Privacy — how we handle your data
The short version: your answers never leave your device. There is no account, no server copy, and nothing to sell. This page is the long version, and it is the whole policy — there is no other fine print.
What is stored, and where
The answers you type into the profile — things like your state, household size, income (exact or a range), and your field of study — are stored in your own browser's local storage, on your device only. They are saved so you can close the page and pick up where you left off. BenefitMap's screening runs entirely in your browser: the matching engine and the program data are downloaded as ordinary web files, and your answers are compared against them on your device.
This version of BenefitMap sends your answers nowhere. There is no BenefitMap server receiving, storing, or backing up profiles.
What we never collect — by design
Some things cannot be collected because the form has no field for them:
- No Social Security number. Ever. Any site that asks for your SSN to "check your grants" is not us — leave it.
- No FAFSA login, no banking credentials, no passwords of any kind. If you've already filed a FAFSA, you may type in your Student Aid Index (SAI) — a single number — and that is all we ever need from it.
- No exact income requirement. Ranges are always acceptable, and the results say when an estimate rests on one.
The live benefits check (SNAP / EITC)
BenefitMap screens two public benefits — SNAP and the Earned Income Tax Credit — whose real figures need a full tax-and-benefit calculation. In this version that live calculation is not connected, so those two results are honestly listed as "worth checking" and no data about you goes anywhere for them.
If a live benefits check is offered in a future version, it will work like this, and this page will be updated before it launches: the check runs only when you tap its button; the household answers you entered (household size, income, ages the calculation needs) are sent to the benefits-calculation engine to compute the estimate; and the result comes back labeled with the model version that produced it. Nothing about that changes the rule above — no check, no sending.
Analytics and cookies
This version of BenefitMap runs no analytics and sets no cookies. Nobody is counting your visits, and there is no advertising or tracking technology on this page. (Your browser stores your profile answers as described above — that storage is yours, on your device, and it is not a tracking cookie.)
Deleting your data
Tap "Clear my answers" — it appears on every step of the profile — and your saved answers are deleted from this browser immediately and completely. You can also clear this site's data through your browser's settings; because there is no server copy, either route deletes everything there is.
Links out
Every result links to the official source — a government agency or the scholarship's sponsor. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and anything you file or submit there is between you and them. BenefitMap does not file anything on your behalf.