Partnership Allows Low-Income Teens More Access to College Information

SEATTLE, Dec. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Low-income teenagers now have a new resource to assist them in their college application and preparation process, a gamified platform that includes student-written college reviews, comprehensive college matching, and scholarship search capabilities. The platform is the result of a partnership in which Unigo will make these interactive resources available to the hundreds of thousands of low-income teenagers active on Get Schooled's user interface.

Students can access the platform here: www.getschooled.com.

Through research, Get Schooled has made some key findings (http://bit.ly/11Oc4td):

• Low-income students often don't have access to the same college application and preparation resources that others do. Many college preparation sites require that students have an account through their school, and then sometimes collect and sell student data. Other sites are just difficult to navigate.
• There are few college application sites that target the needs of younger students preparing for college. Most sites target high school juniors and seniors, but not middle school students and high school freshmen and sophomores.

Unigo and Get Schooled have joined forces to help bridge this "information gap" for younger and low-income teenagers. They are two of the only organizations that directly engage teenagers on a large scale, and provide a variety of interactive resources focused on high school and college success.

This is what the partnership will do:

• It will connect the more than 1.5M visitors to Get Schooled (70 percent of whom qualify for free/reduced price lunch) with Unigo's curated, in-depth, and teen-friendly collection of college preparation tools, resources, and reviews.
• It will help motivate teenagers by giving them positive reinforcement from Get Schooled. That will happen through a unique technology connection that rewards the Get Schooled users for actions taken on Unigo.

"Our goal is to use our insights and innovative technologies to ensure that students are making the right decisions about their future, and this partnership is profound in its ability to serve as a whole new outlet for us and our resources," said Brad McMahon, Senior Vice President of Digital Services at Unigo Group.

"Teenagers are much more connected to education when content is delivered in an engaging way, and that's especially true when tackling the college application and preparation process," said Marie Groark, Executive Director of Get Schooled.

"Get Schooled has built a fully gamified platform that delivers both, and this partnership with Unigo will ensure that hundreds of thousands of low-income teens can easily access the appropriate resources while still having fun."

Connecting with teenagers requires more than a web-driven campaign. Teenagers today want to engage with, not just consume, content, which is evident by the prevalence of teenagers on interactive social sites (90 percent of teenagers) like Twitter (59 percent) and Instagram (76 percent), according to recent research by Piper Jaffray, an investment bank and asset management firm.

During this college application season, Get Schooled is challenging its 85,000 social media followers and hundreds of thousands of other teenagers to condense and share their college personal statement in six words on Twitter using #collegeapplication. One entry will be chosen to receive a college scholarship.

This partnership launches during the national College Application Season coordinated by the American Council on Education.

About Unigo Group

Unigo Group (https://www.unigo.com/) improves students' decision-making and outcomes by providing the most personalized and accurate platform for matching students with schools, financing, rewards and jobs. Our network of targeted web properties delivers over nine million unique consumer interactions each year, while our related private student loan business includes more than 100,000 loans originated and serviced, reflecting more than $300 million in student loans provided.

Unigo Group uses its unique insights and proprietary technologies to provide complete and transparent information that helps higher education consumers choose the right school for their needs and future goals. We improve Return on Education™. From picking a school, to funding your education, to maintaining financial discipline while you build your career, Unigo Group is a trusted and reliable partner.

Unigo Group is a portfolio company of Aequitas Capital (http://www.aequitascapital.com/). Founded in 1993, Aequitas Capital is a diversified financial services company that creates alternative investments including private equity, private credit and specialty finance. The firm leverages its robust network of industry experts to invest in under-served sectors that drive the overall economy in the areas of education, healthcare and financial services. Aequitas helps its portfolio companies and strategic partners reach their goals by providing management expertise, technology infrastructure and a network of support services.

Please follow @Unigo for more information.

About Get Schooled:
Get Schooled (https://getschooled.com/dashboard) is a non-profit organization that directly engages and motivates students to graduate from high school and succeed in college. Get Schooled is the premiere education brand for young people—linking students with high quality, cutting edge resources and tools they need to succeed. Get Schooled's work is boosted by partners like Viacom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Google. Get Schooled works in close partnership with college access organizations across the United States in an effort to encourage students to access the information and financial aid they need to attend college.

Media Contacts

For Get Schooled:
Marie Groark, Get Schooled
(917) 280-2692
[email protected]

For Unigo Group:
Dana Taormina, JCPR
(973) 850-7305
[email protected]

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SOURCE Unigo Group