Cyber-begging

Anyone at Kettering will tell you that senior Marc Alexander is one of the university's stars.

He worked hard to get accepted there, is a good student and has even started a youth mentoring non-profit group.

But Alexander is in a bind. After co-signer requirements went up in the private loan industry because of the credit crisis -- he can't get the rest of the loans he needs to finish college.

He comes from a family who struggles financially and has been rejected for a loan seven times.

So here was one back-up plan -- to build a Web site called "help Marc Alexander go to college" with hopes that family, friends, maybe even strangers will spare him some change.

Cyber-begging is nothing new. The first widely publicized case was in 2002 when Karyn Bosnak, a twenty-something woman from New York started the Web site "savekaryn.com." She wanted to raise $20,000 to pay off her credit card debts -- and guess what? She did.

There have been other examples. There is now a site for women who raise online donations for breast implants. Others have raised thousands of dollars to save their homes from foreclosures.

Web sites have even cropped up to help the desperate-for-money peeps promote their cause.

Alexander is just a 23-year-old guy trying to finish his degree. It's not quite the same as asking strangers to help drag you out of a mountain of debt from spending too much on shoes.

But in a bad economy, what's the etiquette for cyber-help?