Terms of Service

This agreement specifies the terms or conditions under which you are permitted to freely use Universal Class™ to serve your educational needs and interests. The agreement obligates you to observe rules of acceptable conduct in the use its service and to indemnify and otherwise hold Universal Class™ harmless for any damaging or harmful circumstance resulting from that use. The 17 conditions specified herein are referred to as the Universal Class Terms of Service (UC-TOS). The services you are permitted to use under these conditions or terms are those currently available through UniversalClass.com. You are free to use them to serve your educational needs and interests, provided you agree to the following terms.

Condition 1: General Terms of Service

This agreement governs your use of the Universal Class™ (also known as UniversalClass), and all of its services provided directly and/or indirectly to you. Universal Class, Inc. reserves the right, in its discretion, to change or modify all or any part of this Agreement at any time, effective immediately upon publishing on our service. Your continued use of Universal Class™ services constitutes your binding acceptance of these terms and conditions, including any changes or modifications made by Universal Class™ as permitted above. If at any time the terms and conditions of this Agreement are no longer acceptable to you, you should immediately cease using any service provided by Universal Class™ or its affiliates.

Condition 2: Member Conduct and Behavior

Universal Class™ receives millions of website visitors and hundreds of thousands of customers, and we choose only to do business with individuals who are professional, courteous, and respectful to our company, our staff, our instructors, and fellow students.

Condition 3: Your Obligation to Provide Accurate Registration Data.

Under the terms of this agreement, you agree to provide accurate, current and complete information about yourself, as requested by the registration form, and to maintain and update that information as requested. You understand that if your registration information is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, or if Universal Class™ has grounds for suspecting that the information is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete that Universal Class™ has the right to suspend or terminate your account, and to deny you access to any or all of its services. You understand that all registration information is subject to our Privacy Policy (please see Privacy Policy in separate section).

Condition 4: You Obligation to Maintain Your Account, Password, and Security.

Under the terms of this agreement, you are responsible for creating a password and account designation when registering for Universal Class™ services. It is your sole responsibility to maintain the security and confidentiality of your password, account, and all activities occurring therein. Should that confidentiality or security be breached in any way, you are obligated to notify Universal Class™ immediately. You understand further that under no circumstances is Universal Class™ liable for any damage or loss resulting from your failure to comply with this obligation to maintain confidentiality and security.

Condition 5: Your Responsibility for Content, Conduct, and Risk.

Content Responsibility. The Content you obtain from use of Universal Class™ services (including but not limited to publicly posted or privately transmitted items, data, graphics, information, messages, music, photographs, software, sound, text, video or other materials) is the sole responsibility of the person and organization providing it and hence cannot be used by you without their permission. Consequently, you, not Universal Class™, are fully responsibility for all Content uploaded, copied or printed through Universal Class™. Moreover, Universal Class™ does not guarantee nor is it liable in any way for the accuracy, integrity or quality of Content provided by its services. This indemnity includes but is not limited to, errors or omissions of Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of Content that is uploaded, copied, printed, or used in any way via Universal Class™ services.

Appropriate Conduct. You are expressly forbidden from using Universal Class™ services in any way that is inappropriate, unethical, harmful or damaging. This includes using Universal Class™ to upload, copy, print, or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable. You are expressly forbidden from engaging in any activity that is harmful to minors. You are expressly forbidden from collecting or storing personal data about other Universal Class™ users. You are expressly forbidden from impersonating any person or entity, including, but not limited to an agent from Universal Class™, or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with a person or entity. You are expressly forbidden from forging headers or otherwise manipulating identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through Universal Class™. You are expressly forbidden from uploading, copying, printing, or otherwise transmitting any Content or plagiarizing any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under a contractual or fiduciary relationship. This includes the transfer or transmission of inside information, proprietary or confidential information acquired through employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements. You are expressly forbidden from uploading, copying, printing, or otherwise transmitting or transferring any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party whatsoever. You are expressly forbidden from interfering with or disrupting Universal Class™ services or networks connected to its services, or disobeying any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to its services. You are expressly forbidden from intentionally or unintentionally violating any applicable local, state, national or international law, including but not limited to regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, or any regulations having the force of law.

Given these prohibitions but not constrained by them, Universal Class™ and its agents have the right, but not the obligation, to refuse or to remove any Content that is available on its services. Universal Class™ and its agents have the right to remove any Content that violates the terms of service stipulated in this agreement or that is otherwise objectionable in any way. These rights notwithstanding, it is your sole responsibility to determine the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the Content and to assume the risks of using the Content based on that determination.

Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of words or ideas from other people. It is a violation of academic integrity. Universal Class™ takes plagiarism very seriously. You are strictly prohibited from plagiarizing any content you submit in your course of studies with Universal Class™--including but not limited to--assignment submissions, essays, exams, discussions, and emails. This includes "copying and pasting" lesson material as an assignment response or copying information from other websites, books, videos, etc. and submitting this information to fulfill a lesson or course requirement. You agree that anything you submit must be in your own words and where it is not it must be clearly quoted and properly cited. Failure to do this may result in course failure and/or account suspension without refund.

 

Assumption of Risk. Universal Class™ is an adult learning community meant for adult learners. You must be at least 16 years old to use any Universal Class service. You must have parental permission to use Universal Class if you are under 18 years of age. Your full and complete responsibility for use of services provided by Universal Class™ includes any and all risk associated with those services. All services provided are "as is" and "as available." This means that Universal Class™ expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for particular uses or purposes and non-infringement. This also means that any material you download or otherwise obtain through use of the services is available to you at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download or any such material. Universal Class™ makes no assurance, guarantee, or warranty that its services will meet your requirements, that they will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, that the results you obtain from using the services will be accurate or reliable, that the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you through the services will meet your expectations, or that any errors in the software will be corrected.

Condition 6: Your Acknowledgement of Universal Class, Inc.'s Limitations of Liability

Under the terms of this agreement, you expressly acknowledge, accept, and agree that Universal Class™ shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to: damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses resulting from the use or the inability to use the services; the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services resulting from any goods, data, information or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through or from the services; the unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions of data, statements or conduct of any third party on the services; or, any other matter relating to the services.

Under the terms of this agreement, you expressly acknowledge, accept, and agree that Universal Class™ shall not be liable for any of the aforementioned damages you might experience through use of its services even if Universal Class™ has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Condition 7: Your Acknowledgement of Universal Class, Inc.'s Proprietary Rights

Under the terms of this agreement, you expressly acknowledge, accept, and agree that any software used in connection with the services provided by Universal Class™ contains proprietary, copyrighted and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You expressly acknowledge, accept, and agree that the Content contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to you through the services or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, or other proprietary rights and laws. You also expressly acknowledge, accept, and agree that unless expressly authorized by Universal Class™ or advertisers not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute, or create derivative works based on those aforementioned services or software in how or in any part thereof. You also expressly acknowledge that any mass downloading of course content for possible distribution is strictly prohibited. You understand that by making any attempts to circumvent the educational processes in place (such as bypassing exams, assignments, etc.) for the sole purpose of obtaining direct download access to Universal Class™'s copyrighted material is not how the educational service is intended to be used and is not supported and will result in account suspension. You also acknowledge that Universal Class, Inc. is a site of learning and excessive failure rates of course lessons may also result in account limitations or account suspension.

Condition 8: Your Compliance with all Local, National, and International Rules of Content and Online Conduct

 

Under the terms of this agreement, you agree to comply with all local, regional, national, and international rules and policies regarding acceptable Content and online conduct. Under the terms of this agreement, you agree to comply with all laws applicable to or regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence.

Condition 9: Your Acknowledgement of Universal Class, Inc.'s Trademark Information

 

Under the terms of this agreement, you agree to refrain from displaying or using in any manner or form trademarks of Universal Class™ without prior written permission from Universal Class™. These trademarks include: Universal Class™ Universal Class, Inc., "UniversalClass.net, UniversalClass.org, UniversalClassroom.com, UniversalClassroom.net, UniversalClassroom.org, UniversalCourse.com, UniversalCourse.net, UniversalCourse.org, "Learn it Your Way Now",UniversalClass.com,"www.universalclass.com".

Condition 10: Your Obligation to Report Violations of This Agreement to Universal Class™

Under the terms of this agreement, you agree to report to our Customer Services Department any violations of the aforementioned conditions that must be met in order for you to have free use of the services of Universal Class™.

Condition 11: Appropriate Instructor Behavior and Conditions of Acceptance of Payment

Under the terms of this agreement, if you use our service as an instructor to promote your online class, you agree to only be paid for your services through Universal Class, Inc. You will not accept payment directly from learners or any other entity other than Universal Class, Inc. You agree not to require students to purchase any items or promote any products or services that would personally benefit you directly (or indirectly) other than the cost of the course handled by Universal Class, Inc. Any instructor teaching on UniversalClass™ who does not abide by these terms is subject to immediate suspension and removal from service.

Condition 12: Links to Other Internet Websites and Resources

Universal Class courses include hyperlinks to other websites which we do not own, maintain, operate or control. Universal Class is not responsible for the contents, products or services offered from other websites. We do not approve, review or endorse the contents of any of these websites or the products and services that may be offered.

Condition 13: Course Certificates, CEUs and Certifications

Universal Class and its instructors reserve the right to discontinue, interrupt or reschedule any course or modify its content as well as any assessment methods at any time. Your performance and assessment in any Universal Class course is determined by the sole discretion of the course instructor. You may earn a CEU Certificate upon satisfactory completion of a Universal Class course, however, you acknowledge that this CEU Certificate is not affiliated with any college or university. You acknowledge that any certificate awarded by Universal Class or by any of its instructors will not replace or substitute any certificate course or program taken at an accredited institution. You acknowledge that you will receive no academic credit for taking or completing any course on Universal Class. You may not use any certificate or award issued by Universal Class or any of its instructors to represent any part of any tuition-based or for-credit certification or program for any college, university, or other academic institution. Such use of our CEU Certificates violates these Terms of Service. Universal Class only offers online CEU Certificates. We do not provide any hard copy or any hard copy delivery services for any course completion certificates.

Condition 14: Online Course Length

If you register, enroll, audit or in any way "participate" in any Universal Class™ online courses, you agree that the length of time of your enrollment is limited, and that if you fail to complete a Universal Class™ course within the specified amount of time allowed or stated by Universal Class™ (usually 6 months unless otherwise specified), you agree to the following: 1. There are no refunds or service credit/vouchers after your enrollment period has ended, or after 6 months, whichever is less. 2. There are no refunds on any portion of the Course Fee or Pre-Paid Discount Certificate Option if you fail to complete the course within the time allowed, or after 6 months, whichever is less. Extensions may be granted in some extenuating circumstances, should the course continue to operate after enrollment expiration. However, extensions and/or course subscription renewals incur additional charges. 3. There are no refunds, extensions, discounts, returns, vouchers, credits or exchanges on any used or unused portions of any sitewide membership/subscription plans.

Condition 15: Billing

There are no pro-rated refunds for unused time. Accounts that are more than 1 (one) day delinquent in payment may be suspended until payment has been received. For platinum monthly subscribers or yearly subscribers that opted to autorenew your account: your account is not "monitored" for inactivity and we do not assume that you wish to cancel if you do not use your account. Customer is responsible for any disputed charges beyond 30 days from the date of the charge. Any accounts that go into collections will be transferred to a collections agency and incur a $25.00 processing fee.

Condition 16: Termination of Service

Universal Class™ reserves the right (and sole discretion), to stop, cease, terminate, restrict, suspend or remove your specific access to any or all parts of any (or all) services provided by UniversalClass, including (but not restricted to) online courses, interactive features, course request processing, promotion of any/all classes, award/certificate processing, or any general use of our service at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability. Universal Class™ may modify, suspend or discontinue all or any part of our service at any time, including the availability of any content (electronic, data or otherwise), feature, database, awards, courses, certificates, logs, or anything else that we retain, use, or publish as part of our service at any time, without prior notice or liability.

Condition 17. RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES BY BINDING ARBITRATION

READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. THIS SECTION PROVIDES FOR RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION BEFORE A NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR INSTEAD OF BY A JUDGE, JURY, OR CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.

17-1. Mandatory Binding Arbitration

All disputes arising out of or related to this Agreement or our Service in general (whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal or equitable theory) must be resolved by final and binding arbitration. This includes any dispute based on any Service, advertising or otherwise having a connection to this Agreement. The arbitration will be conducted by one arbitrator using the procedures described by this Section. If any portion of this Resolution of Disputes by Binding Arbitration Section is determined to be unenforceable, then the remainder shall be given full force and effect.

The arbitration of any dispute shall be conducted in accordance with the American Arbitration Association's ("AAA") Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes, as modified by this Agreement, which are in effect on the date a dispute is submitted to the AAA. To the extent that such procedures differ from this Agreement, this Agreement shall govern to the fullest extent permitted by law. In conducting the arbitration and making any award, the arbitrator shall be bound by and strictly enforce the terms of this Agreement and may not limit, expand, or otherwise modify its terms.

NO DISPUTE MAY BE JOINED WITH ANOTHER LAWSUIT, OR IN AN ARBITRATION WITH A DISPUTE OF ANY OTHER PERSON, OR RESOLVED ON A CLASS WIDE BASIS. THE ARBITRATOR MAY NOT AWARD DAMAGES THAT ARE BARRED BY THIS AGREEMENT AND MAY NOT AWARD PUNITIVE DAMAGES OR ATTORNEYS' FEES. YOU AND Universal Class™ BOTH WAIVE ANY CLAIMS FOR AN AWARD OF DAMAGES THAT ARE EXCLUDED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT. In the event that a dispute arises out of this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to its reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, regardless of whether in house or outside counsel is employed.

17-2. Arbitration Information and Filing Procedure

Before you take a dispute to arbitration or to small claims court, you must first write to us at Universal Class, Inc., 10150 Highland Manor Drive, Suite 200, Tampa, FL 33610-9712, and give us an opportunity to resolve the dispute. Similarly, before Universal Class™ takes a dispute to arbitration, we must first attempt to resolve it by contacting you. If the dispute cannot be satisfactorily resolved within ninety (90) days from the date you or Universal Class™ is notified by the other of a dispute, then either party may contact the AAA and request arbitration of the dispute. Information about the arbitration process and the AAA's Arbitration Rules and its fees are available on the Internet at www.adr.org. The arbitration will be based only on written submissions of the parties and the documents submitted to the AAA relating to the dispute, unless either party requests that the arbitration be conducted using the AAA's telephonic, online, or in-person procedures. Additional charges may apply for these procedures. Any in-person arbitration will be conducted at a location the AAA selects in Florida, Hillsborough County. Arbitrations under this Agreement shall be confidential as permitted by federal law.

17-3. Time for Filing Claims

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Service or the Agreement must be filed with the AAA within one year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

Condition 18: All Prices Subject to Change at Anytime for Any Reason.

Universal Class™ reserves the right to change prices of services at any time for any reason and without notification.

Condition 19: Service Availability and Maintenance.

Universal Class will make every effort to provide service availability 24 hours / day, 7 days a week. However, Universal Class will need to perform periodical maintenance in order to ensure continued Service that is efficient, secure, fast, and reliable. Whenever possible, this maintenance will occur during off-peak hours (when traffic is lowest). If scheduled maintenance will potentially result in service that is not available for longer than 4 hours, Universal Class will contact learners by either email or social media (via its Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages) about the downtime and provide status updates. If you find the service is unavailable or unresponsive, please check the Universal Class Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages for alerts and status updates and/or to post queries.

Condition 20: Disclaimer of Warranties.

Neither Universal Class™ nor any provider of any third party content (including any of our students or online instructors or their respective courses) or their respective agents warrants that any service provided by Universal Class™ (whole or in part) will be uninterrupted or error free. Universal Class™ (and all third party content) make no warranties as to the results obtained by using any part of our service including use of any of our online courses. Everything offered by Universal Class™ is provided "As Is" with no guarantee of availability or quality. Universal Class™ and all third party vendors (and their respective agents) do not make any warranties of any kind, either express or implied.