Access99 major asset in recruitment
Computer-access requirement seen as positive tool in bringing freshmen to UB

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
News Services Editor

In 1998, when UB made the decision to proceed with a computer-access requirement for freshman starting in 1999, some officials and faculty had one major concern: that the requirement not be a disincentive to prospective students-particularly those who could not afford their own computers.

They need not have worried.

"Every college and university that has implemented a program similar to ours has experienced substantial gains in enrollment and increases in student quality, as measured by SAT scores," said Joseph Tufariello, senior vice provost for educational technology.

And UB's experience has been no different.

"The computer-access requirement at UB-Access99-has been a major asset in terms of freshman recruitment," said Tufariello.

At the same time, the establishment of a computer-distribution program for needy students, described as one of the most extensive anywhere, has made the new requirement an attractive reason for coming to UB.

"None of the negative effects that we thought would happen, did," said Mark Petrie, associate director of admissions.

"The bottom line with Access99 is that it's been a positive recruitment tool for the admissions office because the kids like it. They expect to come to school and use computers," he said.

"We have one of the largest freshman classes this year than we've had in a long period of time," said Voldemar Innus, senior associate vice president for university services. He noted that while it is difficult to attribute the rise in freshman applicants and enrolled students to any single factor, a number of the efforts involved with Access99 have played an important role.

The push began last fall with the Discover UB open house and continued into the spring with Preview Day open house for accepted students; major presentations that highlighted UB's information-technology resources to prospective students were featured at both events.

Also featured were tours of the ever-popular cybraries, the new, upgraded public computing sites that, together with Bell 101 and departmental facilities, make available one public computer for every 10 undergraduates.

"Last year, we started hearing from admissions recruiters who were going out on recruiting trips that they were receiving extremely positive responses from prospective students and their parents," said Tufariello, who is leader and advocate for Access99.

The Office of Educational Technology is working with the staff of the Office of Admissions in student-recruitment efforts by making its Preview Day 99 presentation available and by participating in an Operation Inform Conference, slated for Sept. 28, to be attended by high-school guidance counselors.

Communication about UB's IT resources and the advantages of Access99 with applicants and then accepted students continued through the spring, when students received packages of information on why computing would be important to them in their careers at UB and thereafter.

"An enormous, coordinated effort throughout the entire university has been brought to bear on Access99 and it's had an extremely positive impact," said Tufariello.

That's not surprising, considering how critical technology has become to students in choosing colleges and universities. Although not ranked two years ago, UB now ranks 47th among Yahoo/Internet Life's top 100 most wired colleges and universities.

A recent USA Today article found that many students are using a university's level of "wired-ness" as a key criterion in choosing where to go.

According to Petrie, about 75 percent of UB's applications come in with line six-which asks for an email address-filled out.

"I think the whole IT push here at UB is attractive to students because they have a liking for this type of technology," said Petrie.

Just ask Mike Behun, CIT manager of student access.

Behun, together with Linda Kingsbury, assistant director for public access, has coordinated the new Students Who Advance Technology (SWAT) program, designed as part of Access99 to assist directly students in the residence halls with computing needs.

In particular, said Behun, students are thrilled with the level of computing at UB and particularly with the ResNet (Residence Halls network) services.

"They really love having this connection in their residence halls," said Behun, "they want access to email and the Internet and we have a lot of students who use instant messaging."

The push with Access99, according to Tufariello, was to make the point that students with any level of computing skills (from none to high) would be comfortable at UB and would receive the necessary services and attention they required.

Over the summer two CDs were sent to students: Wired World 101, developed by a committee chaired by Ray Volpe of UB Micro, which provides tutorials to students in the basic productivity software packages, and Wired TechTools, developed by a committee chaired by Rick Lesniak, director of CIT's Academic Services, which provides important software packages, including virus-protection software, and allows students to connect to the Internet with a couple of clicks of the mouse.

Freshmen also were informed of an aggressive pricing program at UBMicro, where new computers completely configured for use at UB were available starting at $999; computers were either mailed directly to students' homes over the summer or were waiting for students when they arrived on campus last month.

From practically the moment they arrived on campus, freshmen have been able to take advantage of the following components of Access99:

- Web-based tutorials in the cybraries and Bell 101

- staff and student helpers available all afternoon, on Saturday, Aug. 28, and Sunday, Aug. 29, to answer questions and provide computer assistance

- 50 hands-on workshops to help students get started, run by the Student IT Literacy Group chaired by Sandy Peters, senior analyst with academic services, and composed of faculty, and staff from the libraries and CIT

- MyUB, developed by a team headed by Rebecca Bernstein, director of the Electronic Media unit, and Sue Huston, director of administrative computing services. MyUB is each student's customized portal site to UB online that is a dynamic academic tool with links to DARS, SOAR, registration and drop/add sites. It also features quality-of-life links, like a Webcam on campus that shows what's going on in selected buildings and parking lots, and a place to send such questions as where to get help with personal problems.

- ResNet assistance in the residence halls, where students could go to have their network cards installed

- The same service available at UBMicro

But perhaps the most critical ingredient on which UB officials would measure the success of Access99 is the availability of a program for needy students.

"If faculty members want their students to use computers-and that premise is the basis of Access99-and 10 percent of their students can't afford them, we knew, that as a public institution, we had to find a way to help that 10 percent," said Tufariello. "We had to find a way to level the playing field."

In preparing Access99, UB officials studied other institutions that had implemented similar programs. Only one other school, California State University at Sonoma, had done something similar for needy students. At that school, students who met financial-eligibility requirements received a computer on loan for their first year; after that, they were expected to buy one themselves.

In contrast, the designers of UB's program-including Tufariello and Martha Barton, associate vice provost for educational technology, who chaired the committee-had as their goal assistance that would last a student for as long as he or she was at UB, provided they continued to meet financial-eligibility requirements.

Last year, it seemed that loaners could be obtained through corporate donations, but incompatibility with local technological requirements caused the university to explore other possibilities.

In what some describe as a Herculean effort, the university, along with Dell and IBM, developed an assistance program for UB students in less than six months. The program, called SNAP, Students Needing Assistance Program, provides students whose family contribution to tuition costs is expected to be zero, with a new or nearly new computer that they can keep throughout their career at UB, so long as they continue to meet the program's financial criteria.

"This is a piece of Access99 we're doing much differently than other institutions," said Tufariello. "This is the most extensive program for this type of assistance that we know of in the world. We are overjoyed with the cooperation that these companies have provided to us."