Collegiate Times

Software: Click to enlarge

Not all university software deals are created equal.

Students across Virginia institutions of higher learning save considerable amounts of money by purchasing their software through the university. However, because universities budget software differently, the price differences between them can be staggering.

At Virginia Tech, Information Technology Acquisitions determines how much students pay for specific software.

ITA charges students the price of discounted software plus an overhead fee — 28 percent for 2009-2010 — to “recover full costs related to the enterprise,” said John Krallman, ITA director.

Because ITA is an auxiliary enterprise — an entity that furnishes services to students but does not receive financial support from tuition or the General Fund — it is required to recover its expenses, including salaries and rent, entirely. 

As such, Tech does not subsidize software.

In contrast, the University of Virginia subsidizes most of its software, allowing it to charge students a significant amount less than other universities for some programs.

For example, Tech charges $60 for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac; at UVa, the price falls to $10.

At Tech, a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium will run $100 more than the equivalent at UVa.

Still, Tech’s prices are mostly consistent with those of James Madison University and the College of William & Mary — with the exception of providing some computing software, such as MATLAB, free of charge.

JMU uses a third-party partner, JourneyEd, to negotiate prices. 

“In a nutshell, we supply huge upfront savings to registered students at an institution,” said Elio Distaola, JourneyEd’s director of campus relations. 

In general, companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe offer their own discounts for students, but also negotiate larger, case-by-case discounts with universities.

Adobe offers Creative Suite 4 Design Premium to students and educators for $399 from a regular price of $1799, but students can purchase the program from their home institutions for at least 7 percent less.

Similarly, Microsoft Office 2008 costs $149.95 online at the generic discount price, but can be purchased for a minimum of 40 percent less through universities.

“The key is not to compete with external business, “Krallman said. “We only offer software that students can’t get at a better price.” 

On Oct. 12, Patty Branscome of Tech’s Software Sales Auxiliary announced that Windows 7 Professional would be distributed at promotional pricing.

The operating system was released on Oct. 22, and students were able to receive their copy the same day. The Pamplin College of Business at Tech received Windows 7 for download weeks prior to its release date.

The program on disk costs $38 for Tech faculty, staff and students.  For those who purchased an undergraduate campus bundle, an ISO file of Windows 7 is free of additional charge and the disk costs $7.

“For those people who know how to download their own, they can download that ISO, burn a DVD, and then do the installment themselves,” Krallman said.

Microsoft is also offering a special promotion, charging $29.99 for an online upgrade, but a hard copy costs an additional $13.

Once Tech’s promotional deal expires on the last day of 2009 it will probably be in the $75 range, Krallman said. “When you get into ... licensing, it can get pretty confusing.”

Each piece of software costs less when purchased in large volumes by an institution. Some models offer a fixed amount of licenses; others called select licenses provide blanket coverage over the entire university body regardless of size.

Tech does not order software unless a specific department requests it, Krallman said.  Once ITA receives a request, its staff visits Web sites, contacts representatives, and asks about a volume licensing option.

Each college within the university can also receive additional discounts and offers from software companies.  These negotiations are left for the individual colleges to handle.