Univ North Carolina Makes
Laptops Compulsory 02/17/98 CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, U.S.A.,
1998 FEB 17 (NB) -- By Sami Menefee, Newsbytes. As part of the
Carolina Computing Initiative, any freshman who expects to attend
classes at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus must have
their own laptop computer. It is the third campus in the state to
set such a requirement for entering students.
The initiative will make laptop computers mandatory for freshman
students who expect to start classes at North Carolina campus
starting with the fall 2000 classes, but will also provide a way to
make sure each student is able to own one. The school is now
investigating various ways to make laptop systems financially
accessible to all students.
School sources said that,
currently, more than one-half of the new students bring their own
systems with them, but, according to Initiative developer and campus
chief information officer, Marian Moore, unless the school makes the
hardware a requirement, the hardware purchases cannot be covered by
financial aid.
Moore said the university "plans to leverage its collective
buying power to find the best prices possible for computers used by
the university and will pass that power on to the students." She
added that the school will issue a request for contract proposals
from major computer vendors within the next six months and the
school will choose a vendor from that list.
She added that she was wording the vendor arrangement so a
percentage off list price would be set, rather than a set price.
This would carry the price (and price breaks) forward without having
to restructure a new contract with the vendor each year.
"Ideally, we'd like to have both the school and the students all
use standardized equipment," she said. "We have several classrooms
wired now, with full computers sitting on each desk. Those systems
sit unused for two-thirds of each day. So we thought, 'why not put
that computing power into the hands of the population most mobile --
the students -- where it can do the most good.'"
Students will be allowed to bring their own systems from home as
long as those systems meet specifications set by the university,
according to a university source. The school could not address what
those specs would be since computer technology continues to expand
and the school does not know who the vendors will be or what those
vendors will be able to provide for student use.
Part of the initiative will be to fully wire the 29 dormitories
so each room will have accessibility to the Internet. This project
is planned for completion by January, 1999.
Students who qualify for need-based financial assistance will
have this extra cost factored into their aid.
Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid for the
university, said she did not expect the new requirement to drive up
the cost of overall tuition like other schools are doing. Some
schools are providing laptop computers to students, but are rolling
the cost into enrollment fees.
Other schools have required laptops, but have left the actual
purchase and choice of system up to the student. Some schools have
not offered any financial assistance toward the purchase, just
required that students have the hardware.
Three schools within the Chapel Hill campus already require new
students to bring their own laptops. These are the School of
Medicine, the School of Business, and the School of Law. This fall,
the School of Dentistry will require entering students to have their
own systems.
Reported by Newsbytes News Network: http://www.newsbytes.com/
(19980217 /LAPTOPREQ/PHOTO)
