It's this old Jeffersonian red brick building that's now equipped with nine electronic classrooms, a two-way interactive video distance education center and a multimedia lecture hall. Anticipating the requisite headaches that accompany high technology, Longwood developed a program whereby one resident technology adviser, or RTA, lives on each floor of every residence hall to provide technical assistance. The RTAs are 24 Longwood students majoring in computer programs. Part of the package At Ferrum College , the students don't have to tote the computers to school or even buy them. Nearly 400 dormitory rooms on campus were outfitted with Dell Pentium processors this summer.
Every room has one for roommates to share at no charge to the students.
The free in-room computers with Internet access even came with a tuition freeze this year, a bonus that Dan Miller, the college's vice president of student affairs and enrollment, said may have boosted enrollment. New student enrollments increased 26 percent from 1997. There are 381 new students at the Franklin County school this year, compared with 302 a year ago. Safety is a big issue as is affordable tuition, and the reputation of a school's academic programs. And access to technology really completes the package.