UC-Davis May Charge for 'Net Access

In a move that may signal a trend among colleges across the nation, officials at the University of California-Davis (UCD) are considering imposing fees on faculty and students who access the Internet from the school.

UCD students have described the proposal--designed to help recoup the costs of maintaining the communications medium--as "outrageous."

"A number of students have written letters-to-the-editor on the subject," said Amy Goldwitz, senior staff writer for The California Aggie, the UCD daily newspaper.

Goldwitz said many students access the UCD system via modem. The fee increase is being considered mainly because the large number of students using the modem pool have driven up costs, she said.

In order to accommodate the increasing number of connections, UCD's Information Technology Services has had to spend money originally allocated for telephone repair, according to Goldwitz.

She said communication costs at UCD are greater because most students live off-campus.

Some said UCD's new proposal may represent part of a more general trend.

Jeff C. Tarr '96, the former president of Digitas, said the imposition of "user fees" reflects "a general trend" among college campuses because the number of Internet users has grown faster than expected.

Schools are charging fees "because [the Internet] is so popular and it's very costly," Tarr said.

Tarr said he has heard rumors written on college newsgroups that Harvard may begin charging fees.

But, he said, it would be "very unlikely" because most Harvard students live on-campus and access the Internet through ethernet cards, which are less expensive to maintain.

At UCD, the University has attempted to control costs by "outsourcing Internet access" to long-distance phone companies, Goldwitz said. The move would enable Davis to offer Internet services more efficiently, she said.

Other advantages to outsourcing include faster modem connection, more technical assistance and the elimination of charges for students making long distance calls.

Though implementation of the proposal seems imminent, it probably will not be instigated for several months, according to Goldwitz.