A new funding system proposed by telecommunications providers AT&T and Verizon could cost the average college an additional $100,000 a year, according to the American Council on Education.
The companies have been lobbying the Federal Communications Commission since 2006 to overhaul how colleges contribute to the universal service fund. The fund was created in 1997 to promote the availability of telephone services at reasonable and affordable rates in rural and low-income areas. Currently, schools make contributions based on their revenue, but under the proposal they would be charged 85 cents per assigned telephone number.
Sean O'Malley, Information Technology communications manager, said Ohio University currently pays $130 each month to the fund.
The fund was created after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandated that telephone providers provide telecommunication access nationwide. Organizations that purchase a large number of phone lines are charged an additional fee, which pays for the fund.
The change that is proposed could have a very dramatic effect on the fees that colleges and universities pay
said Ada Meloy, general counsel for the education council. The impact could be very troubling.
OU, which purchases local phone service from Verizon, currently has 18,500 registered phone lines, 12,000 of which are in service, O'Malley said.
On Dec. 11 the education council sent a letter to the FCC expressing concern with how changes to the system for determining contributions would affect higher education.
Under the current methodology, colleges and universities contribute an estimated $60 million a year to the fund, according to the education council Web site. But, if accepted, the proposal would cost colleges and universities approximately $450 million.
It's hard to say that (the proposal) would bankrupt (the average) university but there would be a lot of economic pressure Meloy said.
The Office of Housing is currently looking into the possibility of removing landline phones from dorm rooms, which would significantly reduce OU's phone service costs, O'Malley said.
We've got about 4
600 lines in the dorms
O'Malley said. Dropping the dorm room lines would reduce the lines in service by one third.
O'Malley said that OU is watching the proposal's developments and that it is too soon to tell whether or not it will be accepted.
Meloy said that while the proposal has been removed from the FCC calendar, the phone companies continue to push funding change and will likely lobby the FCC again.
This is continually being proposed by the large corporations
Meloy said. We have closely monitored it
and we will continue to do so.
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Wesley Lowery
