Posted on: Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Marketing package draws criticism

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Under criticism for buying a $20,000 marketing package to promote its student-athletes for college scholarships, the Department of Education said yesterday that lots of support was already in place for "regular students."

"We produce on an annual basis a book of scholarships available in Hawai'i; our counselors work directly with students to identify scholarships and we direct people toward lots of good resources available on the Internet," said DOE information officer Greg Knudsen.

"There is ongoing support for regular students," Knudsen said.

He said the package of services purchased from Global Sports Recruiting Agency of New Jersey cost the DOE only $10,000. The other $10,000 was paid by the Public Schools of Hawai'i Foundation, he said.

"That's a relatively small amount for the number of people it serves," Knudsen said.

Dwight Toyama, executive secretary of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association, said the web-based marketing package would be available to about 20,000 student-athletes at Hawai'i's 44 public high schools.

The Advertiser received several e-mails criticizing the DOE's move.

"I have three children in schools who are not athletes. Is the DOE putting money aside to help my children find scholarships, too?" asked John Rebelledo in a typical message.

Knudsen said that Bulletin No. 15, "Scholarships and Financial Aid," contains 100 pages "specifically directed toward Hawai'i students.

He also said several other Web sites offered help. "One of the better ones is called Cash and is the UH Web site," he said. The URL is http://dbserver.its.hawaii.edu/cash.

Others, he said, included www.fastweb.com.