Costs

The following will be included in the miscellaneous fees section of the 2012 schedule of fees and are valid for the 2012 academic year (note that all prices include VAT):

Student Network Access: R1088 p.a. ^[*]
Off-campus broadband surcharge: R150 p.a. ^[*]

^[*] These fees are charged for the privilege of connecting a private computer to the University's network in designated places (including wireless) for the duration of the academic year.  Students signing up late in the year will be charged pro-rata from the current term. Full details, including the terms and conditions of use, are available at http://www.ru.ac.za/studnet.

These service charges apply only to the privilege of students using their privately-owned PCs on the Rhodes network. All students still have access to public labs and departmental computers set aside for student use, and central services (such as an e-mail mailbox, a Novell account, and access to the Internet) at no extra cost. It is intended that all students will have free access to basic facilities, but additional "convenience" services will be charged for.

In the spirit of the 2005 academic review's recommendation (as passed by Senate) that postgraduate students be expected to provide their own computers, a special provision exists for postgraduates: if their department makes an appropriate (wired) network point available for their use, they may register a privately-owned computer for use in their department without charge. In line with an ITSC recommendation (passed by Senate on 30 October 2009), postgraduates are not entitled to make free use of the student wireless network.

All students may sign up to use the Student Networking service. This will allow the student to register his/her PC for use on parts of the campus network, such the wireless network. If the student resides in a University residence, he/she may register his/her PC for use in that residence. Note that the access fee is only levied once per year, irrespective of any moves and changes that may be made during the year.

If the student lives off-campus in a digs or complex that has a broadband connection installed by the University, an additional surcharge will allow him/her to register his/her PC for use in that digs/complex. This surcharge covers the additional costs of connecting the digs/complex to the campus network.  (It is expected, but not yet confirmed, that this charge may fall away in 2013.)

Prices of these services are based on an academic year and only cover service during official University term times. If access is purchased during the first term, the full price is payable. If access is purchased during the second, third or fourth term, the student will pay 75%, 50% or 25% of the full price, respectively. Service terminates at the end of the academic year. Students leaving earlier in the year will not be entitled to a refund. Note that for the purposes of calculating fees, terms are measured from the beginning of one term to the beginning of the next (i.e. the last day of the vacation between the first and second terms is counted as part of the first term).

Oppidan students who only make use of the student wireless network will automatically receive a 35% discount on the current rate as they sign up. This discount is not applicable to students who were recorded as living in a University residence at the time they signed up, and will not be granted retroactively. Oppidans who subsequently sign up for wired network access on any other part of the Student Network will immediately become liable for the difference.

Students who are only registered for a Masters in Business Administration (starting in 2012 this includes certain other part-time postgraduate degrees, at our discretion) and who only make use of the wireless network will automatically receive an 85% discount on the current rate as they sign up. Such students will immediately become liable for the difference in fees if they sign up for wired access on any other part of the Student Network or if they change their academic registration.

Students who de-register from the service during the cooling-off period and subsequently re-register will be charged an administration fee of R10.

A note about damage to University infrastructure

When students in residence sign up for the Student Networking service, they implicitly acknowledge that they have a fully-functional network point in a good state of repair in their residence room. If this is no longer the case when they move out of their residence room the Information Technology Division will recover the costs of repairing that network point from the account of the student concerned.

The exact cost of the repair (and hence the amount debited to a student account) will depend on the nature of the damage and will be charged on a time and materials basis at the Information Technology Division's current installation rates. There is, however, a minimum charge of R125.