Colorado State University

Special Course & Tech Fees

FY 04/05

MEETING WITH ED PEYRONNIN

COORDINATOR, CENTER FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

 TECHNOLOGY CHARGE

 

Background

The Agricultural Sciences Technology Charge began in FY91/92 at an amount of $50.

Ed started working at the College in 1994/1995 and taught a class and helped out at the lab.   He has been in his current position as Coordinator since 1999.

Student Charges for Technology Committee

How is the $75 per semester charge for technology approved by the Committee?

Once a Charge is approved there is no reapproval process unless the Charge needs to be increased and then all the proper steps are followed. 

What is the process for the Committee to approve the expenditure requests?

The Charges for Technology Report states that undergraduate meetings are held once in the fall and twice in the spring and graduate meetings are held twice each semester.

There are 4 [EP1] labs for all majors.  In the spring, the Undergraduate Committee meets to review and approve what is needed for the next academic year and then the purchases are made in the summer.  In the fall, the Undergraduate Committee meets to do a full review of what was done in the summer.

There are 4 graduate student labs – 1 in each building.  The Graduate Committee meets in the fall to decide what is needed for that academic year, i.e. 2 to 3 computers, software, and expendables such as toner.

How is the College charging for printing?   Ed said that when there is a free resource then it is an abused resource.

The Graduate Committee voted on not having a printing quota for their labs. 

Three years ago, the Undergraduate Committee voted to impose a printing quota since paper supplies and ink was costing around $17,000.  Mark Ritschard[EP2] , College of Engineering, had put a system in place in [EP3] the College of Engineering where when the student logs in it keeps track of his or her printing.   Mark helped the College of Agricultural Sciences to [EP4] implement the same system to monitor printing.    In fall 2001, the College started to monitor the printing and it cut $5,000 to $6,000 off costs.  In fall 2003, the College started to charge.  Ed asked the Committee if they wanted to charge $5 and they said no that they wanted to charge $10.  The student has to have a log in to use a computer in the lab.  The students are given 600 credits (500 pages) each semester.  If they run out then they can purchase 600 additional credits for $10 from the accounting tech who gives them a receipt and they take the receipt to lab person (Larry) who then goes into the system and increases their credits.  Every time a student prints, a pop up comes on the screen to tell them what their balance is.

Charges for Technology Report FY04 CFT Budget

Why wasn’t the carryforward from FY03 amount of $0 updated to the actual amount of ($1,372.12)?

Ed didn’t know.  He said that they have had a problem in these last few years with declining enrollment.  There has been a 10% drop in enrollment in the fall.  The problem is that they spent in anticipation of the projected enrollment and then when it wasn’t so high they tried to tighten their belt for the rest of the year.  Ed is aware that they have a deficit being carried into FY05 of ($9,028) but they will tighten up so that there is no deficit to carry into FY06.

10% Financial Aid Process

Summary of FY04 CFT Budget $19,818

FRS Report 6/30/04 $18,549 (9.35%) and revenue was $198,249

The College did it just as the CSU Charges for Technology Manual states and Student Financial Services awarded 10% of the budgeted revenue to the top students on the financial need list for $75 each.  Carmen at Student Financial Services would assign the awards and Ed gave no input.

This spring, Ed went to the Committee and proposed doing $1,000 scholarships and the Committee approved.  Then he went to the College’s scholarship committee to incorporate the 10% Technology Charge Special Need as another scholarship to award $500 each semester.  From Jan. 1^st to March 1^st, students can apply on line at Student Financial Services’ website for scholarships.  Ed downloads the applications of students in the Agricultural Science College and these are what the College’s scholarship committee uses to distribute the scholarships.  The Graduate and Undergraduate Committees decided on the criteria to use such as GPA 2.5 and above, CSU essay, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), etc.

Concerns or Ideas for Improvement

Ed jokingly said that the College needs more students.

The College’s number one consideration is the students and their needs.

The College operates within the constraints of the CSU Charges for Technology Manual.

Ed’s only concern was that they can’t purchase things such staplers and staples for the labs or blank CDs. 

Review of Account 2-59010 for FY04

It was agreed that Ed would research what the following expenditures were for, their purpose and if they were approved by the Committee.             

7/31/03                                    Office Max                  $92.96[EP5] 

9/30/03                                    Longs Drug Store        $35.94[EP6] 

10/31/03                                  K I                                $4,339.30[EP7] 

                                                K I                                $7,232.05[EP8] 

                                                Bentley Systems Inc   $2,000.00[EP9] 

11/30/03                                  E M C 2 Corp              $20,000.00[EP10] 

3/31/04                                    Red Hat, Inc.               $100.00[EP11] 

6/30/04                                    Access Computer       $982.95[EP12] 

                                                Access Computer       $205.90[EP13] 

                                                Access Computer       $368.90[EP14] 

Ed gave me a tour of the labs in the Shepardson Building which included:

·         Graduate student lab with ergonomic KI furniture

·         Teaching lab with Juniper Valley furniture which didn’t allow for as many computers nor was it very ergronomical

·         Undergrad lab with ergonomic KI furniture which, thanks to the KI furniture, more computers can easily and comfortably be fit into the room

·         Server room that included the newly purchased NAS that the College purchased for $20,000 instead of the market price of $85,000 as the company wanted to get its foot in the door at the University.  The servers and equipment funded by the Tech Charge are aligned on one part of the shelves and the equipment funded by the University is aligned on another part.