May 23--U

W-Stout rightly prides itself on innovation. In 2007, it became the state's first polytechnic university; a few years earlier it was the first university to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from the White House. Both designations represent UW-Stout's efforts to stand apart from the higher education pack.

The Menomonie-based university also prides itself on its e-Scholar laptop program, which was piloted in 1999 and was made mandatory in 2002. Under the program, each UW-Stout undergraduate receives a new laptop computer every two years as well as software, technical support, and wireless and wired network access on campus.

The university says the program turns the campus into a "digital learning environment" and prepares students for the wired work world.

"There is no great divide in who has a computer. We all have them," Chancellor Charles Sorensen said in an article on the front page of today's Leader-Telegram.

But eliminating the digital divide comes at a high cost: Freshmen who start at UW-Stout this fall can expect to pay at least $3,240 in extra tuition for the program over four years. Because the program is funded on a per-credit basis, students who take additional classes pay more.

A decade ago, before the Internet, laptops and wireless computing were ubiquitous, requiring all students to have a standardized, university-issued computer was an innovative idea. But is it still? Today, every coffee shop offers Wi-Fi access, and laptops are increasingly inexpensive. And while what students pay for UW-Stout's program has decreased (this fall it will be $27 per credit, versus $37.50 per credit when the program began) it is nonetheless costlier than similar programs elsewhere. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for instance, students pay as little as $1,254 for a university-recommended laptop, or they can buy their own machines as long as they meet certain standards. Even if a UNC student bought a new laptop after two years, she'd still be saving hundreds of dollars compared with a student at UW-Stout.

The e-Scholar program has other shortcomings as well. The cost includes expensive software some students never use. In addition, charging for the laptops on a per-credit basis is unfair. It's certainly justifiable for UW-Stout to charge students on a per-credit basis for classes: The more courses the university must teach, the more instructors it must pay. However, the same logic doesn't apply to a laptop: A computer is a computer, no matter how many classes a student lugs it to.

Considering the skyrocketing cost of higher education -- UW-Stout tuition and fees have risen nearly 25 percent in the past five years alone -- university leaders should be looking for ways to save students money, and that means it may be time to change the e-Scholar program. Allowing students a choice among computers and software packages, letting them bring their own computers, or giving them a chance to pay less and keep their laptops for four years instead of two are all options that should be considered. UW-Stout shouldn't have trouble changing the program; after all, innovation is one of the things it does best.

- Tom Giffey, editorial page editor

The issue: UW-Stout's e-Scholar program, which mandates undergraduates get university-issued laptop computers.

Our view: While the program is worthwhile, it appears to be too expensive and restrictive. UW-Stout should upgrade it.

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