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Students Plug In To Visa Site For Tips On Road Trips

"Local Favorites" Feature Launches With College Student's Rankings In 100 Towns

RankIt, the website where college students have a voice on-line, is now also the site where students can speak out on what's hot. When visiting other campuses, students can tap into RankIt for tips from their peers on the best local hotspots and stores for college essentials. Want to know where to get the best coffee, pizza, and cheap meals in college towns across the country? Go right to the source - the RankIt website at ( http://www.rankit.com ).

In more than 100 towns nationwide, college students were surveyed on the best dinner values, best night clubs, and absolute "must see" spots. The current results are posted as "Local Favorites" on the RankIt website. Students can continue to vote on the selections and add their own suggestions of hip and happening hang-outs in their town. Votes are scored automatically for up-to-the-minute information on the top rankings. Planning a trip to New York City but don't know where to go? New York University students ranked Webster Hall as the best dance club in the Big Apple and swear that Silver Spur has the best cheap breakfast to get back up to speed after a long night out.

"RankIt provides students with 'inside information' on the top spots in college towns from a source they can trust - their peers," said Eric Kahn, vice president, College Marketing at Visa U.S.A. "With information on the hippest dance clubs and the coolest retailers in town, RankIt is a great Internet road trip resource for students - or anyone else - planning a weekend trip to a college town," Kahn continued.

To reward students for their input on hip locations across the nation, students can register on-line during the month of October for RankIt's first-ever sweepstakes. Students will have a chance to win a trip for two, including airfare, accommodations and spending money, to the RankIt "Local Favorites" town of their choice, where they can check out the top peer-recommended hotspots for themselves.

In addition to the launch of RankIt's "Local Favorites" section on October 1, several new features have been built into the redesigned website. Highlights include a special "Career Prep" section that includes resume tips, interviewing skills and career advice articles to help college students get a head start on their future. Students gearing up for life after college can also check out the schedule of the Visa-sponsored JobDirect JobDrive which will be making 150 stops at campuses nationwide this fall. JobDirect.com is the leading on-line employment resource for students. The redesigned website also includes information on how to make smart financial decisions. The online "Inform" series highlights tips and advice to help students balance their budgets, borrow wisely, and learn their credit rights.

RankIt is Visa's first website for the college market and according to Visa has logged over 226,000 monthly user visits since its launch on February 1.