Terms of Service

Welcome to Smart Advisor. By creating an account or using our service, you agree to these Terms of Service. Please read them carefully.

1. Service Description

Smart Advisor is an AI-powered academic planning tool designed to help Highline College students explore courses, plan schedules, and track academic progress. The service is provided as a planning aid and is currently in Beta.

2. Important Disclaimer

3. Use at Your Own Risk

By using Smart Advisor, you acknowledge and agree that:

• AI-generated recommendations may contain errors or inaccuracies
• Course information may be outdated or incomplete
• You are solely responsible for verifying all academic decisions with official sources
• We are not liable for any academic consequences resulting from use of this tool
• Professor ratings are sourced from RateMyProfessors.com and represent user opinions, not official evaluations

4. Account Responsibilities

• You must provide accurate account information
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account
• You may not share your account with others
• You must be a current or prospective Highline College student to use this service

5. Acceptable Use

You agree NOT to:

• Use the service for any illegal purpose
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the system
• Scrape, copy, or redistribute our data without permission
• Use automated systems to access the service excessively
• Harass, abuse, or harm others through the service

6. Data Sources & Attribution

Smart Advisor aggregates data from publicly available sources:

• Course information from Highline College's public catalog
• Professor ratings from RateMyProfessors.com

We provide links to original sources and do not claim ownership of third-party data. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.

7. Data Security

We take your privacy seriously:

• Passwords are securely hashed using BCrypt and never stored in plain text
• Grades are encrypted using AES-256 encryption
• Even system administrators cannot view your grades or password
• Your academic data is only used to provide personalized recommendations

8. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SMART ADVISOR AND ITS CREATORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Delayed graduation or academic setbacks
• Incorrect course recommendations
• Missed prerequisites or requirements
• Financial losses related to course registration
• Any reliance on AI-generated advice

9. Service Availability

We do not guarantee uninterrupted access to the service. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the service at any time without notice. As a Beta product, features may change frequently.

10. Termination

We reserve the right to terminate or suspend your account at any time for violations of these Terms. You may delete your account at any time through your profile settings.

11. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States.

13. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact us through the application.