Survey reveals average 16-year-old is most concerned with getting good grades and worries about how their online reputation will impact getting into college

MAYNARD, Mass., May 24, 2011 – Turning 16 is an important step in a teenager’s life and this month marks the milestone birthday for Fastweb, the leading website for scholarship and financial aid information owned by Monster Worldwide, Inc., parent company of Monster.com®, the leading job matching engine (NYSE: MWW). With one out of three college-bound seniors visiting its website, Fastweb has helped over 50 million* students look for ways to pay for college since its launch in 1995. To celebrate its birthday, Fastweb turns its attention to topics that teenagers are preoccupied with the most, by surveying its 16-year old users. Nothing was off-limits as the survey revealed interesting results, ranging from the celebrity teens would most want to be friends with, to what worries them most at school.

Social media is on everyone’s mind and Fastweb wanted to know how worried its users are about their online reputation/footprint. The survey found that many teenagers (49 percent) are concerned that their online image would affect their chances of getting into college. Evenly split, 23 percent of respondents were worried their online reputation would affect them getting a job while 23 percent thought online footprints are only something that adults should worry about. A mere three percent of users said they would rather look cool to their friends versus worrying about the consequences of a potentially negative online image.

Fastweb also wanted to know which celebrity 16 year olds would most like to befriend. Ranking high among teens were Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Emma Watson. Taylor Lautner also ranked high on the list, while Robert Pattinson was nowhere to be found, revealing that Fastweb’s 16 year olds are a Team Jacob crowd. The survey also revealed some more unusual choices such as SpongeBob, Snoopy and Beethoven.

When the Fastweb survey respondents were asked about what school related issues kept them up at night, the majority cited getting good grades (39 percent). Twenty-seven percent of teenagers also responded that they were worried about paying for college and 19 percent were worried about getting into the college they wanted. Interestingly, only three percent were most concerned with peer pressure.

Given that 39 percent of the survey respondents were looking forward to get done with classes after school was over, Fastweb was surprised to find that 78 percent of teenagers would still go to college even if they knew they would be a millionaire without higher education. Survey respondents cited being afraid of missing out on additional knowledge if they skipped college. Only five percent thought college wouldn’t be worth it if they were already successful.

“Over the past 16 years, we have seen the price of tuition skyrocket, and as a result the Student Loan Debt Clock is quickly racing to hit $1 trillion in 2012,” said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Fastweb. “This alarming statistic makes scholarships and other financial relief more important than ever. For 16 years Fastweb met this challenge by offering access to millions of diverse scholarships, and we continue to offer new resources to help students tackle debt, every day.”

Since its launch as the first free scholarship matching site in 1995, Fastweb has helped more than 50 million users looking for a way to pay for college*. Fastweb offers personalized scholarship matches, internship and entry-level job opportunities, and expert financial aid advice at one convenient, online location.

Additional Resources
Birthday gifts of money and scholarships are a great way of defraying the cost of school but student loans can also help with college costs. If you want to learn more about how to choose a student loan, Fastweb will be hosting a Q&A session on Twitter addressing that very issue. The Tweet chat will be run by Mark Kantrowitz, nationally recognized expert on student financial aid and author of the popular eBook titled “Secrets to Winning a Scholarship.” The live #AskKantro session will take place on Wednesday, May 25 from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST. Participate by bringing your college cost questions and signing onto Twitter where Mr. Kantrowitz (@mkant) will be on hand tweeting back live responses.

About Monster Worldwide

Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW), parent company of Monster, the premier global online employment solution for more than a decade, strives to inspire people to improve their lives. With a local presence in key markets in North America, Europe, and Asia, Monster works for everyone by connecting employers with quality job seekers at all levels and by providing personalized career advice to consumers globally. Through online media sites and services, Monster delivers vast, highly targeted audiences to advertisers. Monster Worldwide is a member of the S&P 500 index. To learn more about Monster’s industry-leading products and services, visit www.monster.com. More information about Monster Worldwide is available at www.about-monster.com.

About Fastweb

Fastweb is the nation’s recognized leader in helping students pay for school, by providing scholarship and financial aid information, as well as information on jobs and internships. One out of three college-bound seniors use the site, and more than 50 million* users have benefitted from Fastweb’s information and services. Fastweb lets students create a personalized profile that can be matched against its expansive databases of colleges and scholarships. As the oldest and most popular free online scholarship matching service, the database has more than 1.5 million scholarships totaling over $3.4 billion. To learn more about Fastweb visit www.fastweb.com and follow us on Twitter at @PayingForSchool.

*9 million are active users of the site