Student Technology Fee

The Student Technology Fee supports a data network infrastructure that brings high-speed, flexible, Internet communications to local student residences.

Miami University is a residential, teaching University. In common with other similar universities, it is developing technologies that help students better prepare for the classroom. These include library books and periodicals, course materials, and research resources that require computer access for their use.

An on-campus network provides each residence hall student with high-speed Internet communications and video entertainment. The majority of students, however, live off-campus.

Miami offers high-speed data connections to off-campus student residences to support University teaching. The first step in this program is an agreement with Time Warner Cable (TWC) to provide inexpensive high-speed Internet connections to residences that are served by the TWC Oxford node. Under this agreement, Time Warner will install a 2,000,000 bit per second connection in an off-campus student residence, usually without an installation fee. The Network Services Enterprise (NSE) staff, 529.8774, take orders for these connections. Student costs for the connection are 1) purchase of a cable modem at the Bookstore and 2) a per month fee billed by the NSE through the Bursar. Over a two-year period the modem, the monthly fee, and the semester fee total 35% less than non-University Time Warner rates. Moreover, the cable modem is the student's personal property: it can be used later with other cable data systems or resold.

A semester fee to help support this program is billed to all Oxford Campus students. It is not a fee-for-service, but a fee supporting a fundamental piece of the University's infrastructure. The program and its associated fees were reviewed with the Associated Student Government, which made suggestions for change that were adopted before the program began. For more information concerning the fee, visit the Miami University Student Technology Fee web page at: http://www.units.muohio.edu/mcs/techfee/.

This document was last modified on August 16, 2006 .