Colleges adopt networks for freshmen

WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Colleges across the country, including Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., have launched private networks to help incoming students feel more at ease.

The networks, like Wilkes's HelloWilkes, use a style similar to social networking site Myspace.com to allow students to answer questions and explain policies to incoming freshmen, USA Today reported Wednesday,

"The other kids were able to put my mind at ease that the dorm rooms are livable," incoming Wilkes freshman Andrew Seaman told the newspaper. He said the other students on the site also gave him advice on getting involved in student government.

More than a dozen colleges offer similar networks and the number is growing.

"In a year or two virtually every college will have something like this," communications Professor Steve Jones at the University of Illinois, Chicago, told USA Today.

He said the format is useful because "this has become such a familiar mode of communication for teenagers; it's basically meeting them on their own turf. It makes it more comfortable to get information they might not otherwise get."