University at Buffalo: Reporter

Upgrades in technology
supported by fee increase

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor

UB's technology fee- which this semester increased to $125 per semester from $65, causing concern among some students -is providing the kind of technology upgrade that students expect at a major public research university.

"Any new fee causes concern," said Voldemar Innus, senior associate vice president for university services, "but you can immediately see the impact" of the technology fee.

"The technology fee," he added, "provides a reasonable base toward making demonstrable progress toward what students would expect at an institution like this. It provides a decent base for us to make advancements that we need on an annual basis."

Last year's technology fee was used to provide student services such as BIRD, which eliminated registration and drop/add lines, and BISON, which provided better library service, Innus noted.

The increased technology fee is expected to generate $4.1 million in the 1996-97 fiscal year, funds that will be used to enhance UB's capabilities in educational technology, student services, computing and information technology and UB's digital library initiative.

Among the projects the technology fee will be used to support are:

· More state-of-the-art technologically equipped classrooms, computer lab sites and LAN sites.

· Technology improvements in the Student Union.

· Increased technical support at departmental computing sites.

· An upgrade in campus security, including a two-year plan for the installation of a common SUNYCard access system for all buildings.

· An increase in the number of data connections to help meet the growing demand for access.

· Addition new graphics workstations in all libraries to expand convenient access to information at UB and on the Internet.

· Improvements to on- and off-campus access to computerized information resources.

In addition, funding has been budgeted to upgrade the UB WINGS server, install an Internet access browser in public computing sites, increase the number of public laser printing sites and dial-in ports for off-campus data access, upgrade modem speed and PPP server capacity, upgrade UNIX platforms and support services, and increase network security provisions.

The $125 fee is not the only means through which UB is funding technology.

"The technology fee is only a part-an important part-of the revenue streams we're trying to use in a comprehensive fashion to address the university's needs for technology," Innus said. UB's information systems also are being upgraded through capital funding, the operating budgets of various units and gifts and grants.

He was quick to point out that the technology fee is not intended to make up for the lack of a tuition increase.

"Some faculty, staff and students wonder if the technology fee is a substitute for a tuition increase. The answer to that is 'no'. We would have needed the technology fee increase whether the tuition increase went through or not."

Innus noted that the proposed $250 tuition increase was considered only to offset a reduction in the tax support, and would have provided no additional services or equipment. There was no tuition increase because the state legislature restored $51 million in funding to SUNY.

In fact, Innus said, the institution of a technology fee is not unique to the University at Buffalo.

"Increasingly across the country, dedicated fees for technology or computing are becoming the standard as all universities struggle to identify resources on a permanent basis for students and the academic programs they attend," he said.

Technology fees at all four SUNY University Centers, he added, are "roughly in the same ballpark."

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