Protecting Younger Users
Undergrove · Last updated: 12 August 2026 Contact: undergrove@undergrovescholar.com
This page states publicly what we do to protect younger users, and which rules we follow. We publish it because organisations that let minors interact with AI products should say plainly what they do — and because we'd want to read it if we were a parent.
The short version
| Under 13 | Cannot use Undergrove. No account, no data kept. |
| 13–17 | Can use Undergrove. We never ask about background, health, identity or household. A parent or guardian must make any purchase. |
| 18+ | Full product. |
We do not accept users under 13
We ask for your date of birth when you sign up and we check it before anything is created.
If you're under 13, we don't create an account and we don't keep what you typed — not your date of birth, not your email, nothing. We don't keep a list of blocked people, because keeping information about a child in order to avoid keeping information about a child would defeat the point.
This follows the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the FTC's Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, including the amendments that took effect on 23 June 2025.
If we ever learn we've collected information from a child under 13, we delete it immediately. If you believe that's happened, email undergrove@undergrovescholar.com and we'll act the same day.
What's different for users aged 13 to 17
COPPA applies to children under 13. Teenagers aren't covered by it — but we still narrow what we collect, because we don't need it.
We never ask you about:
- race, ethnicity or national origin
- gender identity
- disability or health
- household income or family financial circumstances
- immigration or citizenship status
This is enforced on our servers, not just hidden in the app. Even if a request carried that information, it would be stripped before storage.
What we do ask about is the same for everyone and is about opportunities, not identity: where you go to school, what you're studying, where you work, whether you belong to any clubs or organisations. An employer's name isn't a sensitive fact, and it's one of the most useful things we can know — a great many scholarships exist for employees' families and almost nobody thinks to look.
Purchases. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian needs to approve any purchase. Before you can buy credits we ask you to confirm that they have. In some states we go further and verify with them directly by email.
We're being precise about this on purpose: for most purchases we're trusting what you tell us, not independently checking. If you're a parent or guardian and a purchase was made without your approval, email undergrove@undergrovescholar.com and we'll refund it.
We ask you to tell someone. A parent, guardian or school counsellor should know you're using Undergrove. We say so at signup, and we say it here.
We use AI, and you're not talking to a person
Our scholarship search is powered by AI. Our essay drafting tool is an AI writing tool. You are interacting with software, not a human being.
No person at Undergrove reads your profile or writes your drafts. When you email us, a person does read that.
We use AI models provided by Anthropic and follow Anthropic's Guidelines for Organizations Serving Minors.
Telling us about a problem
Email undergrove@undergrovescholar.com. A person reads every message.
Please tell us if Undergrove ever shows you something inappropriate, upsetting, or wrong — or if you're a parent, guardian or counsellor with a concern about a younger user, or you believe someone under 13 has an account.
We aim to reply within two business days, and same-day for anything involving a child under 13 or a safety concern.
Guidance for younger users
See Using Undergrove Safely, written for students rather than lawyers.
What we never do
- We never ask for a Social Security number, a bank account number, or any financial account details. Nobody legitimate needs those to help you find a scholarship. If any website asks, stop.
- We never submit an application for you.
- We never sell your information, and we never show your writing to another user.
- We never use your writing to train an AI model.
For parents, guardians and counsellors
You can ask us what we hold about a young person in your care, and ask us to delete it. Email undergrove@undergrovescholar.com.
Any user can export or erase their own data at any time from their profile — we built that before anyone required us to.