Overview
These terms are the agreement between you and the University of South Padre Island and Lower Laguna Madre, which we call SPIU or the university below. They apply to enrolled students and everyone who uses 2spiu.com, 4uspi.com or the university app. Please read them carefully. We have written them to be clear and accessible.
What SPIU is, and what it is not
SPIU is a membership program built around local experiences in South Padre Island and Lower Laguna Madre, Texas. You enroll, visit the island and our local Pillar Businesses, and record the moments the island gives you. The university keeps your record, confirms your credits and awards you a degree when you complete your degree card’s requirements.
SPIU is not an accredited school, college or university. Our degrees, credits, diplomas, badges and titles celebrate your island experiences. They are not academic credentials, do not represent an academic qualification and carry no academic standing. Enjoy these honors as personal milestones and share them as celebrations of your time on the island.
Agreeing to these terms
You agree to these terms when you join a waitlist, create an account, enroll, join as a Pillar Business or an Island Server/Employee, or use SPIU sites and the university app. Please be a responsible member and respect these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use our sites or app.
If you enroll additional students, each student receives their own account and agrees to these terms when they first sign in. Each student is responsible for their own actions, not the actions of the other students.
Who can enroll
You must be at least 18 years old to enroll and create an account. Some Pillar Businesses serve alcohol. You must be at least 21 to purchase alcoholic beverages in Texas and must follow applicable alcohol laws and each business’s rules. Credits come from an eligible receipt or a moment you record, never from consuming alcohol or other intoxicants. We do not ask or encourage anyone to consume intoxicants, and we do not reward unlawful or irresponsible behavior.
All applicants must enroll with valid legal identification, such as a state-issued driver’s license or state ID. Use your real name, provide accurate information on all forms and electronic submissions to SPIU, and keep your account information up to date.
Your account
The university does not use passwords. Sign in with a one-time, six-digit code sent to your email address, or use your Google account. You do not need to create or remember a code. If your emailed code expires, choose “Send a new code” on the sign-in screen.
Keep your email account secure. Anyone with access to it may be able to sign in as you. If you suspect someone has accessed your SPIU account, secure your email account and contact SPIU immediately through the Help page. Requesting a new sign-in code does not secure a compromised email account.
A few simple rules keep every record honest.
- One person, one account. Do not share, sell or transfer an account.
- Use your real name. Your diploma is printed with the name on your account.
- You are responsible for everything that happens under your account.
Enrollment and payment
Enrollment is a one-time fee of $200 for single enrollment or $197 per student for group enrollments of up to 13 students during the Grand Opening. Each student gets their own account and degree progress. Prices may change for future purchases; the price shown at checkout applies to your purchase. Prices are in US dollars and do not include taxes you may owe where you live.
Payments are processed by Stripe, a payment company. Your card details go to Stripe, not to us, and we never see or store your full card number. By paying you also agree to Stripe’s terms for the payment itself.
Enrollment opens your account and your four degree cards the moment your payment clears, so enrollment fees are not refundable except where the law requires it or we have agreed to it in writing. If something went wrong with a payment, such as a duplicate charge or a payment for the wrong plan, tell us within 14 days through the Help page and we will put it right.
Earning credits and degrees
Each degree asks for its own kind of evidence. Most credits come from a photo of a receipt from a Pillar Business. Others come from posts you make, such as a catch with its species, length and weight, a stop along your road trip, or a moment of peace on the beach. Betty, our guide, helps you keep track, and a person reviews what you submit.
This is how review works.
- The Pillar Business or the university reviews each receipt. If no one has rejected a receipt within 48 hours of your submitting it, it is approved automatically.
- Posts are reviewed by the university before they count.
- A receipt can count toward every degree the business qualifies for. Submit it once.
- If a submission is not approved, you will see why and you can submit again.
Submit only receipts and photos that are genuinely yours and genuinely from the visit they describe. We may reject, reverse or remove any credit, and may close an account, where a submission is altered, copied, bought, borrowed or otherwise not what it claims to be. We make these decisions in good faith and they are final.
The program will grow and change. The credits a degree asks for, the list of Pillar Businesses, the seasons and the rewards may all change over time. Credits you have already earned stay earned, and your progress carries between visits for as long as your account is open.
Diplomas, rewards and events
When you complete a degree, your diploma appears in the app, ready to download and print yourself. Diplomas are for your personal, non commercial enjoyment. Please do not present one as an academic credential.
Other rewards, gear, gatherings, raffles and giveaways we announce have rules of their own, which we publish with them. They may change or end. Where the law requires it, a promotion will carry its own official rules, and those rules govern that promotion.
Action Jackson referrals
Every enrolled student gets a personal Action Jackson link. When someone enrolls through your link and pays, you earn a referral commission, which is $50 per qualifying enrollment during the Grand Opening. The amount for future enrollments may change, and we will say so in the app before it does. A commission you have already earned is never reduced afterwards.
An enrollment qualifies when all of these are true.
- It is a new, paid enrollment that came through your link.
- It is not your own enrollment or a place in an enrollment you paid for or were invited to.
- It is not refunded, reversed or disputed.
- It was not won by misleading anyone about SPIU, by spam, or by breaking another platform’s rules.
Commissions are held for a short period after the enrollment so the payment can settle, and are then paid to the Stripe account you connect in the app. You are responsible for any taxes on what you earn, and we may ask for the details needed to issue tax forms where the law requires them.
When you talk about SPIU to earn referrals, be honest about what it is, and say that you earn a commission when someone enrolls through your link. The Federal Trade Commission requires that disclosure, and so do we. Your link stays active for as long as your account does. We may cancel commissions and links won through fraud or misrepresentation.
Pillar Businesses
Local businesses can join SPIU as Pillar Businesses. The opening rate is $13 for 18 months and may change after that. When you join, you agree to the Pillar Business terms shown on the joining page, including how reciprocation works, and to these terms.
As a Pillar Business you agree to a few things in return for being on the university map.
- Review the receipts students upload from your business honestly and promptly. A receipt you do not reject within 48 hours is approved automatically.
- Treat what you see as private. You see receipts from your own business and the name on the student’s account, nothing else, and you may not use it for anything but review.
- Keep your listing accurate, and tell us through the Help page when something changes.
We may remove a listing, with notice where we can, if a business closes, misleads students or misuses what it sees.
The island is real, and you are responsible for yourself there
Pillar Businesses, charter captains, guides, bars, restaurants, rentals and every other place on the island are independent. We do not own, operate or control them, and we are not responsible for what they sell, how they serve you or what happens on their premises. Your dealings with them are between you and them.
Fishing, boating, swimming, driving and long nights out carry real risks. You take part in them at your own risk and by your own judgment. Follow the law wherever you are, including Texas Parks and Wildlife rules on fishing licenses, seasons, sizes and limits, and never drive after drinking. Nothing in the program is a reason to put yourself or anyone else in danger.
Betty is an AI guide
Betty is an AI guide built on a large language model from a third party provider, with a synthetic voice for the course narration. She knows the university and your progress and is good company, but she can be wrong. Nothing Betty says is legal, medical, financial or safety advice, and a person, not Betty, confirms every credit. Please do not put anything sensitive into a chat with her.
Your photos and posts
What you upload stays yours. You give the university permission to store, process, review and show your receipts, photos and posts to you and to the people who review them, so that we can run the program. Your submissions are private. We do not publish them, and if we ever want to use one of yours publicly we will ask you first.
By uploading, you confirm that you took the photo or have the right to share it, including the permission of anyone who appears in it.
Our names and artwork
The SPIU name, the badge, the degree names, Betty, Action Jackson, the Mermaid Society and the artwork, writing and software on our sites belong to the university or its licensors. You are welcome to share your diploma, your progress and your stories about SPIU. Please do not copy our artwork or imply that we endorse something we have not.
What we ask you not to do
- Submit a receipt, photo or post that is not genuinely yours or not from the visit it describes.
- Mislead anyone about what SPIU is or what a degree means.
- Harass, threaten or impersonate anyone, including Pillar Business staff and university reviewers.
- Probe, scrape or disrupt our sites, or access them with automated tools.
- Share, sell or transfer an account, a referral link or a commission.
The university store
When the store is open, prices, shipping and any taxes are shown at checkout, and payments go through Stripe. Items are made to order by a print partner and shipped to addresses in the United States. Because each item is made for you, we cannot take returns for a change of mind. If an item arrives damaged, misprinted or wrong, tell us within 30 days of delivery through the Help page and we will replace it or refund it.
Closing an account
You can delete your account at any time from Settings. Access ends immediately and the Privacy Policy explains what is removed and what we have to keep. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, after warning you where that is reasonable. Fees are not refunded when an account is closed for breaking the terms.
Disclaimers and limits on liability
The sites, the app and the program are provided as they are and as available. We work to keep them running well, but we cannot promise they will always be available or error free, and much of the experience depends on weather, seasons, the Gulf and the independent businesses of the island.
To the fullest extent the law allows, the university and the people who build and run it are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, and our total liability to you for all claims together is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose. Some places do not allow some of these limits, and in those places they apply only as far as the law permits.
Disagreements and governing law
If something goes wrong, tell us first through the Help page. Most things are put right with one conversation. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, and any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be heard in the state or federal courts located in Cameron County, Texas, where South Padre Island and Port Isabel sit.
Changes to these terms
We will update these terms as the university grows. When we do, we will post the new version here with a new date, and for changes that matter to you we will also email the address on your account. Using the sites or the app after a change means you accept the new terms.
How to reach us
The quickest way to reach the university is the Help page in the app. It works whether or not you are signed in, and your message goes straight to the people who run SPIU.