University Housing Site Makes Students' Search Easier

Last year a couple of sophomores at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth started contemplating living arrangements as juniors -- the point at which students have the option to live off-campus. For friends Chris Sterling, 20, and Ryan Fleisch, 21, it became the genesis of a start-up website, purplerenter.com, that would help their fellow TCU classmates find a place to live outside the confines of academia.

"If you look at apartment complexes and realtors in the area, they have practically no web presence and the information is scattered," says Sterling. "You would have to go physically to the apartment complex or the house to check it out."