College Connection Website - One stop location for all college students to find entertainment, events, and employment in their region.
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Submitted by:
- Interests:
- entrepreneurship, technology,...
- Location:
- Harrisburg, PA
Idea Description
The proposed website would effectively connect college students in a particular region, in this first case the greater Harrisburg metro area, alerting them to the best entertainment, events, discounts, internships, job openings, things to do, and places to see in the region. Part of the initiative also includes a student comprised team in charge of facilitating monthly events that will allow students from all participating schools to interact, network, and get connected to the Harrisburg area. The initiative is specifically targeting the brain drain in the region, facilitating student engagement and personal connection to the area so that they'll be more inclined to stay after graduation.
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?
Meet with a local web design company to create an innovative and effective website. I have already begun meeting with all regional colleges, economic development organizations, tourism bureaus, the Harrisburg Young Professionals, chambers of commerce, and others who stand to benefit to raise support and promote the initiative.I will put together a student events team and plan to launch the whole package hopefully by August.If I can raise the funds, I'd like to start the semester off with a huge festival to introduce students to the city and really kick off our programs.If the initiative increases student enrollment & retention in Harrisburg then I'd like to scale it to other cities as well.
Comments
Add a commentThanks for all the advice, at the moment I anticipate the whole initiative being self sustaining by year 4. The revenue stream would come from corporate sponsors for the events, and ads as well as job posting fees for the website. With the amount of traffic the site will produce from a dozen colleges and all the prospective students checking out the site I don't think the revenue will be a problem once the site is up.
Great Idea. I followed the link from Daniel Victor's blog. That's a good way to get noticed on here.
Questions I need advice on
- Q1.
- How much is too much to ask for? I know to ask for $5,000 a year from a 4 year college is really minimal, considering the number of new students the initiative will create. I just don't want to go into this asking for too little, so how do I determine the best pay to play asking price? Respond
- Q2.
- Obviously the funding is the biggest challenge, but how do I convince the colleges that they need to participate? They do stand to benefit from increased enrollment through the website, but getting any support from local universities who usually don't want to work together is always a challenge. Respond
Click here to give general advice
Advice
We've had good luck pursuing relationships with college admissions offices and on-campus student government organizations. Unless your site is dependent on the participation and/or approval of college administrators, you should target the students directly. Ultimately, they're the ones that'll be using your site and keeping it alive.
I do not think I would attempt to have the universities/colleges try to "work together", but that they work independently through you. You would become the facilitor/broker ot connecting students with businesses.
Funding may be obtained through partnerships with local businesses, the Better Business Bureau and/or any other business related groups, i.e. Jaycees, Chamber of Commerce, etc.
I really like that you have thought about the broader implications on the region when considering the need for this concept! Well done. I would suggest looking for funding through website sponsorship. Some of the local entertainment providers may be willing to get in behind it and this would give you a more sustainable revenue stream long term than trying to rely on college funding. Your student government may be willing to kick in some $'s or maybe student activities as you are providing entertainment for the broader student body. You could also consider making it a subscription service where students pay a nominal fee to log in and find out all the cool things that are happening. That way you could include private parties and the like that you don't want broadcast to the general public.
It sounds like a really good way to connect students! Good luck with your venture!
My question to you is this a simple one. Where is the revenue stream?
An opportunity needs not only a market need, which you have addressed, but the ability to generate cash flow to support the costs and earn a profit (or if it is a social venture, build a reserve fund).
I am not saying that there is no possible revenue stream. I just don't see that you have thought about that part of the idea.
The registration fees and money from student government suggested by the previous comment is possible, but I doubt that this would amount to much. Who would pay to support this site? Advertisers? Maybe, but they need volume.
Part of this idea sounds like campusmenus.com - check that out for some ideas