ScholarGamers could tap into a large market of teens scouring the internet for the latest web-based games.
Ninety-seven percent of 12- to 17-year-olds play computer, web, or console video games, and half of teens surveyed said they played a video game “yesterday,” according to research published by the Pew Research Center in 2008.
The Pew research also shows parents’ hesitation to let their children play video games without restriction. Forty-six percent of parents surveyed said they “always or sometimes” stop their children from playing games, while three in 10 said they sometimes play the games with their kids.
Corinne Gregory, president and founder of SocialSmarts, a program aiming to develop children’s social skills, said parents would welcome the chance for their daughter or son to earn scholarship money in middle school, but ScholarGamers’ competition would require daily dedication to non-educational video games.
“The only way to get good is to play lots,” said Gregory, a mother of three. “I can’t really condone having my kids play video games for extended periods of time. … And I would remind students that there are lots of other ways to earn scholarship money.”
Tartaro pointed to statistics that show student loan debt has reached unprecedented levels. Four-year college graduates left campus with an average of $24,000 in loan debt in 2009, a 6 percent increase from 2008, according to The Project on Student Debt.
College students in New Hampshire and Washington, D.C., graduated with the most student debt, around $30,000, according to the study, which included student debt levels at more than 1,000 colleges and universities. Graduates in Georgia and Utah left school with the least debt, at $16,500 and $12,860, respectively.
“That’s how [students] are starting their adult lives, buried in debt, and that’s a tough thing,” Tartaro said. “We’re trying to provide a little relief from that.”
Still, urging teenagers to put down their books and play online games, Gregory said, would be anathema to everything a parent strives for during their child’s formative years.
“It’s soft gambling,” Gregory said of ScholarGamers. “I don’t want my kids to spend untold hours in front of a computer screen just to have a slim chance at a scholarship. … Most parents, I think, are smart enough to realize that.”
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