Using Colleges/Universities

[MsNadi]

My partner and I are getting ready to pitch to a local university (we where are alumnae) to ask the Graphics Designs school about getting some students to help create a flash splash page. Why? To get better talent at a lower cost of course.

So the questions becomes: has anyone done this before? How do you approach colleges/university professors to see about using their students? Do you mention money up front or hope they realize you want the work for free/cheap?

Thanks in advance.

[YouDidWhat]

Yeah, I'm a student at the University of Texas and I would say that you are going about this in the dumbest way possible. I am in the business school, and went and found some Comp Sci Majors to code one of my sites and negotiated the price down to 3 cases of budweiser. Go looking for the students.

Post a job offer on a board in the Design Building.
Post in the area Craigslist.
Walk into the building and ask around. These are poor college kids. They would love to make money doing something they already enjoy.

If your goal is to get this done for free, I hope you fail. College kids are people as well, and since you already realize they've got the skills, just pay them

YouDidWhat

[RnO]

I know that one possibility would be to approach a teacher in a related class (web site design, flash etc) and include a the design of your site (given the limitations such as time) and the concept.

The winning team gets their web site published, and you can also reward them if you would like.

The advantage here is that students learn working on a tangible and practical project, and you get to choose from a couple of sites. You don't even have to choose one of the sites proposed come to think of it.

I did a business plan for a local company that wanted to export its pasta when I was in biz school, I was happy that for once it wasn't just another theoretical project,

[MsNadi]

Yeah, I'm a student at the University of Texas and I would say that you are going about this in the dumbest way possible. I am in the business school, and went and found some Comp Sci Majors to code one of my sites and negotiated the price down to 3 cases of budweiser. Go looking for the students.

Post a job offer on a board in the Design Building.
Post in the area Craigslist.
Walk into the building and ask around. These are poor college kids. They would love to make money doing something they already enjoy.

If your goal is to get this done for free, I hope you fail. College kids are people as well, and since you already realize they've got the skills, just pay them

YouDidWhat

That's exactly what I'm advocating. I'm not asking that my entire site be built by some college students for free.

I have contacts within the graphic design school at my alma mater and I've been told by graduates of this program that many times they did, as their projects, work for companies. And as I said in my original post, I"m willing to pay...I just can't pay the $1000's that folks on Craigslist are asking. And I've been told by graduates that students might do the work for much less ($250-$500).

I'm asking how to go about approaching the professors and leaderships about these types of opportunities.

"I hope you fail". Wow! Thanks. We will not. That I can guarantee.

[Mbaptista]

I would go straight to the Program coordinator and see if you could get it worked into a class. I remember once for my marketing class in the past we helped the school with a book purchasing project that was done for grades. If all else fails go straight to the student, post an add with all the details and say its for a portolio peice.

Unfortunantly there is a lot of garbage out there and good talent is hard to find. I had many university students apply to work with my agency and the quality of work is really lacking now a days.

[MsNadi]

Yikes!

I found the same when going through "traditional" avenues like Craigslist. Folks who wanted to charge $4K and $5K for a simple flash splash page (only database driven content is a name and email address form). Ridiculous!!

Hopefully, my friend who is a graduate of the graphic design program, is indicative of the work they can do.

And I know that leads to the question - why not have your friend do it? - he's working on his own projects (and getting paid well to do so). Can't knock that.

[akula]

looking good

good fin management is the effective non-use of cash

hussle hard :-)

but it's also about priorities....if you're spending time on splash pages (rather than worpress page or something equally quick), that means you're not getting other things done

I use a list. It has three columns. Some jobs go in the critical column. Other jobs go in the "nice to have" column. Jobs in that column make their way to the trash can.

[MsNadi]

Danny,

The reasoning behind the flash splash page is to mirror that of imin.com (the splash page is no longer available as the site has launched). They utilized a splash page, that hinted at the contents and purpose of their page, while developing the code to 'bring the idea to life'.

So what we've realized is that our web presence is going to take about 60 days (a little less) to develop. That being said we've begun development, with a potential launch December 10th (damn that Thanksgiving Holiday).

But we'd like to begin marketing/branding now (why sit and twiddle, right?). At the same time we'd like to start pushing for corporate partnership (we've got our contacts! WOOHOO!!). But we think it'd be for more beneficial (and legitimizing) of us to have something that we can point people too. While it might not be the finished design, or a prototype - it is something that we believe we can use to garner interest and legitimacy (and a potential database of interested folks as the splash page concludes with "want to know more: name and email address").

At the same time, by "contracting" the development of a splash page to some uber-talented college students (in an ideal world) we, as partners, are still free to work on other areas of our company. Our question at this point is simply how to go about approaching colleges and universities - with a pitch or with a simple email detailing what we're trying to do and what we want, that leads to more open lines of communication?!

Does it still sound like something that would go in the "nice to have" column? Let a girl know.

[akula]

knock 'em dead nadiyah

you really do have that thing with perfection, don't ya?

I can see it

stop it

haha, you're gonna do great :-)

[mary anne]

If you're going to deal with college students, night as well deal with them in a mature way as an entrepreneur would.

My suggestion would be to go to the professor and suggest to hold an event wherein the students will compete against each other and pit their skills in designing the best site. You give a prize, of course. you cna also have them work with you when you begin the task of using their concept for the site.

I think it's a win-win situation this way. You get what you want, and the students get to have some real work experience pertaining to their field.

[tekmoney]

My college, (RIT) had a job posting baord on the web for all types of employment. If that's not available at your school, then the route you're going is a good one as well. Students are definately some good, cheap labor. I would know, I used to be one

[MsNadi]

Haha...indeed.

I, too, was once "good cheap labor". Now I charge!! HAHA!

Hey, it just makes me think of "internships" - a lot of which are unpaid. We're willing to pay - just not much.

[MsNadi]

knock 'em dead nadiyah

you really do have that thing with perfection, don't ya?

I can see it

stop it

haha, you're gonna do great :-)

Haha... I spill it all out to you because you have a history of telling US (me and my partner) when we're being dumb (and need to hear it).

[riscphree]

has anyone done this before? How do you approach colleges/university professors to see about using their students? Do you mention money up front or hope they realize you want the work for free/cheap?

What you can do is talk with someone about employment (I work at a University, and the lady that deals with student employment works in the scholarships office).

This is a rather common thing to do. You could also offer an internship with your company to further give the student experience.

Most colleges also have job fairs, that might be something to look into as well.

[jpmorgan13]

here is what I did: go to the website of your local college, email the department head, just say who you are, what you want, and really emphasize the benefits to the students you take on. each school has their own policy. you will probably have to fill out some paperwork.

its that simple. quit dilly-dallying and get to it...don't get so wrapped up in planning... it will paralyze you later on when things pick up.