Online College Information Resource CampusDirt.com Helps Students Picture Campus Life

Online College Information Resource CampusDirt.com Helps Students Picture Campus Life

New CampusPics Service Invites Students to Post Candid Photos

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- You've seen the glossy photos on college brochures, you've visited the school website, but how can you be sure what campus life really looks like at your prospective college? Online college information resource CampusDirt.com has the answer in its newest service, CampusPics. With CampusPics, students can post-and review-candid photos of more than 850 college campuses in the nation.

"To a prospective college student, there's no such thing as too much information," explains Mike O'Brien, CampusDirt.com founder and the president and CEO of education finance leader FinancialAid.com. "With CampusPics, students can check out student-submitted photos of real life on college campuses-what college dorm rooms actually look like, how much school spirit you can see day to day, and the diversity of students and activities." All CampusPics photos are member-submitted, and CampusDirt.com screens submissions prior to posting to ensure they meet quality guidelines.

The student-friendly photo service launched in early December to enthusiastic response. "We started with 160 pictures," says O'Brien. "Within a week, that number had jumped to 375. We've seen more than 1800 visitors a day to this new service and response is only growing." To encourage photo submissions, CampusDirt.com enters students in a raffle for an Apple iPod for every entry. According to O'Brien, "It's our way of saying thank you to our members for sharing something of their college experience to prospective students."

The CampusDirt.com member community is growing, too. More than 275,000 students and families have used CampusDirt.com since its launch in April, and the site is currently ranked "The Most Popular in College Life" on Amazon.com's site-reviewing website, Alexa.com

To check out CampusPics or any of CampusDirt.com's suite of services, visit the website at www.campusdirt.com.

ABOUT CAMPUSDIRT.COM and FINANCIALAID.COM

CampusDirt.com is part of FinancialAid.com's ongoing commitment to deliver leading edge services, products and benefits to students, parents and college graduates. CampusDirt.com was created to help prospective college students make informed school choices by providing an insider's view of what life on our nation's campuses is truly like, through proprietary and ongoing surveys of tens of thousands of current undergrads and recent grads.

Established in 2000, FinancialAid.com provides parents and students with cost-effective education finance solutions-before, during and after college. Through its industry-best student loan counselors, expert editorial content and free scholarship and college search engines, FinancialAid.com provides a comprehensive and easily accessible guide to the college selection, scholarship application, education funding and student loan consolidation processes. Each month, FinancialAid.com funds more than $25 million dollars in student loans.

FinancialAid.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Education Lending Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDLG), a specialty finance company principally engaged in providing student loan products, services and solutions to students, parents, schools and alumni associations. For more information about Education Lending Group, go to www.educationlendinggroup.com.


Source: Education Lending Group, Inc.

CONTACT: Jennifer Stark of FinancialAid.com, +1-800-642-1580, ext. 7216,
jenn.stark@edlending.com

Web site: http://www.campusdirt.com/

Web site: http://www.financialaid.com/

Web site: http://www.educationlendinggroup.com/


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