June 29, 2000
Contact: Dave Ferguson,
(614) 292-6743
COLUMBUS -- Majors enrolled in two Ohio State University colleges are expected to reap the benefits of enhanced technology as early as this autumn as part of the university's commitment to preparing undergraduate and graduate students fully for the work force or advanced study and to remaining competitive with other top public research institutions.
Under a plan to be presented to the Board of Trustees on July 7, Ohio State is recommending that the Colleges of the Arts and Nursing be granted permission to enact a quarterly $43-per-full-time-student fee in autumn quarter. The fee recommendation follows consultation with students in those colleges. If the fees are approved, these units would join other academic areas already assessing computer fees to students -- the Fisher College of Business, the College of Engineering, and the School of Public Policy and Management.
Another three units, the Colleges of Education, Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, also have requested permission to enact fees, but require more student input before recommendations will be forwarded to the board. Those colleges are likely to later request permission to enact the technology fees for winter quarter.
"State-of-the-art equipment is needed if our students are going to have the state-of-the- art technology skills required for success in the 21st century," Ohio State President William E. Kirwan said. "We need to make a substantial continuing investment in new academic computing, enhanced learning and technology infrastructure needs to meet our obligation to our students."
Ohio State's pursuit of college-specific fees responds to a Deans' Learning Technology Committee assertion that an investment of $170 million is needed over the next five years to allow the university to provide state-of-the-art technology to its students. About $125 million already is budgeted from central, college and existing fee revenues, leaving a $45 million gap over five years.
The Ohio Board of Regents in May denied Ohio State's request to enact a universitywide technology fee of $50 per student designed to fill that gap. Following that denial, the deans of the five colleges sought permission from the ProvostŐs Office to implement their own fees to give students access to technology important to their careers.
Ohio State's resource support for technology enhancements is limited by the tuition and fee cap mandated by state law, the university's maintenance of tuition below the state average (currently 7 percent below average) and the state's low level of support of higher education generally (ranked 42nd in the country).
Under the plan, the only undergraduate students paying the fee would be those majoring in disciplines within the selected colleges, and the only graduate and professional students paying the fee would be those whose colleges sought to assess the fee and for whom the fee is not waived. University officials noted that the proposed fees would apply to a narrow group of students and the proceeds would be used to benefit specifically those students paying the fee, in contrast to the campuswide fee previously proposed and denied by the regents.
Representatives of majors within the colleges will participate in decisions about how to use the new resources, and a Provost's Oversight Committee on Learning Technology Fees, to be convened in the fall, will include student representation.
The revenues will be used for technology enhancements targeted to those majors, including:
-- Arts: Additional staff to help in software animation computer labs, Web-media workshops, lab upgrades and workstations for digitalization of visual resources.
-- Nursing: Extended lab hours, additional interactive instructional simulations and videotapes, and development of on-line instruction.