Telecommunications costs continue to rise. Historically these costs were covered by the “resale” of long-distance. As personal cell phone use has increased and long-distance costs have decreased, this source of revenue has vanished. To contain costs, ITS is making a series of changes in Telecommunication services.

Step one is the elimination of student long-distance. Since the fall of 2005, students were no longer being provided with a long-distance PIN number. Students can place long-distance calls from their cell phones, calling cards, or pre-paid cards. Along with the removal of student long-distance services is the elimination of the STC student telephone help desk. Students will report all telephone problems via the ITS Help Desk on-line forms or via email.

A more drastic change takes place this summer. In the fall of 2006, students will no longer be assigned a college personal phone number. We will revert back to a single phone line per room. Phone numbers will stay with residence hall rooms.

However, we will continue to provide students with voice mail services. In fact, we encourage students to sign up for the free unified messaging service. With this service, voice mail messages are delivered to a student’s email box. We expect this service to gain in popularity when we eliminate the personal phone number. Students will retain the same voice mailbox number their entire four years at the college.