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Policies Technology Fee FAQ's
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Technology Fee Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Technology Fee?The Technology Fee is a university fee assessed on base tuition for undergraduate and graduate students at all USF Campuses.
How much is the Fee?Beginning Fall 2009, the Fee will be 5% of tuition.
Why are we being charged the Technology Fee?The Fee was approved by Florida's Legislature under Florida Statute 1009.24. Paragraph" (s) a technology fee of up to 5 percent the tuition per credit hour, beginning with the fall term of 2009-2010 academic years. The revenue from this fee shall be used to enhance instructional technology resources for students and faculty. The technology fee shall not be included in any award under the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program."
Will my financial aid cover this fee?The Fee will not be covered by Bright Futures awards but each individual should check their own aid sponsors for information.
How will the Fee be used?The Fee will be used to enhance technology resources for students and faculty. The Information Technology Division will manage the collection and use of the funds.
Will each campus get to spend their proportion of the fees?President Genshaft has directed that this Fee be viewed from a USF system perspective and funding of system-wide projects would be a priority. All campuses are represented in the Student and Faculty Advisory Boards as well as the Information Technology Management Council.
How will this work?The funds will be collected for the USF system and maintained by the Information Technology Division in a separate account for tracking and reporting back to the USF Board of Trustees, Information Technology Management Council and Student Technology Advisory Council.
How will USF determine how to use the funds?Students, Faculty, and Staff may submit may submit project proposals for consideration. Proposals will be reviewed by the Student Technology Advisory Council and Information Technology Management Council with recommendations as to priority and funding being made to the Vice President Information Technology. Return to Top
How do proposals get submitted?While anyone can submit a proposal, it will be best to work with one of the advisory groups for students and faculty. Detailed information, guiding principles, instructions, and forms for submission of a proposal are available here.
What happens when a proposal is submitted?Proposals submitted through the website are received by Information Technology for tracking. They will be referred to one of the advisory boards for evaluation. Proposals will be reviewed and the proposer will be contacted if there is any missing information. Once the advisory board completes its evaluation of proposals, the proposal will be brought to the ITMC, which meets monthly, for consideration.
Who can submit a proposal?Students, Faculty, Staff, and campus organizations. As noted above, working through one of the systems advisory boards will enhance the proposal process.
Can I receive assistance in preparing a proposal?Yes, there are multiple advisory boards in place at USF that will be able to provide assistance based on the area or topic of proposal. IT will coordinate with getting a proposer connected with the right advisory group.
What is the Student Technology Advisory Council?The Student Technology Advisory Council (STAC) is a student group represented by all campuses (Tampa, USF Health, St. Petersburg, Polytechnic, and Sarasota) with representation from undergraduate, graduate, transfer, and freshman students, as well as Student Government.
What is STAC's responsibility?To meet with Information Technology leadership twice per semester to advise them on technology issues at USF.
What is ITMC?The ITMC is a USF Vice President Level group of representatives from all Divisions represented at the President's Council. This includes Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Marketing and Communications, Finance and Business, Audit, General Counsel, Athletics, Faculty Senate, USF Health, USF St. Petersburg, USF Polytechnic, and USF Sarasota.
On what criteria will proposals be weighted?The general criteria is listed here under the Guiding Principles link.
What happens if you don't spend all of the funds?The funds will be carried forward from year to year if the approved projects don't absorb the amount collected. In fact, one of the goals is to maintain a reserve.
Why do you plan for a reserve?Proposals will be submitted each semester and projects will be approved to move forward. We anticipate that there may be occasions where an important improvement may be identified after the list of projects have been approved for the semester and the committee would like the ability to respond to that newly identified project quickly without waiting until the next approval cycle.
Are other universities implementing this Fee?Yes, we have have been in contact with our counterparts in the State University System and they have all indicated their intent to implement the fee as well.
Still Have Questions?To see the Proposal Process, please click here.To see the list of Projects proposed, please click here. To see the Guiding Principles for Use of the Fee Funds, please click here. To see general information regarding the Technology Fee, please click here.
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