Portal-Terms-of-use

Portal Terms of Use

Last Modified: July 2, 2026

These terms of use are entered into by and between you and South Dakota Workforce Scholarships (“SDWS,” “we,” or “us”). The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively, “Terms of Use”), govern your access to and use of our online scholarship portal located at [freedomscholarshipsd.com], including any content, functionality, and services offered on or through it (the “Portal”).

This Portal is offered and available to users who are 17 years of age or older and who reside in the United States or any of its territories or possessions. By using this Portal, you represent and warrant that you meet all of the foregoing eligibility requirements. If you do not meet all of these requirements, you must not access or use the Portal. If you are under 18 years of age, you may use the Portal only with the involvement, supervision, and consent of a parent or legal guardian. By using the Portal, you represent that a parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms of Use on your behalf. A parent or legal guardian who permits a minor to use the Portal agrees to be bound by these Terms of Use and to be responsible for the minor’s use of the Portal. The Portal is not intended for, and may not be used by, children under 17 years of age.

If you are under 18 years old, completing certain agreements through the Portal requires the signature of your parent or legal guardian as co-signer. The parent-consent acknowledgement in these Terms of Use governs your use of the Portal only; it does not constitute, evidence, or substitute for the signatures or consents required to execute the relevant agreements, which are governed by those documents and applicable law.

Changes to the Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them and apply to all access to and use of the Portal thereafter. However, any changes to the dispute resolution provisions set out in the section titled Governing Law and Jurisdiction will not apply to any disputes for which the parties have actual notice on or before the date the change is posted on the Portal.

Your continued use of the Portal following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page frequently so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you.

Accessing the Portal and Account Security

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend this Portal, and any service or material we provide on the Portal, in our sole discretion and, where practicable, with notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Portal is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict user access, including registered user access, to some parts of the Portal or the entire Portal.

You are responsible for both:

Making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Portal.
Ensuring that all persons who access the Portal through your internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and comply with them.

To access the Portal or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Portal that all the information you provide on the Portal is correct, current, and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with this Portal or otherwise, including, but not limited to, through the use of any interactive features on the Portal, is governed by our Portal Privacy Policy and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Portal Privacy Policy.

If you choose, or are provided with, a username, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to this Portal or portions of it using your username, password, or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your username or password or any other breach of security. You also agree to ensure that you log out and exit your account at the end of each session. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information.

We have the right to disable any username, password, or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion for any or no reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Portal and its entire contents, features, and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video, and audio, and the design, selection, and arrangement thereof) are owned by SDWS, its licensors, or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws. This section applies to the Portal and its software and content and does not apply to your User Submissions or your personal information, which are governed by the User Submissions section and our Portal Privacy Policy.

These Terms of Use permit you to use the Portal for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store, or transmit any of the material on our Portal, except as follows:

Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials.
You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes.
You may print or download one copy of a reasonable number of pages of the Portal for your own personal, non-commercial use and not for further reproduction, publication, or distribution.
If we provide desktop, mobile, or other applications for download, you may download a single copy to your computer or mobile device solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you agree to be bound by our end user license agreement for such applications.

You must not:

Modify copies of any materials from this site.
Use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences, or any graphics separately from the accompanying text.
Delete or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.

You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Portal or any services or materials available through the Portal.
If you wish to make any use of material on the Portal other than that set out in this section, please address your request to: elli@sdworkforcescholarships.org.

If you print, copy, modify, download, or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Portal in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use the Portal will stop immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. No right, title, or interest in or to the Portal or any content on the Portal is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by SDWS. Any use of the Portal not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws.

Trademarks
The SDWS name, the terms South Dakota Workforce Scholarships, SDWS, Freedom Scholarship, the Freedom Scholarship logo, and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of SDWS or its affiliates or licensors. You may not use such marks without the prior written permission of SDWS. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans on this Portal are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Prohibited Uses
You may use the Portal only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Portal:

In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the U.S. or other countries).
To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any material that does not comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.
To impersonate or attempt to impersonate SDWS, a SDWS employee, another user, or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using email addresses or screen names associated with any of the foregoing).
To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Portal, or which, as determined by us, may harm SDWS or users of the Portal, or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:

Use the Portal in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party’s use of the Portal, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Portal.
Use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Portal for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Portal.
Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Portal, or for any other purpose not expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, without our prior written consent.
Use any device, software, or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Portal.
Introduce any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful.
Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Portal, the server on which the Portal is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to the Portal.
Attack the Portal via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Portal.

User Submissions

The Portal allows registered users to submit and upload scholarship-related documents, agreements, and other materials in connection with the Freedom Scholarship Program, including, following graduation, employment verification (collectively, the features that allow you to submit or upload materials, the “Interactive Services”); the Interactive Services allow users to submit or upload to us (hereinafter, “submit”) content or materials (collectively, “User Submissions”) on or through the Portal.

All User Submissions must comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.

By providing any User Submission on the Portal, you grant us and our service providers a limited right to use, store, reproduce, and process the User Submission solely as necessary to operate and administer the Portal and the Freedom Scholarship Program and as described in our Portal Privacy Policy. We treat your User Submissions, including any personal information they contain, as confidential and handle them in accordance with our Portal Privacy Policy and applicable law. Nothing in these Terms of Use authorizes us to use or disclose your personal information in a manner inconsistent with our Portal Privacy Policy or applicable law.

You represent and warrant that:

You own or control all rights in and to the User Submissions and have the right to grant the license granted above to us and our service providers and each of their and our respective licensees, successors, and assigns.
All of your User Submissions do and will comply with these Terms of Use.

You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Submissions you submit or contribute, and you, not SDWS, have full responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy, and appropriateness.
We are not responsible or liable to any third party for the content or accuracy of any User Submissions submitted by you or any other user of the Portal.

Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination
We have the right to:

Remove or refuse to accept any User Submissions for any or no reason in our sole discretion.
Take any action with respect to any User Submission that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such User Submission violates the Terms of Use, including the Content Standards, infringes upon any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Portal or the public, or could create liability for SDWS.
Take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Portal.
Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Portal for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these Terms of Use.

Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to cooperate with law enforcement authorities or comply with a court order or other legal process that requires us to disclose the identity or other information of any user, in each case only to the extent required by law. YOU WAIVE AND HOLD HARMLESS SDWS AND ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS FROM ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY ACTION TAKEN BY SDWS DURING, OR TAKEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF, INVESTIGATIONS BY EITHER SDWS OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.
However, we do not undertake to review all material before it is submitted to the Portal and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been submitted. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding transmissions, communications, or content provided by any user or third party. We have no liability or responsibility to anyone for performance or nonperformance of the activities described in this section.

Content Standards
These content standards apply to any and all User Submissions and use of Interactive Services. User Submissions must in their entirety comply with all applicable federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations. Without limiting the foregoing, User Submissions must not:

Infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual property or other rights of any other person.
Violate the legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms of Use and our Portal Privacy Policy[SB1] .
Be false, inaccurate, inappropriate, or misleading, or misrepresent your identity, eligibility, or qualifications.
Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote, or assist any unlawful act.

Impersonate any person or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.

Reliance on Information Posted

Except as stated below, general information presented on or through the Portal is provided for convenience and may not be complete or current, and any reliance you place on that general information is at your own risk. This does not apply to information we provide about your scholarship. Information we make available to you about your own scholarship is provided by SDWS and is intended to be accurate and current, and you may rely on it, subject to the following: if there is a conflict between information displayed on the Portal and your official scholarship award documentation or agreements, the official documentation or agreements control, and we may correct errors and will notify you of any correction that affects your scholarship or repayment obligations.

Changes to the Portal

We may update the content on the Portal from time to time. We will maintain and update the information specific to your scholarship as needed to keep it accurate and current. Other general content on the Portal may not always be complete or up to date.

Information About You and Your Visits to the Portal

All information we collect on this Portal is subject to our Portal Privacy Policy. By using the Portal, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the Portal Privacy Policy.

Links from the Portal

If the Portal contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to this Portal, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

Geographic Restrictions

The owner of the Portal is based in the State of South Dakota in the United States. We provide this Portal for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Portal or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Portal may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Portal from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Portal will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES, OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE PORTAL OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE PORTAL OR YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY PORTAL LINKED TO IT.

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THE SECTION TITLED “RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED,” YOUR USE OF THE PORTAL, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE PORTAL IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE PORTAL, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE PORTAL ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER SDWS NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH SDWS MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR AVAILABILITY OF THE PORTAL. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER SDWS NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH SDWS REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE PORTAL, ITS CONTENT, OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE PORTAL WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE, OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE PORTAL OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE PORTAL WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, SDWS HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. NOTHING IN THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES LIMITS OR DISCLAIMS THE COMMITMENTS WE MAKE REGARDING SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION IN THE SECTION TITLED “RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED.”

Limitation on Liability

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THE SECTION TITLED “RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED,” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SDWS, ITS AFFILIATES, OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE PORTAL, ANY PORTALS LINKED TO IT, ANY CONTENT ON THE PORTAL OR SUCH OTHER PORTALS, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

The limitation of liability set out above does not apply to liability resulting from SDWS’s gross negligence or willful misconduct.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. NOTHING IN THIS LIMITATION ON LIABILITY LIMITS OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION COMMITMENTS DESCRIBED IN THE SECTION TITLED “RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED.”

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless SDWS, its affiliates, licensors, and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Portal, including, but not limited to, your User Submissions, any use of the Portal's content and services other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, or your use of any information obtained from the Portal.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Portal and these Terms of Use, and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of South Dakota without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of South Dakota or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use or the Portal shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States or the courts of the State of South Dakota, in each case located in the City of Sioux Falls and County of Minnehaha. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

Limitation on Time to File Claims

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE PORTAL MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES; OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by SDWS of any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of SDWS to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use and our Portal Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and the SDWS regarding the Portal and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations, and warranties, both written and oral, regarding the Portal.

Your Comments and Concerns

This Portal is operated by South Dakota Workforce Scholarships, P.O. Box 71, Hosmer, SD 57448.

All other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications relating to the Portal should be directed to: elli@sdworkforcescholarships.org.