New Apps Make College Access And Success Easier For Students And Parents

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- College Summit today launched 19 new online and mobile apps to help students get to and through college. Zombie College, a game that promotes a fun way of learning about the college access process; CollegeAbacus, a one-stop shop for comparing college pricing; and Career Connect, an app that links students with experts to answer questions about college and career paths are among the apps that became publicly available on the web, Facebook, Apple's App Store, and Google Play. The apps can also be found on CollegeAppMap.org, a site that will aggregate the best in class college access and success apps.

Originally created for low income students to navigate the college process, the apps are essential tools for all families with college-bound students. All 19 apps released today are winners of the College Knowledge Challenge, a competitive grant initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and led by College Summit to award $2.5 million for developing Facebook, online and mobile applications that make the college-going process more transparent, collaborative and easy to navigate for low-income and first-generation students and their families. The majority of the apps are free or available at minimal cost.

"This is an important new category of apps. The path to college is neither easy nor intuitive – especially for a student whose parents, siblings and friends have not pursued it. These apps provide all students – no matter their circumstances - with a simple, step-by-step approach through the college application process," said Dr. Keith Frome, Co-founder of College Summit, Executive Director of the King Center Charter School and the co-leader of the College Knowledge Challenge

As an original sponsor of the College Knowledge Challenge, Facebook provided technical assistance to the developers as they engineered their apps for Facebook's platform. In addition, the Challenge provided developers with ongoing input and feedback from current high school seniors from schools in low-income communities, including those who are participating in College Summit's college access program. College Summit is a national nonprofit that creates a corps of students at low income high schools who are given intensive training to use their influence to lead their peers to and through college.

"Postsecondary education presents more risks and more reward than ever before. These new apps help students take advantage of the tremendous lifetime earnings that come with a college degree and avoid accumulating too much burdensome debt," added J.B. Schramm, Founder of College Summit. "Bottom line:  parents and their kids need to be smart shoppers and this technology gives them the tools to be discerning consumers."

About College Summit
College Summit is the national nonprofit that transforms the lives of low-income youth by developing a corps of high school students who lead their peers to and through college.  The organization, which has been recognized for its social innovation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and President Obama, annually serves 50,000 students. College Summit provides a system for improving college access and career success in 180 partner high schools in 15 states. Learn more at www.collegesummit.org.

SOURCE College Summit