University Parent guide aims to make Boulder visits more comfortable
Parents are there to help send their kids to college, but sometimes they need a little help themselves.
The University Parent Company publishes a guide for parents, informing them where to shop, eat and stay while visiting their student.
University Parent creator Sarah Schupp, a CU graduate, is nominated for the top entrepreneurial person under 25 for her company. Schupp began University Parent in 2003 through the Leeds School of Business entrepreneurial program.
Schupp got the idea for a parents guide to CU when her parents came to visit her from Dallas. She wanted to find out the best places for them to go while they were here, and was less than impressed with the information available and decided to make the guide.
Kirsten Seldon is now the National Sales Director for University Parent. She was also the first full-time employee, and has watched the company grow.
“The guide is a great way of university to give a marketing piece to parents,” Seldon said.
The University Parent guide offers an inside look and goes farther than normal campus guides including information on the university, beyond where to eat and sleep.
By the end of this year, University Parent will have 30 guides and is hoping to have 100 by the end of 2008.
The free guidebook is updated every year, so all of the information is current. Revenue for the guide comes from local advertisers who buy space inside.
Three separate issues are published for each semester at CU.
“CU’s always been our special case,” said Beth Samek, the sales and marketing coordinator.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Aaron Musick at aaron.musick@thecampuspress.com.
