Effective Date: May 1, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how The Hechinger Report (“Hechinger,” “us”, “our”, or “we”) processes your personal information as part of operating The Hechinger Report and Tuition Tracker websites and any other website and online services that links or references this Privacy Policy (“Services”).

By visiting and using our Services, you acknowledge the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

I.     CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Depending on how you engage with the Services, we may collect the following categories of personal information:

Information you provide directly to us. For certain activities, such as when you subscribe to our newsletter or magazine, respond to surveys, submit a donation, or engage with interactive features on the Services, we may ask you to provide us your personal information. For example, you may provide us with information including:

  • Contact information, such as your name, email address, telephone number, and mailing address;
  • Demographic information, such as your age, city, state, zip code, and similar survey or demographic data;
  • Job applicant related data, such as your resume, employment and education history, references, and other information you choose to provide when you apply for a job or otherwise engage with us in connection with employment opportunities;
  • Payment information, such as details about your method of payment and billing address when you make a donation or when you otherwise provide your payment information to us;
  • Donation information, such as the amount of your contribution, the date of your donation and the email address associated with your donation (we do not collect or store credit card information); and
  • Communications and other information you provide us, such as information you provide when you choose to contact us, engage with our Services,or respond to surveys.

Information we collect automatically. We may also collect certain information automatically when you use our Services, including your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, user settings, MAC address, cookie identifiers, details about your browser, operating system or device, pages that you visit before, during, and after using the Services, information about the links you click, and other information about how you use the Services.

Cookies and similar technologies. When you use the Services, we and our third-party partners may use cookies and other similar technologies (“cookies”) to collect information about you, including your browsing activities and how you interact with the Services, and information about your device. Our use of these cookies may vary across our different sites. Please see “Your Choices” below for information about some of the choices you have when it comes to the use of cookies on our Services. You may also be able to adjust your settings for certain types of cookies in your browser. Because each web browser is different, please consult the instructions provided by your web browser (typically in the “help” section). Certain features of the Services may not work if you choose to refuse, delete, or disable cookies.

Sensitive data. We may collect personal information that may be considered sensitive under some privacy laws if you choose to provide it to us. For example, you can choose to voluntarily provide us with your race or religion in response to a survey. We do not use or disclose sensitive data for any purpose other than those permitted by applicable law.

Information we collect from third parties. We may also receive information about you from other sources, such as other users of our Services, internet service providers, data analytics providers, operating systems and platforms, and social networks. For example, if you access any social media or similar services through our Services, we may collect information from these third-party services.

II.            HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may use the personal information we collect from you and other sources for the following purposes:

  • Provide, improve, and develop our content and Services;
  • Send direct mail, newsletters, news updates, personalized content, opportunities to support us, and other information you might be interested in;
  • Analyze the use of, and how to improve, our Services;
  • Analyze your interests, including to recommend content, opportunities, or other initiatives in which you may be interested;
  • Detect security incidents or prevent potentially prohibited activities; and
  • For any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect your information.

III.          HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may disclose the personal information we collect with the following categories of third parties:

  • Your Publicly Disclosed Information.The Services may allow you to submit and post comments on our Services (collectively “Comments”). User Comments that you submit, including any personal information you submit, becomes publicly available and can be seen, collected, and used by others.
  • Vendors and Service Providers. We disclose your information to our third-party vendors and service providers that help us provide the Services, including mail and email deployment, processing and fulfillment of credit card transactions, administering promotions and surveys, website and other analytics, donation and issue analytics, and identification of individuals interested in news and issues we discuss in the Services.
  • Partner Organizations. We may disclose your information to our partner organizations, such as Teachers College, Columbia University.
  • Advertising Partners. We may disclose your personal information to third-party advertising partners on certain Services. These providers may collect information about your online activities over time and across websites and services, including through use of cookies and similar technologies. 
  • Business Transfers. We may disclose your personal information in connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as an acquisition, merger, consolidation, sale, reorganization, liquidation, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
  • Legal Purposes. We may disclose your information for legal and compliance purposes, including to respond to law enforcement; comply with applicable laws; protect and defend ourselves (including enforcing our Terms of Use) or others; and stop any activity that we consider illegal, unethical, or legally actionable.
  • With your consent. We may share information for other purposes to which you consent.

IV.          LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY CONTENT

Some of our Services may contain links to content maintained by third parties that we do not control. We may allow third parties to place and read their own cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information automatically through our Services. If you access third-party services, such as Meta, Google, or X (formerly Twitter), through the Services—e.g., to share a story—these third-party services may be able to collect information about you, including information about your activity on the Services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties, and we recommend that you regularly visit the privacy policies of each website that you visit.

V.            YOUR CHOICES

Receiving Marketing-Related Emails from Us. If you no longer want to receive marketing emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt out by following the instructions to unsubscribe in our marketing emails.

Data Rights. There may be relevant laws that afford you rights to access, delete, or correct your personal information. Please contact us if you would like to request information about the rights available to you.

Cookies and Similar Technologies. You may be able to refuse or disable cookies by adjusting your web browser settings. Because each web browser is different, please consult the instructions provided by your web browser (typically in the “help” section). If you choose to refuse, disable, or delete these technologies, some of our Services’ functionality may no longer be available to you.

Do-Not-Track. Some web browsers have a “Do Not Track” preference that transmits a “Do Not Track” header to the website you visit with information indicating that you do not want your activity to be tracked. We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals, as there is no standard for how online services should respond to such signals. As standards develop, we may develop policies for responding to “Do Not Track” signals that we will describe in this Policy.

Google Ads Opt-Out. Google allows users to opt out of personalized advertising through the Google Ads Settings page, available at https://adssettings.google.com. Opting out of personalized advertising does not mean that users will stop seeing all advertisements.

Other Opt-Out Mechanisms. Some of our partners may participate in programs to opt out of ad targeting from member companies. To learn more, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page at https://optout.networkadvertising.org or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page at https://optout.aboutads.info. Opting out of interest-based advertising does not mean that users will stop seeing all advertisements.

Your California Rights. We do not share personal information with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes for purposes of the California Shine the Light Law.

We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that if you opt out of receiving marketing emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt out.

VI.          HOW WE RETAIN AND SECURE INFORMATION

While we collect and retain your information for the purposes described in this Policy, protecting your information is a priority for us and we take steps to protect the security and integrity of personal information from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. You should understand that no data storage system or transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. Please note that information collected by third parties may not have the same security protections as information you submit to us, and we are not responsible for protecting the security of such information.

VII.        CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you learn that such a child has provided us with personal information, you may contact us as set forth below. If we learn that we have collected any personal information in violation of applicable law, we will promptly take steps to delete such information and terminate the child’s account.

VIII.     INTERNATIONAL USERS

Our Services are designed for and targeted to United States audiences and are governed by and operated in accordance with United States law, which may not be equivalent to the laws in your country of residence. We make no representation that our Services are operated in accordance with the laws or regulations of any other nations. By using our Services and providing us with information, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction and, to the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, that you consent to the transfer of such data to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

IX.          CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we update the Privacy Policy, we will revise the “Effective Date” date above and post the new Privacy Policy. We recommend that you review the Privacy Policy each time you visit the Services to stay informed of our privacy practices. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use the Services after the new Privacy Policy takes effect.

X.            CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our practices, please contact us:

The Hechinger Report

525 W 120th Street Suite 127

New York, NY 10027

hechinger@hechingerreport.org