DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — College students heading back to school at the Dayton region's four largest campuses will have a new online source for entertainment, dining and deals on things they need.

On Wednesday, Cox Ohio Publishing launched Swocol.com — a Web site targeting the area's nearly 70,000 college students enrolled at the University of Dayton, Wright State University, Sinclair Community College and Miami University in Oxford.

In developing Swocol.com, students at each of the colleges shared their online experiences with the product development team.

As a result, the site focuses heavily on entertainment, inexpensive activities for college students and deals from local retailers.

While the team found that the average student spends about $800 a month in disposable income, students also said they considered their time and money as valuable resources, said Kathy Kralovic, vice president of marketing for Cox Ohio.

"This is really an example where the ads for the Web site become usable content," Kralovic said. "The students told us that they wanted something that was useful to them, not another portal. They encouraged us to try to link them to the items they needed on a tight budget."

Swocol.com also allows students to buy, sell or trade everything from concert and sports tickets, to music, furniture and clothing — even rides home — with a classified advertising tool. While the site is aimed at the region's four largest campuses, Kralovic said its content also will be useful to students at other area colleges and universities.

Kralovic said input from site users is encouraged.

To provide feedback, contact Katie Wedell site content producer, at kwedell@coxohio.com.