Ascent & College Confidential’s $500 Guide to Paying for College Scholarship Giveaway

Ascent & College Confidential’s $500 Guide to Paying for College Scholarship Giveaway 

Official Rules

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS PROMOTION.

1. Sweepstakes Period: Guide to Paying for College Sweepstakes (the “Sweepstakes”) begins at 1:30 PM Pacific Time (“PT”) on August 29, 2024 and ends at 8:59 AM PT on August 31, 2024 (the “Sweepstakes Period”). Sponsor’s computer is the official clock for this Sweepstakes.
2. Eligibility.  The Sweepstakes is open only to: (i) students who are legal residents of one of the fifty United States or the District of Columbia, age 14 or older, and who are enrolled in a high school, degree program, or technical skills training program, at least half-time or (ii) parents who currently have a child enrolled as a student meeting the qualifications of 2(i) (each, an “Entrant”). Employees or agents of Sponsor or its parent or affiliate companies or suppliers, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee or agent, are not eligible. Legal entities are not eligible to enter. Eligibility is contingent upon agreement to, compliance with, and fulfillment of all requirements of these Official Rules. Participation in the Sweepstakes in any way, including submission of any entry or the partial completion of any act of entry or any other step taken to participate in the Sweepstakes in any manner, constitutes full and unconditional agreement with all provisions of these Official Rules. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply.
3. How to Enter. NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY. PURCHASES DO NOT INCREASE ODDS OF WINNING. Each eligible individual who completes the entry requirements during the Sweepstakes Period will become an “Entrant.”  Each Entrant will receive one entry in the Sweepstakes per Sweepstakes Period. Limit one entry per person per day. You may enter the Sweepstakes by completing the following steps: 

1.) Post a question in College Confidential’s “The Ultimate Guide to Paying for College: FAFSA, Optimizing Financial Aid, Should You Consider Private Student Loans?” AMA forum. 

2.) Follow the scholarship task instructions in the form above. Your task response must not contain material that is inappropriate, disparaging, indecent, pornographic, obscene, discriminatory, hateful, offensive, tortious, defamatory or libelous.

3.) Complete the contact form above then “Submit” your entry to indicate your agreement to these Official Rules and submit the form for an entry. Entries must be received between 9:00 AM Pacific Time (“PT”) on August 26, 2024 and 8:59 AM PT on August 31, 2024. Entrants are subject to all notices posted online including but not limited to the Sponsor’s Privacy Policy. 

4. Winner Determination and Verification. Random drawing: One (1) winner will be selected after the Sweepstakes Period in a random drawing from among all eligible entries received during the Sweepstakes Period. 

Potential winner is subject to eligibility verification by Sponsor, whose decisions are final and binding. An Entrant is not a winner of the prize, even if notified of being a winner and/or issued any item of value, unless and until Entrant’s eligibility has been, and continues to be verified to the satisfaction of Sponsor.   

To be verified as eligible to receive a prize, the potential winner must fulfill all requirements and continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and not be disqualified for any reason. The potential winner will be notified by email. If the potential winner cannot be contacted using the information provided in the entry or fails to respond to Sponsor’s attempt to notify the potential winner of selection within three (3) business days of notification; if the prize or notification is returned as undeliverable or yields an error or undeliverable type “bounce back” email (regardless if the message is ultimately delivered to the recipient); if the potential winner fails to sign and return the Release, Form W-9 or any other required documentation within three (3) business days of notification or fails to comply with these Official Rules; if the potential winner is unable or unwilling to accept the prize as stated; or if the potential winner cannot be verified as eligible for any reason at any time before, during, or after the Sweepstakes Period; if the potential winner is unwilling to post they won a portion of the Ascent Scholarship Giveaway on their Instagram story after verification and confirmation as a winner, the potential winner may be disqualified and forfeit the prize and an alternate potential winner will be randomly selected from among the remaining eligible entries.  

In the event that an Entrant is disqualified as the potential winner for any reason, the foregoing process will be repeated until the prize is awarded.   

Odds of winning the prize depend on the number of eligible entries received per Sweepstakes Period.  

5. Prize. There is one $500 prize available to be won per Promotion Period. Approximate retail value (ARV) of the prize per Promotion Period is $500.

Prize will be paid via direct deposit to the winner’s checking or savings account or in the form of a physical check on the first Friday of every month. There may be a delay of up to 60 days between the date the winner earns a reward and the date the payment is made. Ascent is not responsible if any physical or electronic check/payment is lost, stolen, or destroyed or if the Reward is used without permission.   

Risk of Loss. The risk of loss and title for a Reward pass to the recipient upon Ascent’s electronic transmission of a Reward to the designated recipient, or our delivery to the carrier, whichever is applicable. Ascent is not responsible if any Reward is lost, stolen, or destroyed or is used without permission.  

If the potential winner is disqualified, not eligible, or for any other reason cannot accept the prize as stated, then Sponsor will randomly select a new potential winner from the remaining pool of eligible Entrants. Where legal, the winner may be required to submit, without alteration and in the form provided by Sponsor, a completed and signed Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability & Publicity Release (the “Release”), along with a properly completed U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form W-9, within three (3) business days of notification to be eligible to receive the prize.  The winner may be issued a U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 and related tax forms for the actual value of the prize provided by Sponsor.  

Only one (1) prize as set forth in these Official Rules will be awarded per Sweepstakes Period. In the event that any mistake, failure, or discrepancy causes more than one (1) prize as set forth in these Official Rules to be promoted, noticed, or claimed, Sponsor may award one (1) prize by conducting a random drawing from among all legitimate, unawarded, eligible prize claims.  

6. Promotion and Sponsor. Participation in the Ascent Guide to Paying for College Sweepstakes (the “Sweepstakes”) constitutes Entrant’s (as defined below) full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules. Entrant is free to disclaim the prize and status as Entrant, and as a result, will not be eligible to receive the prize. The Sweepstakes is sponsored and administered by Ascent Funding, LLC, (“Ascent”) 501 W Broadway Ste. A150, San Diego, CA 92101 (“Sponsor”). All decisions related to, as well as all interpretations of, these Official Rules by Sponsor are final and binding.  While this Sweepstakes may be promoted via social media websites, such websites are not affiliated with Sponsor or this Sweepstakes. This Promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or any other site or medium that might host content where information about this Sweepstakes is posted or published (collectively “Content Hosts”). Entrant is providing information only to Sponsor and not to Content Hosts.
7. Further Conditions of Entry. By entering or participating in this Promotion, Entrant agrees to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor and its authorized representatives, which are final and binding in all matters concerning this Promotion. Entries not legitimately submitted in accordance with these Official Rules are void.  Only qualified entries received by Sponsor during the Promotion Period are eligible for participation. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. 

Entrants may be required to provide the following information to be eligible for a Promotion prize: first name, last name, confirmation of age and residency, email address, phone number (including area code), and how you currently plan to pay for education (collectively or individually, “Personal Information”).  All requested Personal Information must be provided to participate in the Promotion and to be eligible to win a prize.  Unintelligible entries; entries with incomplete, invalid, incorrect or noncurrent information; entries that are counterfeit, damaged or tampered with in any way; and entries with printing, production or typographical errors may be disqualified.  Entries that are late, lost, damaged, misdirected, stolen or not delivered are not the responsibility of Sponsor and will be disqualified.  Sponsor is not responsible for erroneous, expired, canceled, fraudulent, or fake information provided during Promotion. Proof of sent entry and/or entry receipt (such as a copy of a “thank you” screen or message) does not constitute proof of actual receipt of entry by Sponsor for purposes of this Promotion.

Participation must be by Entrants who are eligible individuals. Participation by any other individual or entity, or originating at any other website, email address, or phone number, including, but not limited to, commercial promotion, subscription notification, automated entry, and promotion entering service sites, is invalid and will be disqualified from this Promotion. Any attempt by any Entrant to obtain more than the stated number of entries by using multiple email addresses, phone numbers, identities, registrations, or logins; entries through a sweepstakes club or similar entity; or any other unauthorized method of entry will void all of Entrant’s entries and Entrant will be disqualified from the entire Promotion. Submitting mass entries or entries generated by an automated program, script, or macro, or the use of any other similar device, program, or method to enter this Promotion is prohibited and will result in disqualification. 

In the event of a dispute as to the identity of Entrant, the authorized account holder of the email address submitted with the entry will be deemed to be Entrant. The potential winner may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder. The “authorized account holder” of an email address is the natural person assigned to that email address by any organization (business, educational institution, etc.) responsible for assigning accounts to that email address.  If the identity of the individual who actually participated in the Promotion cannot be resolved to Sponsor’s satisfaction, the affected individual’s entry will be deemed ineligible.

Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any Entrant or individual it finds to be in violation of these Official Rules, tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Promotion (including, but not limited to, tampering with websites, email addresses, or phone numbers), or acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner.  Any attempt to undermine the operation of the Promotion may be a violation of criminal or civil law, and Sponsor may seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law from any person it finds to have made such an attempt.

 8. Limitations of Liability. By entering or participating in this Promotion or the prize in any way, each Entrant agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless, and thereby does release and discharge Sponsor, Content Hosts, and each of their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, vendors, advertising or promotional agencies and distributors, and each of their respective parent companies and each such company’s officers, directors, employees and agents, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such individual (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against any loss, damage, injury, claim, or cause of action related in any way whatsoever to this Promotion, these Official Rules, or the rights, consents and licenses granted by Entrants to Sponsor under these Official Rules, including, but not limited to, infringement of any right of privacy, publicity or intellectual property; threatened or actual injury, loss or damage to any person, including death and disability; defamation or portrayal in a false light (intentional and unintentional); invasion of privacy; and damage to or loss of property, arising out of such Entrant’s participation in the Promotion or receipt or use, non-use or misuse of the prize. In no event will Released Parties be responsible or liable for any damages or losses of any kind, including indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages arising out of this Promotion.  (Some jurisdictions may not allow the limitations or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages or exclusion of implied warranties. Check local laws for restrictions regarding these limitations or exclusions.)

Entrants waive any right to claim ambiguity in these Official Rules. The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) technical failures of any kind; (2) incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Entrants, any internet or email service provider, any promotional or advertising agency, printing or computing errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Promotion; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Promotion; (4) technical or human error that may occur in the administration of the Promotion, the processing of entries or the announcement of the winner and prize; (5) any injury or damage to persons or property that may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by Entrant’s participation in the Promotion; (6) the receipt, use or misuse of the prize; or (7) any other errors in any materials, information or announcements associated with the Promotion.  If for any reason an Entrant’s entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted by Sponsor, Entrant’s sole remedy is another entry in the Promotion, subject to availability and provided that the Promotion Period has not then expired. 

EACH ENTRANT WAIVES CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ALL SIMILAR LAWS OF ANY STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES), WHICH READS: “A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR.” EACH ENTRANT REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS FULL UNDERSTANDING OF, AND ACKNOWLEDGES THE SIGNIFICANCE AND CONSEQUENCE OF, WAIVER OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ALL SIMILAR LAWS OF ANY STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES).

9. License from Entrant. To the extent allowed by law, participation in the Promotion in any way and/or acceptance of the prize constitutes winner’s irrevocable consent for, and grant of a non-exclusive, sub-licensable and assignable license to Sponsor to use, publish, post, or display winner’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, statements, prize information, biographical information, and/or hometown and state, province, or territory, regardless of whether altered, modified, distorted, edited, or used alone or with other material, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, for promotional, advertising, trade, and publicity purposes in a winner’s list and in any medium now known or later discovered, worldwide and in perpetuity, without review or approval by winner, and without further notice, payment, or consideration of any kind to winner.

All rights, consents and licenses granted to Sponsor under these Official Rules will survive the termination of this Promotion. Winner’s consent and license may only be revoked in writing, and the mere ending of this Promotion or Promotion Period is not sufficient to revoke such consent or license.

10. Right to Modify or Cancel. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, these Official Rules will otherwise remain in effect in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was never included. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules does not constitute a waiver of that provision.

Sponsor may cancel, suspend and/or modify the Promotion or any part of it, in any way, if Sponsor determines in its sole discretion that the Promotion is not capable of executing as Sponsor intended, or that any mistake, clerical, or typographical error, omission, fraud, technical failure, tampering, computer virus, or other factor, technical or otherwise, beyond Sponsor’s reasonable control, impairs or may impair Sponsor’s ability to properly conduct the Promotion, subject to any applicable law or regulation.  In such event,  Sponsor will award the prize by conducting a random drawing from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the cancellation, suspension, or modification of the Promotion.  Inclusion in such random drawing is Entrant’s exclusive remedy under such circumstances.

11. Our Right to Use Your Content
    We may use Your Content in a number of different ways, including publicly displaying it, reformatting it, incorporating it into advertisements and other works, creating derivative works from it, promoting it, distributing it, and allowing others to do the same in connection with their own websites and media platforms (“Other Media”). As such, you hereby irrevocably grant us world-wide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, assignable, sublicensable, transferable rights to use Your Content for any purpose. Please note that you also irrevocably grant the users of the Site and any Other Media the right to access Your Content in connection with their use of the Site and any Other Media. Finally, you irrevocably waive, and cause to be waived, Ascent Funding and its users any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content. By “use” we mean use, copy, publicly perform and display, reproduce, distribute, modify, translate, remove, analyze, commercialize, and prepare derivative works of Your Content.
12.  OwnershipAs between you and Ascent, you own Your Content. We own the Ascent Content, including but not limited to visual interfaces, interactive features, graphics, blogs, videos, social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook) posts, design, compilation, including, but not limited to, our compilation of User Content and other Site Content, computer code, products, software, aggregate user review ratings, and all other elements and components of the Site excluding Your Content, User Content and Third Party Content. We also own the copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, and other intellectual and proprietary rights throughout the world (“IP Rights”) associated with the Ascent Content and the Site, which are protected by copyright, trade dress, patent, trademark laws and all other applicable intellectual and proprietary rights and laws. As such, you may not modify, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display or in any way exploit any of the Ascent Funding Content in whole or in part except as expressly authorized by us. Except as expressly and unambiguously provided herein, we do not grant you any express or implied rights, and all rights in and to the Site and the Ascent Funding Content are retained by us.
13.  Advertising
    Ascent and its licensees may publicly display advertisements and other information adjacent to or included with Your Content. You may be compensated for such advertisements. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising are subject to change without specific notice to you.
14. Disputes. Except where prohibited by law, Entrant agrees that: (1) all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Promotion or the prize will be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate federal or state court located in San Diego County, California; and (2) all claims, judgments and awards will be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Promotion, but in no event attorneys’ fees. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights or obligations of Entrant or Sponsor in connection with the Promotion or the prize, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, no matter what jurisdiction, that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than as stated.
15. Privacy. By entering this Promotion, Entrant agrees to Sponsor’s collection, use, and retention of Entrant’s Personal Information submitted in connection with the Promotion for communications about the Promotion and to send marketing emails to Entrants. Unsubscribe instructions will be provided in each marketing email. Personal Information collected from Entrant is subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy, which can be found at Ascent’s Privacy Noticeand NerdWallet’s Privacy Policy, and by entering this Promotion, Entrant agrees to this Privacy Policy.
16. Official Rules and Winner’s List. For a copy of these Official Rules or the winner’s list, print the requestor’s name, address, city, state or province/territory and zip or postal code on a 3×5″ postcard and mail it to Ascent Funding, 501 W Broadway Ste. A150, San Diego, CA 92101, by three (3) months after close of the Promotion Period. Specify if the request is for a copy of these Official Rules and/or the winner’s list. Limit one request per person, per household