Juniors and seniors in the Scripps College of Communication pay the highest technology fee of $127 per full-time student per semester.
Seven undergraduate colleges at Ohio University have a technology fee, which usually goes toward computer labs, staffing and other equipment. Freshmen and sophomores see a different fee known as the OHIO Guarantee.
The College of Business and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology both have the second-highest fee at $97 per full-time student per semester.
The total budgeted amount for the fee for the next fiscal year is $180,425, Scott Titsworth, the dean of the Scripps College of Communication, said in an email.
That money is then split among the five different schools within the Scripps College based proportionately on the enrollment in each college.
The journalism school, which has the highest enrollment number within the Scripps College, is allowed a little less than $50,000, Robert Stewart, the director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, said.
“We definitely use a lot of technology,” Stewart said. “For the school of journalism, the primary expenditures are the computer labs that we have. We have three Mac labs and a WOUB classroom lab.”
In addition to paying for computer labs, the technology fee is also used to pay for personnel to run those labs and other pieces of equipment students are allowed to check out.
“I don’t mind having an extra fee to use (technology). To me, it’s justified,” Sarah Stier, a junior studying photojournalism, said. “I enjoy being able to access this stuff. It was one of the reasons I came to OU, being able to use this nice professional equipment as an undergrad is something that many people don’t get a chance to."
Steer estimates she checks out equipment two to three times a week ranging from $1,700 to $6,000 for both classwork and work for the OU's athletic department.
On the other hand, juniors and seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences pay the lowest technology fee, which is $45 per full-time student per semester.
“We have more students. There’s a scale issue,” Robert Frank, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “We can charge less because we have more students who are paying the fee.”
The College of Arts and Sciences had almost 4,000 undergraduate students in fall 2015, according to OU’s Office of Institutional Research. That is almost double the number of students in the Scripps College, which had 2,113 students in 2015.
Despite the cost difference, the technology fee is spent for purposes similar to the Scripps College.
“We use it to support technology infrastructure,” Frank said. “(The fee) supports computer labs and personnel that are maintaining those facilities.”
Currently, only juniors and seniors directly pay the undergraduate technology fee. That is because the fee is slowly being phased out by the OHIO Guarantee plan, which freshman and sophomores already pay for.
Under the new plan, the undergraduate technology fee, along with many other fees, would all be absorbed into one stable, flat rate fee. The biggest difference with the new plan is that the money allotted to each college is now no longer required to go specifically toward “technology.” Instead, it can be spent on anything deemed necessary, Stewart said.
Stewart said while he likes the idea of the OHIO Guarantee, the same amount of money would still be set aside for making technology purchases and "there wouldn’t be much difference beside the name."
“It’s nice to have flexibility,” he said. “But the reality is students need technology.”
Frank said the Colleges of Arts and Sciences will still be putting money toward technology.
“We’re still gonna have more of those expenses," he said. "The only change is that it’s all rolling into this one price.”
Correction: A previous version of the photo caption incorrectly spelled the name of the Schoonover Center. The caption has been updated to show the most accurate information.
