Editorial: Keeping things free. For us at least.

If the public’s discontent over The New York Times’ online paywall — which goes into… If the public’s discontent over The New York Times’ online paywall — which goes into effect today — tells us anything, it’s that people love to get things for free.

Luckily, all non-College of General Studies undergraduate Pitt students can still access the online edition of the Times through the Student Government Board’s College Readership Program, a recently enacted program that brings students copies of The New York Times and USA Today through the Student Activities Fund.

SGB President Molly Stieber said one of the main goals of the readership program was to provide students with access to the Times after the publication started charging for online subscriptions.

To access to Times’ content, students must send an e-mail to edu@nytimes.com from their Pitt e-mail accounts. According to an announcement on the my.pitt.edu portal, you must write “Access to NYT Replica Edition” in the subject line of the e-mail, and the body of the e-mail should say “Please set me up for access to the NYT Replica Edition; my name is (first name + last name).”

We’re unsure of whether the transaction will succeed if you fail to write “please.”

Students should sign up as soon as possible, as the announcement on the portal notes that the process can take one to two business days.

It’s called a “Replica Edition,” and Stieber said the content is the same as you would see if you subscribed to any online edition.

And although she said some kinks are still being worked out with the program, she believes students will be e-mailed with a login and password to access content on nytimes.com.

The content will only be available to students until graduation, despite the fact that pitt.edu accounts are not deactivated until months after graduation. Stieber said this is to make sure that only students paying the activity fee can access the Times.

Unfortunately, the future of the readership program is unsure. Stieber said she doesn’t foresee the Student Activities Fund being able to sustain the program, although she would love to see the program renewed through other means. She said she is currently talking to Residence Life director Shawn Brooks about additional options.

Currently, $30,500 from the fund is used to pay for the program out of the $1 million that SGB is responsible for allocating. Students pay an $80 activity fee each semester.

So although access to the Times is not exactly “free” to Pitt students either, it’s at least nice to not have to pay a separate fee. Instead, you can save your money for delicious $5 pizzas.