Pitt student computer fee hiked

The cost of an education at Pitt will go up this year, albeit by a relatively small… The cost of an education at Pitt will go up this year, albeit by a relatively small amount.

Citing increasing costs, the Student Affairs Committee of Pitt’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to increase the computing and metworking services fee for all students.

The committee’s recommendation will go before the full Board of Trustees, the University’s governing body, for a vote at the board’s meeting later this month. University officials expect the fee hike to pass.

Effective this fall, the fee will increase by $25 to $175 for full-time students and $100 for part-time students.

The per semester fee, since its last increased in 2006, was $150 for full-time students and $75 for part-time students.

Like in the past, money generated by the fee will pay for things like the maintenance of Pitt’s network infrastructure, wireless network, student computing labs, low-cost software for students and e-mail services.

The written proposal to the committee cited network, network security and student software cost increases of more than $1.3 million annually that needed to be addressed. The fee increase will bring in an additional $1.5 million to Pitt each year from its more than 34,000 students.

News this week from Student Affairs wasn’t all about fee hikes, though.

The Division of Student Affairs also announced that a pair of rooms in the recently acquired Concordia Club will be made available for use by student groups.

Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey said that the two rooms would be available for student group meetings and that more information would be available soon.