AI & Data Usage Notice
Effective April 30, 2026
1. Purpose of AI Features
Scholista uses AI-assisted workflows to help families complete questionnaires, conduct structured interviews, draft summaries, suggest field values, organize portal tasks, flag missing requirements, and generate admissions-planning recommendations. AI features are support tools, not final decision-makers.
2. What May Be Processed
When AI features are used, the information sent for processing may include questionnaire responses, interview answers, academic and testing details, uploaded screenshots or excerpts, application context, and instructions needed to generate outputs for the family.
3. Third-Party AI Providers
Scholista may use one or more third-party AI providers configured by Scholista to support these functions. Those providers may process submitted inputs and generated outputs according to their own service terms, security controls, and privacy commitments.
4. Human Review Required
AI-generated results are decision-support tools only. Scholista personnel and families must review client-facing AI-generated summaries, suggested entries, application data, recommendations, affordability notes, and deadline guidance before relying on them or using them in external systems.
5. Essay and Application Integrity
Scholista may use AI to help with brainstorming, outlining, rubric scoring, prompt-fit checks, specificity feedback, clarity feedback, and revision tasks. Scholista does not intend AI to replace the student's own voice or produce final essays for submission as if written by the student. Students and families are responsible for following each school, scholarship, testing, and application platform's rules.
6. Sensitive Data Minimization
Do not submit unnecessary sensitive information through AI workflows. Unless clearly needed for a specific service and expressly requested, families should avoid entering Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, external account passwords, FSA IDs, school portal credentials, tax credentials, bank account credentials, payment card data, medical details, or unrelated highly sensitive information.
7. No Fully Automated Final Decisions
Scholista does not represent that AI alone makes final admissions, financial aid, affordability, school-list, essay, or application decisions for families. AI outputs may influence recommendations, but families and Scholista personnel remain responsible for human review.
8. Safety and Child-Appropriate Guardrails
Scholista’s interview and intake experiences are intended to remain professional, child-safe, and limited to college-planning topics. The platform may refuse, restrict, or redirect prompts that are explicit, abusive, unsafe, or unrelated to the intended service.
9. Uploaded Content and Prompt-Injection Risk
Uploaded screenshots, pasted text, and files may contain outdated data, hidden instructions, misleading labels, or irrelevant personal information. Scholista may use technical and human-review safeguards, but families should confirm extracted fields, requirements, deadlines, costs, and links against official sources before relying on them.
10. Accuracy and Risk Notice
AI can hallucinate, omit important context, misread uploaded materials, or rely on stale source data. AI outputs are not legal advice, financial aid advice, tax advice, mental health advice, or a guarantee of application success. Official school, scholarship, testing, government, and financial aid sources control over Scholista outputs.