User matriculation status determination via a computer network

Abstract

Methods and systems for verifying a user as a member of an affinity group, including receiving user information identifying a user identity and at least one affinity group, and based on the user information, querying at least one networked data source to associate at least one status with the user information. The user information can include at least one of a name, a user name, a social security number, a group identification number, a personal identification number, a member number, a password, a telephone number, a loan number, an email address, a mailing address, a certificate number, and an employee number, for example. The methods and system can thus provide an offer to the user based on the status associated with the user. A threshold can be used in some embodiments to determine the whether a further query can be performed to verify status within the affinity group.

1 . In a computer system having at least one user interface including at least one input device and at least one output device, a method for providing at least one offer to a verified educational institution user, comprising: 
 receiving through at least one of the at least one input devices information identifying said educational institution user and an educational institution,    based on the information received, querying at least one networked data source to associate the user with at least one of a student status and a faculty status at said educational institution, and,    based on the status associated with the user, through at least one of the at least one output devices, providing the user with at least one offer.    
   
   
       2 . A method according to  claim 1 , where providing the user with the at least one offer includes providing the user with information to accept the at least one offer.  
   
   
       3 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising informing a supplier of at least one of the at least one offers that the user accepts the said at least one of the at least one offers.  
   
   
       4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein associating the user with a student status includes associating the user with at least one of a matriculated student status, a non-matriculated student status, a formerly matriculated student status, and, an unknown status.  
   
   
       5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein associating the user with a faculty status includes associating the user with at least one of a verified faculty status, a non-verified faculty status, a full-time faculty status, a part-time faculty status, an associate faculty status, a tenured faculty status, a non-tenured faculty status, and an unknown faculty status.  
   
   
       6 . A method according to  claim 1 , further including receiving the at least one offer from at least one offer supplier.  
   
   
       7 . A method according to  claim 1 , further including associating an identifier with the user and the associated at least one of a student status and a faculty status.  
   
   
       8 . In a computer system having at least one user interface including at least one input device and at least one output device, a method for providing at least one offer to a verified member of an affinity group, the method comprising: 
 receiving through at least one of the at least one input devices information identifying a user and an affinity group,    based on the information received, querying at least one networked data source to associate at least one status relating to the affinity group with the user, and,    based on the status associated with the user, through at least one of the at least one output devices, providing the user with at least one offer.    
   
   
       9 . A method according to  claim 8 , where providing the user with at least one offer includes providing the user with information to accept the at least one offer.  
   
   
       10 . A system for providing an offer to a member of an affinity group, the system comprising: 
 means for receiving at least one offer from at least one offer supplier,    means for receiving information identifying a user and the affinity group,    a verify processor in communications with at least one networked data source, and capable of querying the at least one networked data source for data to verify a status of a user as a member of the affinity group, and,    means for providing at least one of the at least one offers to a verified user based on a verified status of the user as a member of the affinity group.    
   
   
       11 . A system according to  claim 10 , including means for classifying offers based on affinity group.  
   
   
       12 . A system according to  claim 10 , further including means for comparing the status verification to a threshold.  
   
   
       13 . A computer system comprising at least one processor for providing an offer to a verified educational institutional user, the system comprising: 
 at least one input device for receiving information identifying a user and an educational institution,    instructions for causing at least one of the at least one processors to query, based on the information, at least one networked data source to associate the user with at least one of a student status and a faculty status, and,    instructions to cause the at least one output device to provide, based on the association, the offer to the user.    
   
   
       14 . A system according to  claim 13 , wherein the instructions to query include instructions to: 
 query at least one first networked data source to determine whether the user is associated with an educational institution status,    based on the query of the at least one first networked data source, compare the association of the user and educational institution status to a threshold, and,    based on the comparison, query at least one distinct second networked data source.    
   
   
       15 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor includes instructions for providing at least one web page for receiving the offer and at least one web page for receiving the user information.  
   
   
       16 . A method according to  claim 13 , further including at least one of an offer database for storing offer information from offer suppliers, and a status database for storing user information and associated educational institution verification status.  
   
   
       17 . A system according to  claim 13 , further including a threshold for comparing the association from the at least one networked data source.  
   
   
       18 . A system according to  claim 17 , wherein the threshold includes at least one of a time and a date.  
   
   
       19 . A system according to  claim 13 , wherein the offer is associated with at least one of an airline flight, a train, a hotel, insurance, and travel.