Remember college, cramming for midterm exams in a dark, dusty library? Today's university students spend their nights scanning Web-based discussion forums and studying in a wireless Internet café. Those bundles of notes you took and heavy backpacks you carried have been replaced by online lesson plans and digital discussions. Now it seems you don't have to leave your house even to apply for college.

The Associate Press reports that more and more college hopefuls are applying using Webcams, which can save cash-strapped students travel expenses. Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., is just one of several higher learning institutions that see the benefit of technology like Webcams. The AP said Pennsylvania State University, the University of Georgia and Arizona State University all offer interviews via Webcam.

"While a personal visit is the first choice, the virtual interview is an innovative way to use technology to connect individually with those who, because of financial or other reasons, cannot come to campus," Wake Forest Director of Admissions Martha Allman said in a statement. "This combines Wake Forest's historic commitment to personal attention with our emphasis on technological innovation."

Wake Forest uses the popular Skype application, which offers a Webcam function, in order to conduct the "face-to-face" interviews, the AP reports. Carrie Marcinkevage, MBA director of admissions at Pennsylvania State's Smeal College of Business, told the AP that applicants are offered several other options such as free video chat through Google Talk.

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