It ain’t going up
By Tommy Cha
Changes on the Student Technology Fee?
Fear not!!! The fee is NOT getting more expensive, nor is it getting cheaper! It is more so changing its allocations, so where the money from it will be distributed.
The STF charges $35.00 per academic quarter for full-time students, and $17.50 for part-time students. All in all, the total price of the STF (Student Technology Fee) will stay at $35.00, the way it has been for the past 5 years.
If you think this is expensive, you may want to reconsider. s. The STF makes it possible for students to download free software, use computer labs around campus, and access the Student Technology Center. This is where students can go and rent out equipment for class. Whether it be cameras, recorders, tripods, and laptops, a lot of tech is available there for free! Well, of course with the fee that is paid at the beginning of each quarter.
I conducted an interview with Hunter Eider, AS VP for Academic Affairs.
He feels these changes are great, and said “We’re just trying to keep the interests of the students in mind.”
I was told that every 5 years, the Student Technology Fee is worked on. In this interview, I learned that the changes being made are for the good of the students.
One of the major changes that the Fee will impact could be the computer labs on campus. As many will see, most of the computer labs that occupy the areas are for general use, and are free for everybody to use.
There are some computer labs that is opposite to this, afew labs are for college departments only.For example, a computer lab in the Academic West building is ONLY for Psychology majors.
This is where the change comes in. Hunter told me that with the change to the Student Technology Fee, they wanted to cover computer labs that are open to ALL students, and not just department-based students.
With the change, the Directors will give the college departments a year’s notice, and will not fund their computer labs anymore if their labs continue to be department-based only. The reason for this is because students are paying for the fee, which currently covers the exclusive labs, but will change in the future, to where the fee will only cover general labs that all students can use.
The amount paid for print quotas will be reduced from $2.00 down to $1.75.Originally, the $2.00 fee gives students a $2.50 quota. With this fee being reduced by 25 cents, the students will then receive a $3.00 quota for printing. Lots of savings!
The reason for this gap is that within the past 5 years, students have been saving on the printing, so in the future, the fee is rewarding the students, and giving the $3.00 quota compared to the $2.50.
Another change in the fee is the budget for wireless networks. It is changing from $4.00 to $5.15. With the raise in this portion of the fee, the school will be able to purchase more wireless networks to be place around campus as students own many devices that connect to the internet. Less lag and better internet performance!
Do you use the free Microsoft Office provided by Western? Well, that will be knocked off the list and be defunded. It was worth $6.00 of the $35.00 fee. The reason for this is that Office 365, the emailing platform used by the university, has Word and Excel.
“I know it’s part of our tuition, and a lot of people don’t realize that we’re paying a lot for this”, Johnathan Yu, a student at WWU said. “I didn’t know there were changes.”
I also mentioned about the print quotas to him, and he states that “It’s nice that they’re giving back.”
He also expressed feelings towards the defunded decision of Microsoft Office, saying “What if somebody doesn’t always have access to the internet? It makes it harder for them.”
Some students said they did not mind any kind of changes to the Technology Fee, as they use the school’s computers and techs quite often.
More information can be found by contacting the AS VP for Academic Affairs. Keep everything in mind with the changes on the Student Technology Fee, these decisions will soon be a referendum for students.