The Student Advantage Program Proposal

Selina Aguilar

Selina Aguilar 4/8/2014

Selina Aguilar Page |1

MEMO
To: Neal J. Smatresk, President of The University of North Texas From: Selina Aguilar Date: April 4, 2014 Subject: Student Advantage Program Proposal At The University of North Texas, every school computer has Microsoft Office installed in it. Microsoft Office is the most often used word processor in the world. However, Microsoft Office Home and Student edition sells for over $100 in the UNT Barnes & Noble. As a currently enrolled student at UNT, I know that not all students can afford the expensive software, yet it is mandatory for proper compatibility with any documents made on school computers. Microsoft now offers a program called Student Advantage Program that allows all students to have free access to Microsoft Office 365 as long as the schools buys licenses for Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus or Microsoft Office Professional Plus for all of their faculty. I propose that The University of North Texas joins the Student Advantage Program and allows all students to access Microsoft Office for free. Problem with Microsoft Office Without Microsoft Office, students arent able to properly edit documents made in school. Documents made in Microsoft Office come preformatted in a default setting. The document may have complete random structure and design when opened with another program that has a different default format. Another problem with the format may occur when a teacher or professor has their ideology of a required document in the Microsoft Office format. The teachers may want the paper to look a certain way that one is only able achieve when using Office, so it can affect a students grade. Teachers may also have trouble opening files from other programs. Some programs do not use the type of files Microsoft Office uses (.docx, .docs, etc.). When teachers are grading on school computers, the students files may not be compatible. If the type of file is incompatible with Microsoft Office, the file will not open. Proposed Solution In order to avoid incompatibility and formatting issues between teachers and students, the University of North Texas should join the Student Advantage Program offered by Microsoft Office. The Student Advantage Program is that gives students free access to Microsoft Office 365, as long as the school they attend licenses Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus or Microsoft Office Professional Plus. If the University of North Texas got on board with this program, all formatting and compatibility issues would be nonexistent. If everyone is using Office, file sharing would be easy. Teachers and Students would be on sync with PowerPoints and documents. Providing the faculty and students with Office would be the only way to insure they are both using the same program. If the school offered Office for free, then it would be fair for UNT to require everyone to use it.

Selina Aguilar Page |2

The first step needed to joining the Student Advantage Program, is for the University of North Texas to find funds to update their licensing for Microsoft Office. If UNT faculty already has Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus or Professional Plus, then all that would need to be done is for the University of North Texas to wait for the license to expire and then contact Microsoft to renew the license with the Student Advantage Program. If the University of North Texas doesnt have Microsoft Office Pro Plus or Professional Plus then UNT must first get the funds to update their license. For the funds, UNT has two options. The first option is to get a grant from the Texas Education Agency. The Texas Education Agency already provides money for current Microsoft Office License. The University of North Texas would have to have an increase in funds for Office from them. The second option is to charge the students in tuition fees. These fees for the students would be cheaper than actually buying Microsoft Office, which most of them already have. After the origins of the funds have been decided on, UNT would next have to get the Microsoft Office 635 Pro Plus License. The University of North Texas already has some sort of licensing agreement with Microsoft because they have the program on all their campus computers. So UNT can sign up by updating their existing Enrollment for Education Solutions, Open Value Subscription-Education Solutions, or school contract to deploy Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus too all of their faculty. From their all one would do is have to deploy the program. UNT can have a download link on their website. Students and faculty can also download the program from the Microsoft Office website and just use the code provided by the school. A hard copy disk can also be handed out. I am currently an enrolled full-time student at The University of North Texas. Daily, I am required to use Microsoft Office on the school computers. I have experience what it is like to edit documents in a free word processor that were originally created in Microsoft Office. Before editing a document first you must convert the file into something the free processor would read, which is usually .rtf. In word documents, many times the formatting of a document was completely rearranged after converting. I am certified in some different versions of Microsoft Office so I am aware how to properly edit documents, however these were just errors made in the conversion process. Things got worse when it came to PowerPoints, I didnt have any program to open or edit the files. It is impossible to go through out classes without requiring having a PowerPoint required at one point. For these cases, I had to do the complete project at school which can take hours. These situations forced me to buy Microsoft Office. After buying Office all these problems have been fixed, except financially it created a new problem. I had to borrow $100 from my parents. If the University of North Texas joined The Student Advantage Program by Fall 2014, the cost per teacher would be anywhere from $4.50 - $6.00 a month depending on the Office program bought. Since students would be getting Microsoft office for free, the students can be charged in tuition fees for the license. UNT currently has 2,540 faculty members and 36,305 students enrolled as of spring 2014. With this in mind, the cost of Office per month for the University of North Texas ranges from $11,430 to $15,240 based on the number of faculty. This is about $137,160 to $182,880 per year. Microsoft office usually cost $139.95 for students for a year

Selina Aguilar Page |3 subscription. If the students were charged in Tuition Fees the price of the Microsoft Office license, the cost for the students would come out to $3.75 to $5.04 a head. These students would be saving more than $134 each year. Population size: Students Faculty Price per year originally: Students Faculty Price per year w/ Grant Students Faculty Price per year w/ Tuition Fees Students Faculty
*calculated based as if UNT has Microsoft Office Pro Plus or Microsoft Office Professional Plus already

36,305 2,540 $139.95 *$137,160 to $182,880 $0 $137,160 to $182,880 $3.78 to $5.04 $0

Conclusion The University of North Texas has all school computers equipped with Microsoft Office making teachers use the program as default for what all documents should look like. It is very hard for students who do not have Microsoft Office to successfully complete documents away from campus. If the University of North Texas choses my proposal to join the Student Advantage Program then students and teachers will both be using Microsoft Office. My proposal saves not only the school money but the students. Please contact me at 2142407482 or email me at selinaaguilar@my.unt.edu for questions. I look forward to hearing from you soon. .

Selina Aguilar Page |4

Works Cited
Explore Office 365. (n.d.). Retrieved from Microsoft Office: http://office.microsoft.com/enus/academic/compare-office-365-education-plans-FX103045755.aspx Microsoft. (n.d.). Retrieved from ThinkEDU: http://thinkedu.com/bn/ Office of the President . (2014, April 2). Retrieved from University of North Texas: http://www.unt.edu/president/meetthepresident.htm Reed, B. (2013, December 3). Microsoft Office 365 Student Advantage. Retrieved from BGR: http://bgr.com/2013/12/03/microsoft-office-365-student-advantage/ University of North Texas. (n.d.). Retrieved from Cappex: https://www.cappex.com/colleges/University-of-North-Texas