Combating Student Loan Debt With Video Games

Tools

by Kirk Hawkins
Bio | Email | Follow: @kirkhawkins

Story Created: May 9, 2012 at 8:22 PM EDT

Story Updated: May 9, 2012 at 10:24 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Student loan debt has topped more than one trillion dollars nationwide.
It's a problem that a new website claims it can attack one game at a time.
They say thousands of dollars worth of free money is just a click away.

Farm-Ville is one of the many games that Queens University Student Christina Platero likes to play.
"It's just a way to relax," said Platero. Despite juggling two jobs to pay off her student loans, she's not so sure about Grantoo. Platero said, "I've never heard of something like that so I'm not sure how that would work or if I would trust that."

Grantoo hosts social gaming tournaments. As part of those tournaments, students compete to win educational grants.The money comes from Grantoo's corporate partners. In a skype interview, the company's founders told us students have won 1 and 2 thousand dollar prizes.
But, they hope they'll eventually give away 30-thousand-dollars.
"Its time for corporate america to step in and help the government in an innovative way to sponsor education," said Grantoo's founder Dimitri Sillam.

Depending on how well you do, Grantoo says they'll send your university a check. They say that check can be applied to tuition, room and board and even books. Queens University Student Stephen Palmateer said, "I'm not really big on playing video games but  if it helps me do what I need to do, sure I'll be into it." Palmateer has been struggling with student loans for the last four years, "It piles up every year. Tuition is always rising."

Grantoo launched today for UNC-Charlotte, Queens University and Davidson College. It's already available at Elon University, Duke University, North Georgia College and about 40 other campuses nationwide.

For More Information: www.grantoo.org

 

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