1. About these terms
These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") are the agreement between you and Studying Plus LLC, a Michigan limited liability company based in Taylor, Michigan, USA ("Studying Plus", "we", "us"). They apply when you register for, enquire about, book or pay for any of our services: educational tours, study abroad guidance, the Opportunities Portal, and any offer or promotion.
You must read and accept these Terms, the Refund and Cancellation Policy and the Privacy Policy before you register for a service. Together they are "the Agreement". If there is a conflict, this order applies:
- Special terms: terms written on your invoice or in a separate document we give you, which you accepted before paying, come first.
- Refund and Cancellation Policy: governs payments, cancellations and refunds.
- Privacy Policy: governs personal information.
- These Terms: govern everything else.
2. Who can accept
You must be at least 18 to accept these Terms for yourself. A parent, legal guardian or authorised adult must accept for anyone under 18 and stays responsible for them.
If you register a group (a school, club, company or family), you confirm that you have authority to accept for the group, that you have shown these Terms to every participant or their parent or guardian, and that you are responsible for passing on our messages to them.
3. Enquiries, quotes and bookings
Registering interest, asking for a quote or sending an enquiry is free. It is not a booking, and we do not take payment from the website.
A quote is valid for the period stated on it. Prices, routes, dates, hotels and access depend on supplier availability until we confirm in writing.
A tour booking is confirmed only when we send a written invoice and receive the registration (advance) payment shown on it. A study abroad engagement starts only when you sign our written agreement and pay the first stage fee. The payment schedule and cancellation rules are in the Refund and Cancellation Policy.
4. Prices, currency and payment
Our prime currency is the US dollar (USD). Our Europe tours are listed in euros, and the website shows amounts in your local currency as a guide. Whatever currency a price is shown in, we charge the equal amount in USD, worked out at the exchange rate on the date of your invoice. Exchange rates on the website are updated at least once a day, are indicative, and may differ from the rate used for your invoice.
How we invoice. We take payment only against a written invoice, through our payment providers (currently Wise and PayPal, and any other provider we add), or by bank transfer as the invoice states. Where Wise or PayPal supports your currency, we may make your invoice in that currency instead, for the equal amount. Where they do not, your invoice is in USD. Your invoice always states the exact amount and the currency to pay.
Bank and other charges. Your own bank, card issuer or payment provider may add charges that we do not control. They differ from bank to bank and from country to country, and they are subject to your bank's own policy. They include, but are not limited to, international transaction fees, currency conversion charges, the exchange rate your bank applies, taxes, and local bank charges. These charges are your responsibility. They are not part of our price, and we cannot refund them. Please ask your bank what it will charge before you pay.
Check payment details before you pay. We never change bank details by email alone. If you are unsure, ask us to call you back on the number you gave us, and check the details with us before you pay. Pay only to the account or link shown on our invoice or a message from info@studyingplus.org.
5. Cancellations and refunds
Your right to cancel and the amount refunded depend on the service and are set out in the Refund and Cancellation Policy, which forms part of this Agreement. Nothing in these Terms limits any right you have by law.
6. Your responsibilities
You must:
- give us accurate, complete and current information, including names exactly as they appear on passports;
- hold valid passports, visas, permits and vaccinations needed for the trip, and check entry rules for every country on the route (see our Travel Rules);
- tell us in good time about health, mobility, dietary or other needs that affect the service;
- arrange travel insurance. We strongly recommend it, and it is not included unless your itinerary says so;
- follow the instructions of tour leaders, hosts, institutions, hotels, airlines and local law; and
- be on time for departures and group activities.
We may refuse to continue a service, or remove a participant from a tour, for serious misconduct, danger to others, illegal behaviour, or false information. In those cases the refund rules for a traveller-side cancellation apply. If we remove a participant for a safety reason that was not their fault, we refund the unused services we have not paid for.
7. Our services and suppliers
We will provide the services with reasonable care and skill and as described in your itinerary or agreement.
Flights, hotels, transport, venues, guides and institutions are provided by independent suppliers. Their own terms apply to their part of the service. We choose them with care, but we are not the carrier or the operator of their services.
Itineraries may change for reasons such as weather, closures, security, timetable changes or supplier failure. We will tell you as soon as we can and will offer a fair equivalent. Events beyond our reasonable control are dealt with in the Refund and Cancellation Policy.
8. Study abroad guidance
Our service is guidance and application support. Admission, scholarship, visa and immigration decisions are made by universities and governments, not by us. We do not guarantee any outcome, and our guidance is not legal or immigration advice.
You are responsible for the truth of every document and statement you give us or submit through us. We do not prepare false or misleading documents. Application, test, tuition, deposit and visa fees are paid by you directly to third parties and are separate from our fee.
9. Opportunities Portal
The portal is free. Students and organisations use it to find and offer projects. It is a meeting place, not an employer, recruiter or agent for either side. We do not guarantee that any project, organisation or student is genuine, suitable or safe, although we review listings and act on reports.
When you use the portal you must:
- give accurate profile information and keep your sign-in details private;
- not post anything unlawful, misleading, discriminatory, harassing or infringing, and not copy others' work;
- never ask a student to pay to apply or take part, and never pay to apply (report any request for payment);
- agree any stipend, schedule, safety and intellectual-property terms directly with the other side; and
- follow the academic-integrity and safeguarding rules shown in the portal, including extra care when a student is under 18.
You keep ownership of what you post. You give us a limited licence to host, display and moderate it so the portal can work. We may remove content or close an account that breaks these Terms, and we will tell you why where we reasonably can.
10. Photos and media
We may photograph or film tours and events and use the material to describe our services. You can tell us before departure, or tell the tour leader, that you do not want to appear. We do not use identifiable images of a person under 18 without a parent's or guardian's consent.
11. Electronic communications and signatures
You agree that we may send notices, invoices, receipts and agreements to you by email, and by text message if you opt in. You agree that ticking the acceptance box and pressing the accept button is your electronic signature. We keep a record of the version of the Terms you accepted and the date and time.
12. Limits on our liability
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything that cannot be excluded by law.
Subject to that, we are not liable for loss caused by supplier failure outside our reasonable control, for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of opportunity, and our total liability for a service is limited to the amount you paid us for that service. Some places do not allow these limits; where that is so, they apply only as far as the law allows.
13. Your responsibility for loss you cause
You are responsible for loss or damage that you or the people you register cause by breaking these Terms, giving false information, or damaging property, to the extent the law allows.
14. Disputes and governing law
Please contact us first. Write to info@studyingplus.org and we will try to resolve it within 30 days, using the complaints steps in the Refund and Cancellation Policy.
Michigan law governs this Agreement. Courts in Wayne County, Michigan have jurisdiction, unless the law of your country gives you the right to use your local courts or to keep mandatory consumer protections. Those rights are not affected by this clause.
15. General
- Changes: we may update these Terms. The version you accepted at registration governs services you have already booked. A new version applies to later bookings, and we will ask you to accept it.
- Whole agreement: the Agreement is the whole agreement about the services and replaces earlier statements about them.
- If part is unenforceable: the rest stays in force.
- No waiver: if we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
- Transfer: you may not transfer your booking or account except as the Refund and Cancellation Policy allows for name substitution.
- Language: the English version governs.
16. Contact
Studying Plus LLC, Taylor, Michigan, USA Email: info@studyingplus.org · Contact form: studyingplus.org/contact.html