Mich. networking Web site waste of time, money
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The state has decided to take a new approach to helping students find their career: social networking, at the cost of $1.5 million.
The Michigan Department of Treasury will launch its new Web site in September, which is meant to help students transition between high school, college and a career.
The site, which is being called the Michigan College Access Portal, or MiCAP, is said to contain many sources for students, including information on majors and advice on paying for college. MiCAP is funded by about $1.5 million of the $4.3 million federal U.S. College Access Challenge Grant.
What might sound like a positive site that might attract students and help them find life after college is being developed at a less-than-appropriate time.
It seems like the site could bring more employment to Michigan and keep students from leaving the state. Interaction with potential employers through the Web site could help save Michigan’s economy. But $1.5 million? It’s being paid to ConnectEDU, a Boston-based company. One might wonder why the state is giving money to a Boston-based developer, especially when the point of the Web site is to keep student — and jobs — in Michigan.
Students from a Michigan school could have built such a Web site to ease the government’s needs. There are plenty of MSU students with a knowledge of the state and its situation from a perspective most suitable to building the Web site.
These students also are most likely willing to be paid next to nothing to design the site, saving the state the ridiculous amounts of money being shoveled to the East Coast.
Besides the fact that Michigan is paying an out-of-state company to design a Web site created to help boost the economy, consider the potential for the Web site. There are a hefty handful of professional networking sites out there, including YorZ, XING and the popular LinkedIn. These sites are well-established.
These Web sites have the potential for students to talk with employers and search job opportunities. It seems there already is an overabundance of these sites without MiCAP added to the basket. So what does the new site proposed by the Department of Treasury have to offer that’s unique?
In a time of economic struggle for businesses and the state government, it appears to be unreasonable to spend $1.5 million simply on building a Web site. In a state that has to watch every penny it dishes out, investing millions into what amounts to a Michigan-themed Facebook is a risky line on the budget.
MiCAP is a site that is being built by an out-of-state company, is not offering much that isn’t already out there and has $1.5 million invested into it. It can’t be forgotten that there hardly are any jobs available in the state and the economy isn’t likely to bounce back by September.
A large part of the site involves potential employees talking with employers. What employers? It’s well-known the employers who do exist are hardly hiring in Michigan.
The site might just become a nest of postgraduate students looking for a job in the midst of an economic black hole. Any person offering a job on the site might be swamped with students willing to take it.
The state could have built this Web site earlier and jumped on the social networking bandwagon five years ago.
However, building an unoriginal Web site amid horrible economic times might be grounds for a Web site disaster and the plundering of $1.5 million.
Commentary
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MaximumBob
(02/25/10 8:27am)Report
This is yet another example of how our government “creates” jobs.
They take money from the profitable private sector (in this case, $1.5 million). That money could’ve been used by its original owners to upgrade equipment, pay off debt or, God forbid, hire employees.
Instead, it’s “reinvested” (just trying to stick with the government doublespeak) in a venture that is patently redundant with other, privately-developed networking sites.
Anyone want to place odds that we’ll never know how many jobs were “created” by this site?
Wow.
(02/27/10 11:03am)Report
This is an atrocity, the parties responsible should be publicly hung.
Not only will they waste this 1.5 million, I want to know how much money will continue to go into the project to keep it alive, and for how many years – Before they realize it was a bad idea from the start, and scrap it.
F you, granholm. F you.
Justin
(03/03/10 3:03pm)Report
It is obvious that the author never read the RFP that went out for this project. This is intended to be a lot more there than a “social networking tool.” The biggest part of this project centers around electronic transcripts from HS to College, electronic applications to reduce the mistakes of transposition while applying and the ability to complete the FAFSA electronically. Not to mention the career development component which is to include assessing who you are, and setting goals to get there. Other states have implemented a very similar project with great success. Take a look at North Carolina’s. They have increased the number of HS students going to college, and specifically going to a NC college. The idea is to encourage the traditional non-college going HS students to continue on to higher ed.