Google and Meta advertising on their pages linked above. To see, correct or delete what we hold about you, or to withdraw a scholarship application, call either campus or write to the Hays campus at 1214 E 27th St, Hays, KS 67601, and we will do it.

Children

This site is for prospective students, their families, and salon guests. Enrollment starts at 16. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13; if a child has sent us a form, tell us and we will delete it.

Student records

Enrolled students' educational records are protected under FERPA. The school's required consumer disclosures, outcome rates, security reports, policies, are published on the consumer information page.

Changes to this policy

When the site starts doing something different with your information, this page changes with it and the date at the top moves. The version on this page is the one in force.

Questions

Ask a real person: call the Hays campus at (785) 628-6624 or the Salina campus at (785) 833-2280.