Surfin’ FirstUSA

Freshmen Chris Barrett and Luke McCabe, two New Jersey 18-year-old surfers are even smarter than their SATs show: they figured out how to get their education paid for by turning themselves into walking advertisements. Setting up a website which featured their good-looking blond selves in t-shirts or with surfboards saying ‘YOUR LOGO HERE,’ they offered to be ‘spokes-guys’ for whoever would pay their tuition. Yahoo made it a site of the day and the boys actually had to choose between a dozen companies, settling on First USA. The credit card company offered $40,000 plus room, board and books if the boys wore the FirstUSA logo on nearly all their clothing to spread the word on budgeting and financial responsibility. Barrett will be attending Pepperdine University, while McCabe chose the University of Southern California. The contract will be renewed each year provided the boys stay out of trouble. With smarts like theirs, it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t. ♦