The California State University system struck out on a bold, new endeavor March 6, when the chancellor's office approved a three- year pilot program for the entire system called Assured Access.
While not mandatory, campuses can participate if they meet the criteria approved by the chancellor's office.
The participating campuses will require all incoming freshmen to own a computer or have access to one and all enrolled students to pay a $36 semester or $24 quarter "infrastructure support" fee.
CSU is the only public institution for higher education in the nation, of its size and scale, to attempt such a program.
"The issue really is a question of investing in the future," said Mark Resmer, associate vice president for information technology at Sonoma State where the program originated.
Information literacy is one of the key skills needed by students to compete in the work environment, Resmer said.
Of the 20 CSU campuses, Sonoma and San Luis Obispo are set to start the program in fall l995, said Resmer. Humboldt is a year behind and Northridge is in the final stages of getting approval.
How Northridge fares with the program could determine its future at SF State. The largest of the four campuses, Northridge has a total enrollment of 24,3l0, only l,950 less than SF State.
Asked if he planned to implement the program any time soon at SF State, Executive Director of Computing Services John True answered no.
But when Associate Vice President of Enrollment Services Ed Apodaca was asked if he thought an attempt would be made to bring the Assured Access program to SF State, he answered yes.
"Look at the survey we just did," Apodaca said, referring to the computer access survey conducted by touch-tone during the fall l994 add-drop period.
The survey meets one of the criterion set by the chancellor's office for all campuses who decide to participate in the Assured Access program, according to Colleen Bentley-Adler, spokeswoman for the chancellor.
True said that of the l0,000 students polled, 65 percent said they had access to a computer. Thirty-five percent said they had access to a modem. "That just blew me away," said True.
"I think a computer in the curriculum is almost a must. Maybe in another two or three years a computer will be like a textbook," True said.
"We make it acceptable for faculty to require that the students have textbooks. We're saying the faculty should now be able to assume that students also have computers," said Resmer, making the same analogy.
Under the program, Resmer said students could expect to be required by instructors to use e-mail, submit assignments electronically, access electronic information resources, take electronic exams, and participate in on-line discussion groups.
"If all my teachers started telling me I had to use computers, I would totally stress out," said Sabine Mees, a junior at SF State. "I think some people would drop out of school or wouldn't enroll in school because of this," Mees said.
Participating campuses must inform students of the requirement prior to enrollment.
Frank Tansey, associate vice president of enrollment services at Sonoma State, said so far the program has had no impact on the fall enrollment numbers there.
"I'm concerned," said Apodaca, who holds the same position at SF State. "What Sonoma is saying is that their enrollment has not dropped, but the mix of people who are attending there might change."
Apodaca said projected estimates show that some students will soon be excluded from an education within the CSU system because there is not enough space.
"This particular requirement could tend to benefit individuals who come from more affluent homes and backgrounds," Apodaca said.
A program like Assured Access could divide education along class lines and lead to an already widening gap between the haves and have-nots, said Apodaca.
And in fact, that is exactly what happened at the Crookston campus of the University of Minnesota, the only other public university in the nation that has a similar program, according to its director of computing services, Don Medal.
"We provide the computer hardware and software to the students," said Medal, "and for that they pay $250 a quarter or a total of $750 a year."
"I know we lost students who were on the edge financially because of the fees," said Medal, "but I also know some students came because of it."
Medal said representatives from CSU contacted his office to inquire about the program.
"A program like this is impossible on large campuses," said Medal, explaining why Crookston, the smallest of the five University of Minnesota campuses, with a total enrollment of l,250, is the only one with such a requirement.
Carnegie Mellon University, which ranks among the top five schools in the nation for its computer science and engineering programs, was most often cited by many of the academic institutions interviewed for this article as the institution which first had the student computer ownership requirement.
"They all say we do, but we don't," said Tracy Futhey, director of user services at Carnegie Mellon. Futhey said the university looked into it a couple of different times, most recently six months ago. The two big problems with the requirement are the financial burden it imposes on students, and the difficulty in determining and enforcing a set of standards on what types of computer equipment students are required to buy, said Futhey.
"What I want to know is, who pays for it," said Molly Huber as she sat in front of the student admissions office in the SF State Administration building. "This is the only college I can afford," said Huber, a prospective student.
Resmer estimates the cost of purchasing a computer system to be $l,000.
Dartmouth College took the lead nationally in pioneering the student computer ownership requirement three years ago, said its director of academic computing, Malcolm Brown.
But for the small, 5,000 student private college, said Brown, "$l,200 is not that much more for a student who is already paying $24,000 a year to come here."
"There are people in some of my classes who can't even afford food," said Zak Aboumoudriq, a computer science major at SF State. "How are they going to be able to afford a computer?"
Participating campuses must develop some type of financial aid program for students who cannot afford computers, said Bentley-Adler speaking from the Chancellor's office in Long Beach.
According to Resmer, Sonoma State is setting up a loaner pool of equipment for people who qualify, donated by its vendors, at the financial aid office.
"It's unfair," said SF State junior Linda Pang. "Especially for foreign students because they may not be eligible for financial aid."
Director of Student Financial Aid Tom Rutter, said l0,949, or almost 42 percent of the total students enrolled at SF State this year were receiving some type of financial aid. He said he expected that number to increase to l2,000 next year.
"A lot of people cannot even afford to pay the cost of tuition at a public university without help," said Rutter.
"I'm not going to be able to administer a program for l2,000 students," said Rutter.
The only glitch in the Assured Access program could be the infrastructure support fee. The CSU Board of Trustees is expected to review the fee by July. The program will not take place if the fee is not approved, said Resmer. "If we don't have the infrastructure, it's not worth it."
Bentley-Adler said other criteria for campus participation in the program included institutional support from the campus itself, a curriculum emphasis on the use of personal computing applications, and faculty commitment to the program.
Participating campuses must also solicit student involvement with opinion surveys, open forums, and interaction with student body organizations, said Adler.
Indeed, it was student criticism that caused Humboldt to delay its start up date for Assured Access, according to Beau Redstone, the editor of the Humboldt campus newspaper, The Lumberjack.
"The students were in an uproar about it. That's what caused it to grind to a halt up here," said Redstone, a senior.
"I'm not even a hitchhiker on the information super highway," said SF State senior Shannon Raintree. "It's frightening. I really agree with what the university is trying to do," Raintree said. The Spanish major said it came down to fear and money for her.
"The university has a responsibility to train students to live in the computer world," said Raintree. "But they also have a responsibility to make sure some of us are not left out of the loop."
"If we never address this issue, we will be doing a disservice to our students," said SF State Computer Science Department Chair Gerald Eisman. "We have to move towards providing it, but in a reasonable and rational way," Eisman said. "I think students agree."
"But how we move toward it," said Eisman, "and in what ways, is critical to making it work."
"It comes down to the students," Eisman said. "Any plan to do this without giving every student an opportunity to participate is irresponsible."