IT Services
Student Technology Fee

FY07 Technology Fee Management Plan
December 2005

PURPOSE

The general computer technology fee approved by the Board of Education at the March 13, 2002 meeting created a new source of revenue for the college. The FY07 plan is intended to provide general information about the technology fee, specific management guidelines and instructions for applying for funding. 

FUND MANAGEMENT

The AVP for Information Technology, with advice from the Student Technology Fee Committee, manages the fund for the college. During the first three years of operation the principal fund objectives were clarified. In order of priority, they are:

• Adequately maintain existing technology
• Provide increased student access to existing technology
• Establish a student technology reserve fund
• Fund new technology

CRITERIA

Requests for funding with the general computer technology fee will be ranked using these criteria:

• Technology that impacts students

This criterion gives priority to uses that provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of students.

• Alignment with college plans

This criterion gives priority to uses that support college plans and initiatives like the college strategic directions or governance council approved strategic plans.  

• Resources available to the requesting unit

This criterion recognizes that some units have multiple sources of funding available (course fees for instance) or have received student technology fee support in the recent past. It gives priority to units without other funding sources or that have not recently received technology fee funding.

• Professional judgment

This criterion allows the members of the committee to exercise some degree of professional judgment as they rank requests.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

A portion of each year's revenue is reserved to maintain the fiscal stability of the fund. For FY07 the committee reserved 4.5% for bad debt, 10% for a student technology reserve fund and 5.0% for contingency.

The bad debt reserve percentage is fixed by college policy; the committee re-evaluates the other percentages each year. The reserve fund reached acceptable levels during FY04 and maintained them during FY05; therefore, the committee did not recommend adding to it in FY07. The contingency will be used to fund emergency requests received during the 2006-07 academic year.

PROCESS

The AVP for Information Technology, in consultation with the Student Technology Fee Committee, will manage the funding process.

Annual funding process:

• This process coincides with the college budgeting cycle.
• Requests for FY07 are submitted as part of the Unit Plan.
• A contact person must be included with each request in case additional information is required.
• Requests will be reviewed and ranked by the committee.
• The committee will make recommendations to the AVP for IT.
• Decision on funding requests will be announced around February 15, 2006.

Contingency funding process, similar to the annual funding process, except:

• Contingency requests may be submitted at any time during the year.
• Requests must be submitted by a departmental manager.
• The AVP for IT will review and approve contingency requests as appropriate

FUND GUIDELINES

Established guidelines:

• Funds are applied to instructional computer technology uses (as opposed to, for example, automotive technology).
• Funds may be used for hourly lab assistants, but cannot be used to fund any salaried positions. Funding for hourly lab assistants will not be expanded.
• All expenditures must remain in the technology fund (that is, the FUND code used on all expenses must be 926500).
• Any department funding allocation remaining at the end of each fiscal year will be returned into the technology fund (that is, there is no departmental carryover).
• Any expenditure in excess of the approved allocation is the responsibility of the department.
• Collaborative initiatives are encouraged.
• Funds must be used only for the approved purposes.
• In August of 2005, ET decided that it was not appropriate to use student fees to fund smart classroom infrastructure.