Thursday, July 29, 2010, 11:34am PDT | Modified: July 29, 2010, 11:34 AM

CollegeNET helps schools reach sustainability goals

by Christina Williams
Sustainable Business Oregon

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Some 325 customers of CollegeNET came to Portland this week for a users conference and some of them swapped stories about how they're using the company's software to reach their sustainability goals.

CollegeNET makes software to help universities more efficiently schedule their classroom time, process online applications and complete online course evaluations — offerings that don't necessarily spring to mind as being sustainable.

But Julia Noonan, CollegeNET vice president of sales, said that a sustainability ethic has been core to the business since it was founded in 1977.

"We've always been about doing more with less," she said.

Lane Community College in Eugene recently received attention from Community College Week magazine for its use of CollegeNET's Series 25 software to optimize its use of campus space, reduce the need to spend energy resources on under-used buildings and ultimately reduce its carbon footprint.

The University of Oregon told CollegeNET that the implementation of its online course evaluation system allowed the school to save $200,000 in costs during its first year of implementation — not to mention the reams of paper.

CollegeNET does not disclose revenue figures. But Noonan did say that the company grew from 100 employees to 109 in the last seven months.