Play Video Games to Pay for College?

Playing games can help you pay for college

Grantoo Offers Online Games to Help Students Pay for College

Great news, social game lovers!

All that time you log playing games online can help you pay for college.

New startup company Grantoo will take the time spent playing social games and turn it into tuition grants.

How does it work?

The company's online game platform has brand-sponsored tournaments, so companies get in on helping to pay for college, while -- no surprise here -- getting exposure for their brand.

Given the popularity of online games, it seems like a win-win for everyone involved.

The best part? The games are free! There are no membership or hidden fees involved.

Students can play the games and win money to help pay for tuition, but when you sign up, you have to designate which charities you'd like between 10% and 100% of your potential winnings to go to.

Another winning component!

Mikhael Naayem, co-founder of Grantoo, explains, "Students are playing social games a lot so we want to make it useful to them by turning something that's a distraction or a waste of time into something that's positive."

Naayem adds, "We want to promote philanthropy at an early age, introducing students at no cost."

Read: World of Warcraft Staves Off Brain Deterioration

So far, there are three games -- a crossword game called Wordy Bird, a poker game called Grantoo Hold'em and a trivia game, Quiz Night.

How does Grantoo make money? On-site advertising.

All the money from company sponsor donations goes toward the college grants and the philanthropy efforts.

Co-founder Dimitri Sillam tells Mashable, "This is a great opportunity for brands because students associate their image with something that's charitable. It's time right now for small companies to step in and solve big problems in an innovative way."

Very cool.

Grantoo's Sally Kallet answered questions in the Mashable comments section, explaining that they hope to "expand in the next year to graduates who have loans to pay back as well. We are starting small, but keep a lookout for us as we increase our user base! High school students and family members will be able to play eventually as well."

See: Super Mario Converse Chucks (Photos)

Kallet further explains that "Right now, we are in Beta and open to 40 pilot campuses. Our public launch is coming in May 2012, open to all colleges and universities across the nation!"

Find out more at Grantoo.org.