Cookie Policy

Effective date: 2026-07-18

This page lists every cookie Global Scholarships sets, what it is for, and how long it lasts. Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) we can set strictly-necessary cookies without asking; any other cookie needs your consent, which we ask for on the banner shown when you first visit.

1. Cookies we set

Cookie	Purpose	Category	Duration	Party
`authjs.session-token / next-auth.session-token`	Keeps you signed in for the duration of your session.	Strictly necessary	Session (deleted when you sign out or the token expires)	First-party
`gs_sid`	Opaque session identifier used to correlate a single visit (for example so the paywall-view event is counted once, not once per refresh). No profile is built, no third party receives it, no personal data is stored against it on the client.	Strictly necessary	1 hour of inactivity, or the end of the browser session	First-party
`gs_cookie_consent`	Records your choice on the cookie banner so we don't ask again on every page.	Strictly necessary	1 year	First-party
`__stripe_mid / __stripe_sid`	Set by Stripe's payment form on the checkout page to detect fraud. Only present after you begin a paid unlock.	Payment	__stripe_mid: 1 year; __stripe_sid: 30 minutes	Third-party

2. Why `gs_sid` is strictly necessary, not analytics

gs_sid is a random identifier used only to link together the requests that make up one visit. It lets us record “this visitor saw the paywall” once instead of once per refresh, and it lets a support ticket be joined to the session it happened in. It is not sent to any third party, it is not used to build a profile of you, and it is not used for advertising. Under PECR, cookies that are strictly necessary for a service you have asked for do not require consent; a session correlator for a paywalled service falls squarely in that category.

3. Third-party cookies

Stripe sets cookies on the checkout page for fraud detection. These are set only when you actually begin a paid unlock. See Stripe’s cookie policy for details.

4. Managing cookies

You can withdraw or change your banner choice at any time by clearing the gs_cookie_consent cookie in your browser; the banner will re-appear on your next visit.
Most browsers let you block or clear cookies from Settings › Privacy. Note that blocking the strictly-necessary cookies above will break sign-in and paid unlocks.
To stop all optional analytics, click Reject on the banner. The strictly-necessary cookies above are still needed for the site to work, so we keep them.

5. Contact