Certified Student Loan Professional (CSLP)

PLEASE REVIEW BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE –

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE.

General Description

Welcome to the Certified Student Loan Advisor Board of Standards (the CSLA Board or the Board).  The CSLA Board is a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the financial security of student loan borrowers by training and identifying licensed financial advisors with demonstrated competence as specialists in student loans. The Board provides professional education and awards the Certified Student Loan Professional designation (CSLP®) to those financial professionals meeting the Board’s rigorous standards. The Board provides these services (the “Services”) through our website available at cslainstitute.org  (the “Sites”).

To provide the Services, we have to set out some ground rules for using the Sites in this document (the “Terms”).  By accessing, using, or contributing to the Services or the Sites, and in consideration for the Services we provide to you, you agree to abide by the Terms.

The CSLA Board may change the Terms from time to time, at the sole discretion of the Board. Your continued use of the Sites following the posting of such changes will constitute your assent to all such changes. Please periodically visit this section of the Sites to review the current version of the Terms.

The Sites are an information starting point. The CSLA Board does not provide or replace individualized legal advice. The Sites may include information which is out-of-date, jurisdiction-specific, or applicable only based on a specific set of facts and this may not apply to your situation. Use of the Services or Sites does not create an attorney-client relationship between the user and the CSLA Board or its directors. If you need legal advice, seek qualified counsel.

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liabilities

The Sites are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or otherwise. Without limitation, we disclaim any and all warranties regarding the security, reliability, timeliness, and performance of all services associated with use of the Sites. We make no warranty, express or implied, that your use of the Sites will be uninterrupted, timely, or error-free. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of certain warranties, so portions of the above disclaimer may not apply to you.

To the extent not prohibited by applicable law, the CSLA Board will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of or inability to use the Sites. You expressly agree that your use of the Sites is solely at your own risk. Under no circumstances shall the CSLA Board be liable for any direct, indirect, special, or consequential damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, income, or business opportunities, regardless of the nature of the claim or the form of action, arising out of or connected with the Sites (including but not limited to its operation, its contents, or the information or materials contained therein, or the use or inability to use any other Sites linked to the Sites, or any content contained in any such Sites, or these terms, or the privacy policy applicable to the Sites) even if the Board, the directors, the Board’s suppliers, or licensors have been notified of the possibility of any damages.

Account Registration

To utilize the Sites, Courses, and Services, or certain portions thereof, you may be required to complete a registration process and establish an account with the CSLA Board (“Account”). You represent and warrant that all information provided by you to the CSLA Board is current, accurate, and complete, and that you will maintain the accuracy and completeness of this information on a prompt, timely basis.

Password and Security

As a registered user of the Sites and Services, you may receive or establish one or more passwords. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your password(s) and Account(s). You understand and agree that you a fully responsible for all actions and postings made from your Account(s). Any accounts you create are not transferrable. You agree to notify CSLA Board immediately if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your Account(s).

Privacy

The CSLA Board respects the privacy of our users. The Privacy Notice is expressly incorporated herein by reference and made a part of these Terms.

Termination

The CSLA Board reserves the right to terminate your Account(s) or restrict access to your Account(s) for violations of these terms or the CSLP Code of Ethics, and to delete any content posted through your Account(s), with or without notice, for any or for no reason, and without any liability to you.

Refund Policy

Within 5 days of your enrollment purchase you may request a refund via email to: [email protected].  During the first 5 days, if you have accessed less than 15% of the course material, we will refund your course fee minus an administration charge of $95. After the 5-day period has expired, the Board has no obligation to issue refunds. For students who have accessed over 15% of the online materials, a refund is not available.

Community Participation

Browsing

You understand that material made available by the CSLA Board is a product of a community effort and does not necessarily represent the views of the CSLA Board or its directors. The CSLA Board assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, suitability, or completeness of any content provided.

Linking

You understand that the CSLA Board does not and cannot review all material made available through websites linked or linking to any part of the Sites. You also understand that no such linking implies in any way that the CSLA Board endorses or is affiliated with any third-party websites. You agree that the CSLA Board bears no responsibility or liability for any content accessed or harm caused from any third-party websites.

Acts Against the Sites/Services

You shall not attempt or engage in potentially harmful acts that are directed against the Sites or Services including, without limitation, the following:

(a) Using the Sites or Services in contravention of any other agreement to which you are a party, including without limitation any employment agreement to which you may be a party; (b) causing, allowing, or assisting any other person to use your Account(s) or impersonate you; (c) sharing your password or login with any other person; (d) logging onto a server or the Account(s) that you are not authorized to access; (e) forging user names, manipulating identifiers, or otherwise impersonating any other person or misrepresenting your identity or affiliation with any person or entity;(f) emulating or faking usage of the Sites or Services;(g) violating or attempting to violate any security features of the Sites;(h) using manual or automated software, devices, scripts, robots, or other means or processes to access, “scrape,” “crawl,” or “spider” any pages contained in the Sites;(i) introducing viruses, worms, software, Trojan horses, or other similar harmful code into the Sites or Services; (j) interfering or attempting to interfere with the use of the Sites by any other user, host, or network, including without limitation by means of submitting a virus, overloading, “flooding,” “spamming,” “mail bombing,” “pinging,” or “crashing” the Sites; (k) causing, allowing or assisting machines, bots, or automated services to access or use the Sites or Services without the express written permission of the CSLA Board; (l) tampering with the operation, functionality, or the security of the Sites or Services;(m) attempting to override or circumvent any security or usage rules embedded into the Sites or Services that permit digital materials to be protected; (n) attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Sites, or any associated system or network, or breach any security or authentication measures;(o) misusing, tricking, disrupting, or otherwise interfering with the functioning of the Sites or Services; (p) harvesting or collecting email addresses or other contact information of other users or clients from the Sites by electronic or other means; (q) reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, deciphering, or otherwise attempting to derive the source code for any underlying intellectual property used to provide the Sites or Services;(r) engaging in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Sites; and(s) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting.

Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. You agree that it is your responsibility to install anti-virus software and related protections against viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or other computer programming routines or engines that are intended to damage, destroy, disrupt, or otherwise impair a computer’s functionality or operation.

Parental Notice

Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Section 230(d) as amended, the CSLA Board hereby notifies you that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filter services) are commercially available that may assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. Information identifying current providers of such protection is available on the Internet (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content-control_software).

Content

Content contributed to the CSLP Community Sites should be relevant to the subject scope of the CSLA Board. Content may not be illegal, obscene, defamatory, threatening, infringing of intellectual property rights, invasive of privacy or otherwise injurious or objectionable. Please read our Community and Commenting Guidelines, which are incorporated herein by reference.

The CSLA Board does not pre-screen or regularly review any contributed content, but the CSLA Board has the right (though not the obligation) to remove, without notice, any content posted which the CSLA Board considers, for any reason, to violate these Terms or to be outside the subject scope of the Services. The CSLA Board may terminate any Account, with or without notice, for posting such content.

Licenses Applicable to Contributed Content

(a)    License to Other Users of the Sites and Services: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License. Except where otherwise noted, any and all content contributed by you to the Services or the Sites are submitted under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License.

(b)    License to the CSLA Board. By posting or contributing content to the Sites using these Services, you are granting the CSLA Board a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and worldwide license to use your content in connection with the operation of the Sites and Services, and/or for educational or other non-commercial purposes, including, without limitation, the license rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your content, and/or to incorporate it into a collective work.

User Representations and Warranties

By posting any content, you represent and warrant that (a) you have all right, title, and interest to such posted content, including but not limited to any consent, authorization, release, clearance or license from any third party (such as, but not limited to, any release related to rights of privacy or publicity) necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the content, or (b) that such content is in the public domain or that your use of such content constitutes fair use. You further represent and warrant that posting such content does not violate or constitute the infringement of any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of privacy, right of publicity, moral rights, or other intellectual property right recognized by any applicable jurisdiction of any person or entity, or otherwise constitute the breach of any agreement with any other person or entity. You further represent and warrant that you are who you say you are, that you have not submitted fictitious, false or inaccurate information about yourself, and that all information contained in the posted content is true and your own work or work you are authorized to submit, and that the posted content does not contain any threatening, harassing, libelous, false, defamatory, offensive, obscene, or pornographic, material, or other material that would violate any other applicable law or regulation. You agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide material and information. You represent and warrant that the content you supply does not violate the Terms.

Indemnities

You acknowledge and agree to indemnify and hold the CSLA Board and its directors, their affiliates, officers, employees, and agents, harmless, including costs and attorneys’ fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of the Sites or Services, your violation of these Terms, or the infringement by you or made under your Account(s), of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

Other Terms

Modifications

The CSLA Board reserves the right to change, at any time, at our sole discretion, the Terms under which these Services are offered. You are responsible for regularly reviewing the Terms. Your continued use of the Sites and Services constitutes your agreement to all such Terms.

Termination of Service

The CSLA Board disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Services or Sites, or any software provided through the Sites. The CSLA Board reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Services or access to the Sites without any notice at any time and without any liability to you.

Scope of Terms

The Terms apply to use of and contribution to the Sites and any account provided therefore. The CSLA Board may operate additional projects or services which require separate or additional terms. Such different terms are made available through the individual project or service and are not addressed further herein.

No Waiver of Terms

Failure of the CSLA Board to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision in that or any other instance.

Governing Law and Entire Agreement

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to the rules of conflict of law that may cause the laws of another jurisdiction to apply. You agree to the sole and exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the federal or state courts serving Dallas County and the State of Texas in the event of any dispute of any kind arising from or relating to the Sites or Services, or your use or review of it. The Terms constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision or portion of these Terms to be unenforceable, the remainder of the Terms will continue in full force and effect.

Copyright

All site design, text, graphics, interfaces, course material, and the selection and arrangement thereof are the property of CSLA Board of Standards. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  Any other use of materials on this site, including reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Trademarks

All trademarks, service marks, and trade names (CSLP® others used on this site) are proprietary to the CSLA Board of Standards. Use of the CSLP mark is only for financial professionals who are in good standing (fees paid, licensing, educational requirements, and exams successfully completed). 

Program Participation

• New program participants will have 6 months to complete the certification process from the date of course purchase. If you have not certified within 6 months, there is a 90-day course access extension fee of $300. If the extension expires, the participant will be required to re-enroll at the current course price, less 50%.
• Exam
  1. A reschedule fee of $150 applies for no-shows. The same is true for requests to reschedule if made more than 5 days after the initial schedule request.
  2. The minimum passing score for the CSLP exam is 70%. Participants will be notified by email within 3 business days of their score. If the participant fails, a retake fee of $150 applies. Up to three attempts are allowed within a 3 month period.
• Annual CSLP Renewals

1. Participants who successfully pass their CSLP Exam will renew every 12 months based on their original passing date. The 2021 renewal fee is $225 and is subject to change annually.
2. The renewal process consists of an open-course exam of 10 questions. It is important that all CSLP continue to access and use the CSLP-only course site located at courses.cslainstitute.org
3. Failure to renew within 45 days of expiration will trigger a reinstatement fee of $300. This is in addition to the annual fee.
4. Failure to renew within 6 months of expiration will require a reinstatement fee of $300 and the candidate must retake and pass the final proctored CSLP exam. The exam fee of $150 would apply as well as the annual fee.

Granting of Use of the CSLP Mark

• The CSLP mark is granted to those who maintain financial services licenses such as the Series 6, 7, 63, 65, 66 or you are CFP, CPA,  Insurance agents, Enrolled Agents, or ChFC. If you have questions about your license, please contact us to confirm your ability to hold the mark.
  1. License information will be verified for compliance purposes and must be submitted at the time of course purchase, and annually during CSLP membership renewal. 

Course Copyright

• The CSLP course content, exam material, and other program content are copyrighted material and may not be copied, transferred, or used in any other program or third party course without express written permission.

Course Access By One Licensee

• Course access is licensed to a single individual and may not be shared or used simultaneously by individuals. Multiple licenses may be purchased.