Cookie Policy
This page explains the cookies Acadanow uses, why we use them, and how you can accept or refuse them at any time.
What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website saves in your browser when you visit. On your next visit the site can read that file again. Related technologies such as local storage and pixels work in a similar way, and this policy covers those too.
Cookies can keep a page working, remember a setting you chose, or count how many people read an article. They cannot run programs on your phone or laptop, and they cannot read other files on your device.
A cookie is a note the site leaves in your browser so it can recognise your browser later. Nothing more.
The categories of cookies we use
We group cookies by what they do rather than listing every single one. Cookie names and lifetimes set by third parties such as Google can change without notice, so a fixed list here would quickly become wrong. The table below describes each category honestly and tells you who sets it.
| Category | What it is for | Who sets it | Needs your consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Keeps the site working: page loading, security, and remembering that you already answered the cookie banner. | Acadanow | No. The site cannot work without these. |
| Preferences | Remembers small choices you make, such as a setting you picked, so you do not have to set it again. | Acadanow | Yes |
| Analytics | Counts visits and shows which articles are read, so we know what to write more of and what to fix. | Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity | Yes |
| Advertising | Supports advertising on the site, including measuring whether an advert was seen or useful. | Google and its advertising partners | Yes |
Your answer to the cookie banner is itself stored in your browser under the key acn_consent. That record is strictly necessary, because without it the banner would ask you the same question on every page.
Our cookie banner and your choice
A cookie banner appears when you first visit acadanow.com. It offers two buttons: Accept cookies and Essential only. Until you pick one, every non-essential cookie stays switched off. We do not treat scrolling or continued browsing as consent.
You are free to change your mind later. Use this link to change your cookie choices and the banner will open again so you can choose differently. Clearing your browser data also wipes the stored choice, and the banner will ask you afresh.
Nothing optional runs until you say yes, and you can switch your answer at any time from any page.
Google Consent Mode and what denied means
We use Google Consent Mode v2. In practice this means the Google tags on our pages are told what you chose before they do anything. Analytics storage and advertising storage both start in the denied state, and they only move to granted if you press Accept cookies.
While a category is denied, the tag does not write or read cookies for it. Google may still receive a basic, cookieless signal that a page was loaded, which carries no identifier for you and is not used to build a profile.
If you choose Essential only, your choice stays denied for the rest of your visit and on later visits, until you change it yourself.
Analytics cookies
With your consent we use Google Analytics 4, property ID G-JNEHX5N4DS, and Microsoft Clarity. Analytics tells us things like how many people opened a scholarship guide, which pages load slowly, and where readers give up.
Microsoft Clarity also records anonymous interaction data such as scrolling and clicks, which helps us spot broken layouts on small screens. We use these tools to improve the site, not to identify you personally.
Analytics shows us which guides actually help students. Refuse it and we simply count you as one unnamed visit, or not at all.
Advertising cookies and Google
Acadanow is free to read, and advertising is how we intend to pay for it. We are currently applying to Google AdSense. If and when adverts are approved and switched on, Google and its partners may set advertising cookies on this site, but only after you press Accept cookies.
You can control how Google personalises adverts for you across the web at adssettings.google.com. Google explains how it uses data from partner sites at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Your browser gives you a second layer of control, separate from our banner. Every major browser lets you view the cookies a site has stored, delete them, block third party cookies, or clear everything when you close the window.
Look under Settings, then Privacy and security, in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge or Opera on both phone and computer. Many phones also offer a private or incognito window, which discards cookies as soon as you close the tab.
Remember that cookies are stored per browser and per device. Changing your choice on your phone does not change it on a shared laptop at a cyber cafe, so set it on each device you use.
What happens if you refuse cookies
The honest answer: nothing important breaks. Every article, scholarship listing and admission update on acadanow.com stays fully readable if you choose Essential only. We do not hide content behind consent and we do not nag you after you have answered.
The only difference is on our side. We see less about which pages help readers, and any future adverts will be less relevant to you. That is a trade we accept, because the choice belongs to you.
Press Essential only and the whole site still works. You lose nothing as a reader.
Changes to this policy
We update this page when the tools on the site change, for example if advertising goes live or a new analytics tool is added. The date at the top always shows the most recent revision, so check it if you want to know whether anything has moved.
This policy sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers personal data more broadly. We handle data under Nigeria’s Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, and under the GDPR and UK GDPR for readers in the EEA and the United Kingdom.
Contact us
Get in touch
Questions about cookies, or want to know what we store about your visit? Email contact@acadanow.com or use the form on our contact page. Tell us which browser and device you used so we can answer accurately.
Acadanow, formerly published as Realmina, operates acadanow.com. You can also change your cookie choices right now without contacting anyone.