Students entering in 2000 and beyond will gain computing skills we know they will need to compete in a rapidly changing workplace. The initiative supports long-term academic goals by better positioning the University to help students learn and faculty teach more effectively, Hooker said. It will pave the way for information technology to be as second nature to the Carolina community as pens, paper and books are now. The student body at Carolina is rapidly approaching a point where almost all of the students who don't have computers are students whose families cannot afford them, said Hooker. The University plans to budget enough need-based grant assistance to cover 40 percent of the entering freshmen in 2000 for the purpose of purchasing the required computer equipment.
All students deserve an equal opportunity to own a laptop computer.
The success of programs such as the Carolina Computer Initiative depend on private gifts. We wouldn't be Carolina without them.