Students Study For A Net Gain

Surfing the Internet has become as common on college campuses as all-night cramming sessions, but much of the time spent online is for entertainment rather than education.

A new survey by Greenfield Online showed that 84 percent of students surf the Net. More than half have direct access from on-campus housing.

Students still tend to browse more than shop online, the study found, with only one-fourth having made an online purchase. Among those who are buying, music CDs are the favorite purchase.

Here are other findings from the study:

* Seventy-one percent of respondents go online more than once per day, up from 54 percent a year ago.

* Sixty-one percent spend one to four hours a day online, an increase from 52 percent in May 1998.

* Sixty-one percent regularly visit entertainment sites, 32 percent shopping sites, and 18 percent travel sites.

You don’t have to be a student to check out the following Web sites:

The Three R’s: What’s a parent to do on a summer day when the sun don’t shine and the kids turn grumpy?

Try pointing them in the direction of Sylvan Learning Center’s free online reading incentive program.

The kids can improve their reading skills and earn prizes on the side, and the online connection makes it seem more like fun and less like schoolwork.

http://www.bookadventure.com

Pay to play: If you pay your credit card bills in full every month, it pays to shop for cards that reward you for using them.

Frequent flier, cash back and other rebate cards are all over the place, and the “Credit Card Goodies” Web site helps consumers comparison shop for them.

http://www.flur.com/cards/

Staying afloat: Still dreaming about slipping off into the sunset aboard a cruise liner?

You can pick up pointers about life aboard a cruise ship and information on best bets and values from Cruise Reports new online magazine.

Some areas are off limits to all but subscribers, but there’s plenty of useful information in those portions accessible to all visitors. The inaugural issue, for example, noted that the “Columbia Queen” will join the flotilla plying the waters of the Columbia/Snake river system next spring.

http://www.cruise-reports.com