GoalQuest and NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) today announced plans to feature UPeers, an e-community technology designed to foster student engagement and retention, at the NASPA 2005 Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida. NASPA also announced that it will use GoalQuest's adaptive messaging and real-time intelligence tools to communicate with its more than 9,000 members. GoalQuest is a NASPA strategic partner.

NASPA will showcase a customized version of UPeers, a social and academic Web-based community that lets students connect with one another virtually. Users can browse and search for classmates by academic and personal interests, create their own UPeers profiles (including an optional photo), form study groups and plan get-togethers—all in an environment that safeguards privacy.

Attendees will be directed to a Cyber Café equipped with Web-enabled computer stations. Here they can register for the specially created version of the program, which allows NASPA members to interact directly with one another, browse other members' custom profiles and connect via secure automated messaging.

Participants will be able to identify colleagues who share interests in critical student affairs issues. For example, they could use the program's search tool to find other student affairs professionals interested in retention of first-generation, commuter or historically underrepresented students. The service will integrate with NASPA Knowledge Communities, a series of online discussion forums, List-Servs and resources tailored to themes such as assessment, student leadership and women in student affairs.

Socializing is encouraged, too—the program lets colleagues share their non-academic interests and personal details, including an optional photo.

The Cyber Café will be open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily during the conference. Located in Room 17 of the Tampa Convention Center, the Café's computers will be pre-loaded with the UPeers service.

"NASPA is extremely pleased to be able to showcase products and services that combine strong educational values with compelling online activities," said Kevin Kruger, NASPA's Associate Executive Director. "We're excited about UPeer's potential to support student engagement and build virtual communities that will translate into greater 'real-world' campus experiences."

"GoalQuest is thrilled to introduce UPeers during the NASPA Annual Conference, a further validation of the relevance and innovation that we try to build into all of our products," said Peter Kraft, Chief Executive Officer. "We are equally pleased in knowing that ours join a very select number of products that have passed the organization's rigorous review process."

NASPA also announced plans to begin using GoalQuest's adaptive messaging technology to improve its communication with members. Using these tools, NASPA will be able to gather feedback from its members, track their usage trends and identify emerging interest areas in real time.

UPeers for Students
Conference attendees will be able to learn more about implementing UPeers on their campuses. They will also be able to explore some of the differences between UPeers and other online and print media.

While other so-called online "facebooks" focus user interaction around dating and flirting, UPeers is a "matchmaking" service in the broadest possible sense-its focus is on matching would-be friends, study partners and those who share co-curricular interests. GoalQuest believes that students who join a UPeers community and build a virtual social network will also be more likely to be retained by that school.

Although UPeers users can choose who they communicate with, the product limits interaction and ancillary content to students at each particular school, and promotes participation in offline events and activities to build a sense of campus community and identity. This is in stark contrast to other digital facebook and e-community services, which typically are not sanctioned by colleges and universities.

GoalQuest plans to bundle UPeers with its FYRe™ (Freshman Year Retention) tool, an interactive Web-based program that helps students make the transition to college and enhance their personal and academic skills during their first year and beyond. The Company will also offer UPeers as a stand-alone service.

About NASPA
NASPA is the leading voice for student affairs administration, policy and practice. NASPA provides professional development, promotes exemplary practices and is a leader in policy development. NASPA helps senior student affairs officers and administrators, student affairs professionals, faculty and other educators enhance student learning and development. NASPA promotes quality and high expectations; advocates for students; encourages diversity; and excels in research and publication. With over 9,400 individual members and more than 1,200 member campuses, NASPA's leadership is provided by volunteers from member institutions who are elected as regional and national officers.

About GoalQuest
GoalQuest, Inc. is a New York City-based software company specializing in innovative solutions for higher education. The Company's proprietary software assists colleges and universities in maximizing recruiting, enrollment yield, retention, parent communication and advancement efforts. The GoalQuest suite, including eCRUIT™, EYOp™, FYRe™, PICS™ and AlumNet™, is based on a revolutionary technology that deploys relevant information and interactive experiences to targeted audiences through specific time-released "nuggets" of content. Clients facilitate reporting sessions and automated critical activity alerts to monitor the real-time interest trajectory of users. GoalQuest's suite of retention and student assessment tools is NASPA-approved. For additional information about GoalQuest, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.goalquest.com.

About GoalQuest UPeers and GoalQuest Universe™
UPeers is the first in a suite of tools that comprise the GoalQuest Universe. This new family of products includes UBlog™, ULife™, UFlash™, UPortfolio™ and UFindit™. Together these features form a complete lifestyle network through which students can learn, connect, interact, reach out and speak out. GoalQuest will introduce all of its Universe tools during 2005.