CZ News Articles & Press Releases

Better Business Bureau Recognizes CollegiateZone with Winner of Distinction Award Award honors company's achievements and commitment to overall excellence and quality in the workplace

Houston, TX (May 24, 2010)– CollegiateZone (CZ) received the 2010 Winner of Distinction Award at the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Awards for Excellence luncheon held at the InterContinental Houston. CollegiateZone is the creator of Topquest (www.topquest.net) a powerful online tool that streamlines the high school to college, college to college, or college through college prep/application process, allowing students to search, match and apply to colleges, funding and resources. “Receiving this award is an honor and reflects the commitment that our team has to promoting higher education and helping more kids get into college," said Stuart Scandridge, President and Founder of CollegiateZone. Topquest is a software tool that automatically matches students to colleges, scholarships, grants and resources. Detailed results are based on the student’s personal and academic criteria. Students complete the one-time, online CZ College Prep Form and use this one application to databank their information. Used in conjunction with the unique CZ Auto-fill Tool™, students can apply to multiple colleges with the click of a few buttons, saving hours. The BBB Awards for Excellence recognizes businesses and non-profits for their achievements and commitment to overall excellence and quality in the workplace. Proceeds from the event help fund the BBB Education Foundation which educates consumers about scams and fraudulent business practices in the Greater Houston area.   DeSoto School Signs Up for TOPQUEST Desoto High School students will be using CollegiateZone’s TOPQUEST service to search, match and apply to colleges, as well as search for funding. With the web-based system, students will also be able to apply to multiple colleges using the one-time, online CZ Common App and Auto-fill software. “I am very excited about this service,” said Georgette Felder, DeSoto High School guidance counselor. “As counselors we stay busy – whether we’re advising students on the classes to register for, handling concerns or attending training classes.  Having a service like this will allow students to easily search for colleges and scholarships on their own without solely relying on their counselor to find opportunities for them.”   Waller High School Signs Up for TOPQUEST Waller High School has entered into an agreement with CollegiateZone (CZ). The 2-year contract allows students to use TOPQUEST to search, match and apply to colleges, as well as search for funding. Students also can to apply to multiple colleges using the one-time, online CZ Common App and Auto-fill software. “We are excited about the alliance with CollegiateZone,” said Kelly Baehren, principal of Waller High School . “Students can begin researching colleges and scholarships earlier and on their own. And, it lets our guidance counselors focus on other responsibilities, like preparing students for college entrance exams.” Waller H.S. guidance counselors participated in a 90-minute training session on May 1. The agreement adds nearly 1500 students to the CZ system.     By Elizabeth Armstrong - Christian Science Monitor When 'sports recruiters' come knocking Stuart Scandridge first learned of sports recruiters when one knocked on his door in Houston. His son Chris, a skilled quarterback in his senior year in high school, caught the eye of a recruiter when he made some important plays at the homecoming football game. But all attempts to talk down the price of marketing Chris to big football schools proved futile. The recruiter wouldn't budge: It would cost Mr. Scandridge $1,250 to send a sheet of information to 200 schools. "That just took the air out of him," Scandridge says. "There's not a photograph, just the statistics and a name. These people came to us and called themselves recruiters, and I thought, he's not from a college, he's from a business. He's trying to turn a profit." It was too much money for the father of six, so Scandridge typed up three pages of information about Chris and his activities and faxed them to 50 colleges himself. Within a week, 17 schools responded by mail and by phone. Chris was a hot commodity. But after months of searching, Chris ultimately chose a school where he could pursue his lifelong dream of being a pilot - even though it meant forfeiting his football ambitions. "It's important for kids to understand that the world is made up of more than one thing," his father says.