by Stacy Humes-Schulz
The Summer Pennsylvanian
You may not think of Philadelphia as a college town, but Todd Hoffman is betting that you will.
Hoffman is executive director of Campus Visit Philadelphia, a program that held it's debut yesterday afternon at Franklin Field. Representatives from 16 area schools, including Penn and Drexel University gathered for the unveiling of the Camus Visit Philadelphia program, designed to attract high school students to colleges in the Philadelphia area.
Campus Visit Philadelphia consists of several initiatives, including a travelers publication called Campus Visit Philadelphia and a website, www.onebigcampus.com.
Hoffman, Penn Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta and Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation President and CEO Meryl Levitz spoke to approximately 50 people and school mascots assembled for the event.
Hoffman said his organization's focus is to "promote Philadelphia as a college town" and as "one big campus."
"We don't want to sell anything," he said. "We just want people to experience Philadelphia."
And, according to Levitz, getting prospective college students to come to Philadelphia will lead to more choosing to come to area colleges and universities.
"The more frequently you come here, the more you love the place," she explained.
The publication will be mailed to prospective students looking at both undergraduate and graduate programs.
"One of our ultimate goals is to promote Philadelphia internationally," Hoffman said, noting that students throughout the world will receive the magazine he called a "Fodor's guide for future freshman."
Campus Visit Philadelphia is an offshoot of the Boston-based Campus Visit Inc., which was founded in 1995 with the similar goal of promoting Boston as a college town.
The idea for embarking on a similar project in Philadelphia came when Levitz and Moneta both independently approached Campus Visit.
Moneta said that he thought the project might increase admissions to Penn, help support the hotels around the university and boost the image of Philadelphia.
"If it's good for Philadelphia, it's good for Penn," he said.
In Boston, Hoffman says, the program succeeded in drawing students to the area.
He explained that the eight Boston area schools that are currently members of Campus Visit experienced a 15 percent rise in applications since the program's debut, while the number of students applying to college nationwide rose only 2.9 percent.
