Tuition dollars at work
February 10, 2014 the Open Public Forum will be discussing the $40.00 fee included in tuition for technology, and what benefits are open to the student body, faculty and staff
By Kristin Dellavecchia
The Associated Students of the University of Washington Tacoma (ASUWT) has dedicated the Open Public Forum to the Student Technology Fee Committee this year. On February 10, 2014, STFC will be discussing the following: what technology is available, what students are paying for, and the $40 fee included in tuition. In addition, STFC will be inquiring about various students’ knowledge of the fee. At the forum there will be light refreshments, drinks, and giveaways.
The $40 fee included in tuition goes to STFC for technology on campus. Primarily, the funding is contributed to technology that is in need of immediate repair. Subsequent to those repairs, STFC focuses on new equipment that benefits the student body.
One benefit that students, faculty, and staff have is renting devices from UWT Media Services, located on campus at the Walsh Gardener building in Room 108. They are open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students are able to rent the following: boomboxes, data projectors, digital recorders, digital still cameras, headphones, tripods, and more.
Faculty and staff can also rent, and have more devices available to them than students do. When renting these devices, users are required to read and sign an Appropriate Use Statement agreeing to take full responsibility of the devices they are renting. There is also an additional form, “Terms of Use,” that has to be read and signed before checking anything out. If students would like to rent any of the devices that are only available to faculty and staff, they must contact Media Services and get special approval.
Generally, items can be rented for a week; however, an extension can be requested for additional time if needed.
Employees Joseph Nosov and Dmitry Burlabu from the Computer Lab and Help Desk stated that each student, faculty, and staff member have a total of 100 points on their account. If for any reason devices are not returned within the time permitted, a warning will be e–mailed to the person’s account, and 50 points will be deducted from the account as well. The two staff members were not certain of the time frame, but there is also a second warning, which restricts renting for the rest of the quarter, and the remaining 50 points are deducted from the person’s account. Not all rules apply to all students. For example, students majoring in education have different terms when renting and may be able to borrow devices for the quarter. For more information about renting fees, rules and regulations contact UWT Media Services at 253-692-4654.
