1. Not just how to pay for college – but who to trust.
Christina Reisinger
EDTL 6360 Web Page Evaluation
2. A Tale of Two Sites
Something almost every college student needs…
Money to help pay for college!
Let’s evaluate two sites:
www.StudentLoans.gov
And
www.StudentLoan.com
My Reason for choosing this comparison:
As a former VP for a financial institution, I used to get a lot of questions
about student loans. I also have a huge personal commitment to students’
financial literacy. When I performed a google search for Student Loans, I
was provided several ads related to the search, but the first two sites
provided were for the ones above. Not only did I see this as an opportunity
for this class, but also a future lesson for my students on website evaluation
and personal finance!
3. Criteria #1
Authority
• Who is responsible for the web content?
• www.StudentLoans.gov • www.StudentLoan.com
•The United States Department of • Citicorp Inc. is responsible for the content.
Education is responsible for the site. The domain extension of .com could also
One can also glean that the United give us a clue as to the type of site it is.
States government is responsible for the .com means it is a commercial site.
web content due to the domain
extension of .gov.
• The government can be considered qualified in • Citicorp could be considered qualified. They are in
providing information on student loans as they are the financial services business and a student loan is a
responsible for regulating the student loan industry financial service.
as well as having responsibility for the regulation of
colleges and universities.
.com might mean something to us…
4. Criteria #2
Accuracy
IS THE INFORMATION BASED ON VERIFIABLE FACTS? WHAT IS THE
SOURCE OF THE INFORMATION? ARE THERE LINKS TO OTHER SOURCES?
• www.StudentLoans.gov • www.StudentLoan.com
• The United States Department of • Citicorp Inc. is the source of the
Education and therefore the US information. Citibank is a subsidiary of
Government is the source of the Citicorp.
information.
• Most of the links for information on the site
There are links to other governmental sites link back to the site in some way. There
for more information or for assistance, are very few links to other sources of
such as mynextmove.org, the US information.
Department of Labor’s Career Search
tool or Sat.collegeboard.org for
information on undergraduate
admissions testing.
StudentLoan.com is starting to seem a little fishy…
5. Criteria #3
Currency
• No, not the paper kind you can spend!
• How recent is the information? When was it placed on the web?
• When was it last revised? Is the information timely?
• Are there dead links on the site?
• www.StudentLoans.gov • www.StudentLoan.com
• The information seems recent, but there • The site was last copyrighted in 2012, so
is no date to show when it was the information should be timely and up to
published or last updated. Information date. There appear to by no dead links
on the site refers to the 2012-2013 on the site, however most of the links loop
school year so the information seems back to the site itself.
timely. There are no dead links on the
site.
6. Criteria #4
Objectivity
• Is the information presented with a minimum of
bias? Is the information fair, balanced, and
reasonable?
• www.StudentLoans.gov • www.StudentLoan.com
• The information is non-biased and the • The information is one sided and rates are
links allow for exploration into types of not provided until you apply for a loan, so
aid, schools, and ways to avoid scams. information is not made available to
There are links to other governmental everyone. Most of the links on the site
agencies that can provide assistance come back to the site. There is little
as well as outside sources of information available for exploration.
information. Rates are provided for
anyone to view.
Objectivity is important to consider so you know if
a site is credible or possibly up to no good…
7. Let’s unlock the mystery of the
Student Loan sites!
I choose www.StudentLoans.gov
• I trust the domain extension of .gov. A .com site indicates a
commercial site that could be vying for my business. I also
found the inability to link to sites outside of the
Studentloans.com site disturbing. Citicorp has a vested
interest in my application for a student loan through their
site, they don’t seem like they want to provide other non-
biased information for me to consider.
