Spring Break
Telephone lines no longer standard in NT dorm rooms
Cellular phones now replace land lines
Katie Farnam
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: LIFE
Beginning this semester, student phone lines are no longer standard in dorms, according to NT Housing.
Elisabeth Warren, NT housing director, said survey results showed that most residents didn't feel landline phones were necessary in dorm rooms since many students rely on their cell phones to communicate.
"Students don't use them, and they're a big ticket item, so why would we keep using student money to pay for something they don't use?" Warren said.
According to the housing Web site, money used to pay for phone lines will now be spent on growing electricity costs for students who bring computers and leave them on at all times. The money saved will also be used to cover long distance fees incurred from calling student cell phones.
"It's kind of an exchange," Warren said. "It costs about $75 over an academic year to cover the electricity, and that's what we were using on phones."
Residents who want a phone line in their rooms can pay an additional $20 per month with a $25 activation fee, which is billed along with other housing costs. Warren said phones are still available in each dorm hallway and in resident assistant rooms.
Kristiane Smith, a resident assistant at Bruce Hall, said few students have requested a phone line in their rooms.
"From what I've seen, there's not a lot of people who utilized them in the rooms," Smith said. "Since so many people have cell phones, it's not really a big deal."
Smith said the flaw she sees in removing phone lines is that the only student contact information permitted for release is NT student e-mail and room phone numbers. Now that resident assistants and dorm staff only have student cell phones, that contact information can't be released.
Even with the option to have a phone, only 10 out of about 6,000 residents have requested one, Warren said.
"Nobody really misses them," Warren said. "We feel like it was a really good decision."
Elisabeth Warren, NT housing director, said survey results showed that most residents didn't feel landline phones were necessary in dorm rooms since many students rely on their cell phones to communicate.
"Students don't use them, and they're a big ticket item, so why would we keep using student money to pay for something they don't use?" Warren said.
According to the housing Web site, money used to pay for phone lines will now be spent on growing electricity costs for students who bring computers and leave them on at all times. The money saved will also be used to cover long distance fees incurred from calling student cell phones.
"It's kind of an exchange," Warren said. "It costs about $75 over an academic year to cover the electricity, and that's what we were using on phones."
Residents who want a phone line in their rooms can pay an additional $20 per month with a $25 activation fee, which is billed along with other housing costs. Warren said phones are still available in each dorm hallway and in resident assistant rooms.
Kristiane Smith, a resident assistant at Bruce Hall, said few students have requested a phone line in their rooms.
"From what I've seen, there's not a lot of people who utilized them in the rooms," Smith said. "Since so many people have cell phones, it's not really a big deal."
Smith said the flaw she sees in removing phone lines is that the only student contact information permitted for release is NT student e-mail and room phone numbers. Now that resident assistants and dorm staff only have student cell phones, that contact information can't be released.
Even with the option to have a phone, only 10 out of about 6,000 residents have requested one, Warren said.
"Nobody really misses them," Warren said. "We feel like it was a really good decision."
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