Your financial data is private to you
You can use the calculator without signing in at all. If you do sign in, your saved models are stored in your account and can only be read by you.
What data we collect
If you use UniCost without signing in: Nothing is sent to our servers. Your calculations and any saved models are kept in your browser's local storage on this device only.
If you sign in with Google:
- Your Google account email address and name, provided by Google when you authenticate.
- The models you save: a name you give each model and the calculator inputs you enter (for example salary, household income, course length, living situation, career-break assumptions and overpayment choices).
How we use your data
We use your email and name to identify your account and to keep your saved models linked to you. We use your model inputs so you can come back later, edit them, and sync them across devices. We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or selling to third parties. We do not run any analytics or tracking scripts.
Legal basis for processing
For Google sign-in, we rely on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by deleting your account data or signing out. For storing your saved models, we rely on the contract-like relationship of providing the cloud-sync service you asked for. We process only the minimum data needed to run the calculator and sync your models.
How long we keep your data
Your saved models and account data are kept while your account remains active. If you delete your saved models from the account menu, they are removed immediately. If you stop using the service, inactive accounts and their data may be deleted after a reasonable period. You can request deletion at any time by contacting us.
Security
Your models are stored in a database protected by Row Level Security: each row is tagged with your user ID and the database only returns it when you are authenticated as that user. We do not have a way to browse user models. Traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS) and the underlying platform encrypts data at rest. Your Google OAuth sign in is managed through the platform's authentication service.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR and EU GDPR you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or export your personal data. You can do most of this directly in the app:
- Access / export: open any saved model to see the inputs you stored.
- Correct: edit a model and save the changes.
- Delete: use the "Delete all my saved models" option in the account menu, or delete individual models from the model menu.
- Object / withdraw consent: sign out and stop using the sign-in feature; continue anonymously instead.
Third parties
We use Google OAuth for authentication and a managed cloud database service to store signed-in users' models. We do not share your data with any other third parties.
Cookies
We only use essential cookies needed to keep you signed in and secure the service. There are no marketing or analytics cookies.
Changes and contact
We may update this notice as the app changes. If you have questions or want to exercise your data rights, please contact the person or organisation running this UniCost instance.
Last updated: 15 August 2026. This notice is a plain-English description of how the app handles data. It does not constitute legal advice.