Private colleges seek students via the web

A coalition of Iowa’s 30 private colleges has launched a group website to recruit new students. Kathleen Gannon, spokeswoman for the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, says many prospective students think private colleges will be out of their price range. Gannon says that is not always true. She says many times students can attend a private college in Iowa for just about the same price as a public college. The website “www.DontBeANumber.com” features a variety of links, including one section called the College Finder. There, Gannon says you can select a batch of things you’re looking for in a college, like marching band, certain majors or an urban environment, and punch “Find”. The website features profiles of all 30 private Iowa colleges. Gannon says it also enables Internet surfers to play video messages from “freshman ambassadors” from the various schools. The “Cool Stuff” category features live webcasts from many of the 19 student-run college radio stations. Gannon says the association is taking this website approach because research finds 60-percent of high school students use the Internet to search for colleges.