PAYMENTS

Your payment helps us make more positive change. We give away a minimum of 20% of all of our content for free, and revenue generated from sales of courses, handbooks and toolkits helps us design, develop and create more creative tools for activating positive change. 

Your payment not only covers the expenses of creating and running courses and programs, but it helps us to build forward, to add more programs and projects, and to offer scholarship assistance as part of our equity access policy.

As part of our goal to make our programs equitable, we offer both partial scholarships and payment plans. Our limited number of scholarships are awarded based on demonstrated need to certain select courses and programs. We fund these to promote equitable access to our programs. Please help us build change by only applying for a scholarship if you have a clear need and have no other way of raising the tuition costs. 

If you need a scholarship or alternative payment plan for any of our products or services, you can apply here. Requests are reviewed on a regular basis and you will be notified by email only if your request has been approved. 

Please note that scholarships are not available for Educator or UnMasters Certification tracks, as they require significant human resources from the UnSchool to manage and run.

PRODUCT REFUNDS

We do not offer refunds on toolkits, handbooks, the UnSchool app and other downloadable products. If your purchase was not the right fit, we are happy to swap to something else of the same value or offer an equivalent credit for any of our other products. 

GENERAL PAYMENT TERMS

Payments are due upfront before access is granted to a program, unless an installment option is provided. If you sign up for an installment payment plan, you are obligated to make all the payments fully for that course/program, unless you cancel in accordance with our Terms and Conditions outlined below. 

Payment plans can only be canceled at the end of the month. You can request a pause on payment plans for up to three months. 

GENERAL REFUND POLICY TERMS

For all online and digital products, refund requests must be made within 48 hours of purchase being completed. We do not refund for buyer’s remorse or budgetary reasons so please be thoughtful about your purchases. 

To qualify for a refund, you must provide proof of why this curriculum does not work for you. All refund requests are considered on a case by case basis, and issued at our discretion. We reserve the right to deny a refund. 

All approved refunds will be processed within 30 days of notification of cancellation. Refunds will only be returned to the credit card used for processing the original payment minus any processing fees. After the 48 hour refund period has passed, no refunds will be issued. 

Any transaction fees such as credit card processing fees will not be refunded. 

ONLINE CLASSES 

If you are not happy with your online course, we offer a 7-day swap on any class if you provide justification for doing so. We do not offer refunds after the first 48 hours. After 7 days from sign up we do not offer swaps. 

CERTIFICATION TRACKS, SUBSCRIPTIONS & LIVE PROGRAMS

Certification tracks and subscription packs have specific terms (see full details below). For in-person and live programs processed via unschools.online.co, refunds are offered based on the specifications outlined below. 

Please send all refund and swap requests to programs@unschools.co

CERTIFICATION TRACKS TUITION PAYMENTS & REFUNDS

In order to make tuition more manageable, the tuition is broken down into smaller monthly payments. 

Tuition payments are distributed over monthly payments. To apply for your final certification, your tuition must be paid in full.

• PRACTITIONER - 6 monthly payments

• UNMASTERS - 10 monthly payments

• EDUCATOR - 15 monthly payments

Payment Plans: After 48 hours, there are no refunds provided on payments made to date, but you can withdraw from the program and cancel your remaining monthly payments at any point going forward (we hope this never happens!). Returns will not be processed on what you have already completed and paid for. You will lose access to what you have started from the date your payments stop. 

Payments in Full: If you have paid in full upfront, you have 7 days to request a refund. This applies only for Certification Track payments over $1000USD. Refunds will be minus any processing fees. 

Track Swaps: We do offer at our discretion the option to change tracks, please contact us to discuss. This is provided on a case-by-case basis at our discretion. You will need to pay additional costs if you upgrade your track, and we can't offer refunds if you downgrade your track. We will do our best to help you with what you need. You can suspend your payments and track progress at any time for up to 3 months without it affecting your progress. 

Contact us in writing via email at programs@unschools.co to discuss the options so you can retain your progress.

CERTIFICATION CONDITIONS

In order to obtain certification for any of our courses or programs you MUST have paid all your financial obligations and have completed all required course learning challenges and tasks. This differs for every program, so please check the course documentation to ensure you have completed all required aspects in order to be eligible for the certificate of completion. We reserved the right to refuse certification and to change course requirements at any time. 

We reserved the right to revoke any issued certificates or certification at any point for any reason. You are not entitled to use our content, logos, name or brand, unless given permission in writing by a valid UnSchool representative to do so. 

Additionally: 

• All tuition fees must be paid in full before certification can be applied for and will not be granted unless tuition is paid in full or a scholarship has been issued. 

• Completion of your track does not guarantee your certification; you must complete all required elements and submit them to the UnSchool along with a certification request and presentation. This will then be reviewed, and an official letter of certification will be issued along with your certificate. 

• Educator Track Certification is reviewed and renewed annually. You must complete a request and required points to renew your certification. 

• Certification can be revoked at any time in accordance with the contracted agreement.

• We reserve the right to change training or licensing fees at any time (if this does happen, you will be notified and given the option to opt out).

• As a certified Educator, you must adhere to the UnSchool Brand and Playbook Guidelines for anything related to our brand, method or IP.

• The UnSchool maintains the exclusive rights to all the IP of the content. A certified Educator will be issued with a contract to utilize it based on the agreement.

• You will be issued with a specific certification agreement that outlines all the responsibilities and opportunities that your certification offers.

• Educator certification does not automatically allow you to run UnSchool programs; you must have an agreement with us in place to do so.

• We expect all certified alumni to respect others and act in accordance with the mission, values and objectives of the UnSchool. 

• We reserve the right to cancel your subscription or certification at any time. 

• If you are the recipient of a scholarship or tuition reduction, you are still required to complete all the challenges and required elements in order to apply for certification.

CERTIFICATES AND COMPILATION 

The UnSchool is NOT accredited by any third party institution or official body. 

Certificates are issued by the UnSchool and a 3rd party platform called Accredible ONLY upon successful and demonstrable completion of all course elements. If you do not satisfactorily complete all the required tasks set up for the program, you will not be eligible for the certification, validation, alumni status or any other award or recognition offered by the UnSchool. 

For in-person and live programs, the lead educator will determine if you have satisfactorily completed all required tasks before confirming accreditation or alumni status. 

For certification tracks (Educator, UnMasters and Practitioner), this is evidenced through a combination of your process journal, the final challenge interview, mentor sessions and the completion checklist. For short courses and classes, quizzes and other interactive elements built into the program determine your completion status. 

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO REVIEW ALL THE COURSE MATERIALS TO DETERMINE IF YOU HAVE COMPLETED ALL REQUIRED ELEMENTS IN ORDER TO RIGHTFULLY BE ISSUED A CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION. 

COMPLETION CERTIFICATES, POINTS AND CREDITS ARE DEPENDENT ON THE CLASS OR PROGRAM BEING COMPLETED. YOU MUST HAVE FULL ATTENDANCE AND/OR ACTIVITIES COMPLETED TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR ANY AWARD ISSUED BY THE UNSCHOOL.  

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REVOKE ALUMNI STATUS, CERTIFICATES, CREDITS AND ANY OTHER UNSCHOOL-ISSUED AWARD AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON. 

ACCESS DURATION 

Each offering on the UnSchool Online has a different duration of access. These are between a few days for downloadable products, through to a year or even two for masterclasses and in-person programs. CHECK THE DURATION OF YOUR PRODUCT ACCESS TO ENSURE YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THE ACCESS DURATION TERMS BEFORE SIGNING UP. 

• Short and medium length single courses have access for between 30 - 180 days

• The full Disruptive Design Masterclass has 580 days access

• Live workshops and in-person programs have 360 days access from date of signing up

• Downloadable content such as toolkits and e-books have 5 days access 

• Course Packs have 180 days access

• Challenge packs have between 30 - 180 days access 

• Subscription products are offered on a monthly rolling basis. You only have access for the time you are paying for. Once you stop payments you will no longer have access.  
  

In certain cases, we will offer an extension to your access terms. We reserve the right to offer or deny this based on our own discretion. Please email programs@unschools.co with your request and reasons why you need an extension for consideration. 

INACTIVITY AND ACCOUNT SUSPENSION 

If you are inactive for more than 30 days on any of our platforms then we reserve the right to remove or delete your account. This applies to 30 days of inactivity past the end of your paid program or subscription. 

This applies to all platforms that we manage and run including this website, apps and payment services. You can sign up again, but you may lose access to any data or history that you shared in past logins.

The UnSchool of Disruptive Design, Disrupt Design and Swivel Skills are established on three main principles of systems change, active sustainability and creative design for supporting positive and significant change for a future that works better for all of us. Our mission is to make, demonstrate and share and activate leadership for creative and sustainable change.  

We embrace the opportunity to take ownership of the decisions we make to actively reduce our impact on social and environmental systems that surround us.

For us, to live and work sustainability is necessary to live and work ethically.

We are committed to activating and expanding global sustainability goals, and sharing knowledge and tools through hands-on application of sustainability in our lives and communities.

Our hope is that our case study is replicated, copied, borrowed from across the planet to scale up creative, systemic, and well-designed sustainability in action.

Minimize our environmental footprint through sustainable management of our resources including land, water, energy, materials, cultural heritage and biodiversity.

Conduct activities to avoid, minimize or mitigate negative environmental, social and economic impacts,  and to maximize positive impacts. We bulk buy to reduce packaging, always use reusable shopping bags and purchase the highest level of recycled content products as possible (such as for paper or office products). When our staff and team have to travel we purchase carbon offsets, opt for lower carbon transport options where possible. We support digital platforms (like video conferencing, and digital production) to reduce carbon emissions.

Aim towards post-disposability in our operations by reducing consumption and increasing reuse. We go beyond recycling in our approach to waste management, and where possible we compost all organic materials, reduce and reuse before recycling, and are actively working towards zero waste where possible. What we do use we make sure is actually recyclable in the system we are in and ensure that all recycling is done correctly.

We only offer vegetable-centric, locally sourced meals to reduce carbon and land use impacts from meat production.

Advance the circular economy by incorporating circular design approaches and skills for sustainability in our facility design,  programming and practices.

Engage actively with staff, learners, contractors, suppliers, and community organizations to build their environmental sustainability capabilities to contribute positively to the environment.

Support local communities through measures such as locally sourcing goods and services, and employing local people.

Prioritize accessibility to our programs through equity access scholarships or through our volunteer opportunities based on value exchanges.

Foster open and respectful dialogue between local communities and international visitors.

Respect and appreciate diversity of and differences in ethnicity, Indigenous origin or heritage, age, gender, beliefs, language, sexual orientation, education, nationality, social background and culture or other personal characteristics.

Embrace our own learning and work to continually improve our performance. As people who both lead and follow, in both roles, we commit to identifying opportunities to learn and grow personally and professionally. We realize mistakes are part of the process and how we create our best work, and we welcome and offer caring constructive critique and feedback so that we continue to learn and evolve.

We acknowledge our power and privilege and the responsibility that comes with it. We create an inclusive, participatory environment with reciprocal, open communication.

We prioritize working with other organisations that have advanced environmental policies and seek out best practice products and services.

We focus on sourcing products and services from local providers with emphasis on organic and sustainably motivated producers.

When we decide to produce products ourselves we only work with producers who have a high environmental standards and offer recycled content, alternative energy production systems and low impact manufacturing.

We work hard to balance providing reduced tuition for our programs, offering open source tools & resources, and generating enough revenue to maintain and innovate our programs.

As a socially motivated business, we operate on a lean budget and work hard to distribute our resources to support our applicants in highest need.

Between 2015-2022 we have given +50 recipients over $300K of scholarships to our programs.

Our tuition support primarily comes in the form of need-demonstrated partial scholarships to make programs more accessible. We offer limited full scholarships to community members who would otherwise be unable to attend a program at all.

If you would like to apply for a partial or full scholarship, please fill out an application here.

We encourage everyone to apply for scholarships if they feel that they would not be able to access programs otherwise. We are always working towards removing financial, physical, language and time barriers by offering scholarships, diverse international program locations, and online education and free content in a growing number of languages.

We also offer additional access support for those identifying as from First Nations, Aboriginal, Native or other Indigenous communities.

As you consider the program and whether to request a scholarship or not, please take into consideration the following prompts. We actively encourage everyone to creatively raise money as both an up-skilling activity, and a way to reach out and develop personal networks in order to further advance positive change making activities.

Have you had some/many opportunities for advancing your learning already?

If you are requesting a scholarship because you have already invested in a higher degree program or other programming, you may not be eligible as consideration will go to those who have not had the opportunity for advanced programming.

Do you have resources or networks that you could catalyze for tuition support?

If so, please reach out to creatively raise funds from your personal networks so we may utilize our scholarships for applicants who do not have such opportunities.

Have you reached out to your employer to request professional development reimbursement?

If not, please do so before submitting a scholarship request. We have had many of our participants successfully gain financial support from their employers, but only after they have asked!

Have you considered creative ways of sourcing funds?

We’ve had former fellows do trades in the form of workshop hours at local institutions and businesses, run crowdfunding campaigns, and develop products or services to sell.

Creativity is at the core of what we do, and we encourage all our participants to come up with alternative options for discovering resources!

This Policy explains what we do with your personal data after we collect it, when and why you will be require to you give us personal information and what we use it for.

We also explain under what conditions we need to disclose it to others your personal information and how we keep it secure.

We change this policy from time time, to stay compliant with relevant laws in Europe and to make sure we are on top of our game. We process data in accordance with its responsibilities under the GDPR (see below). By using our website and services you are agreeing to be bound by this policy.

If you have any questions about our policy, please contact us here.

Article 5 of the GDPR requires that personal data shall be:

• processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals;

• collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes;

• adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;

• accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;

• kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed; personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals; and

• processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.”

Who are we?

The UnSchool a project of Disrupt Design a Limited Liability Company registered in New York City.

Disrupt Design manages the UnSchool Online services.

Why DO WE collect information?

We offer online services and programs so we need to collect enough information about you to keep your account secure, make sure we compile with all regulations and to design the best fit programs for your needs.

How do we protect your privacy and data?

• We never sell or share your data with other organisations that are not needed to provide you with the services we offer.

• We will take all measures possible to protect your data from external abuse or access.

• Individuals have the right to access their personal data and any such requests made shall be dealt with in a timely manner.

• When we send you communications such as newsletter we will always give you the option to opt out and unsubscribe from the service.

• We can always request us to delete all your data.  

Where do we collect information?

We only collect information that you agree to give us when you are on our website through our contact us or registration forms, along with any applications you complete, when you purchase a product, make a donation or sign up for our newsletter. We also collect information when signing agreements for program attendance.

How is this information used?

We use this information to design our programs, communicate with you regarding our services, process orders, and mange your account for our online services.

Face to face programs

We use our website service provider (Squaresapce) and Airtable to manage our face to face bookings.

We will need to collect more detailed information for in-person programs. This may include your date of birth, passport number and may require a liability form to be signed before you can stay at the farm.

Online classes

When you sign up to our online learning site, we collect the personal information you give us (such as name and email address). We use a third party service provided by Thinkific Labs Inc. which allows us to create and sell our online products/services. Your data is stored through Thinkific’s data storage, databases and program on a secure server behind a firewall. You can read their privacy policy here.

Email marketing

We may send you emails about our site and related course(s), registration, course content, your course progress or other updates.

We may also use your email to inform you about changes to the course, survey you about your usage, or collect your opinion.

You can always unsubscribe at the bottom of the email.

How do we process payments?

We do not store your credit card information, we use a third party service called Stripe, which you can view the privacy information for here. Payments are encrypted through the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). Your purchase transaction data is stored only as long as is necessary to complete your purchase transaction.

WEB ANALYSIS TOOLS

We may use web analysis tool to measure and collect anonymous session information such as Google Analytics.

In general, the third-party providers that we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as some payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your purchase-related transactions. We have listed the ones we use and provided links to their policies in this document.

We recommend you also read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your personal information will be handled by these providers.

Certain providers may be located in or have facilities that are located in a different jurisdiction than either you or us. If you elect to proceed with a transaction that involves the services of a third-party service provider, then your information may become subject to the laws of the jurisdiction(s) in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

For example you may be located in Europe but our payment gateway is in the United States, then your personal information used in completing that transaction may be subject to disclosure under United States legislation, including the Patriot Act.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or our website’s Terms of Service.