This project began an effort to highlight the ways that technology infrastructure is paid for in higher education and to address potential policy issues associated with changing those financing patterns. Finding revenue to pay for technology is just one issue related to technology finance, and it is not the first issue that should be addressed. Before looking for money, campus officials should focus on planning and terminology and on creating a system that properly matches revenue with technology components.
Most institutions continue to fund technology through a series of ad hoc initiatives.
Planning for technology, when it is occurs, rarely combines program planning with realistic ways to pay for it. Institutions want to be able to keep up with the latest developments, but they cannot predict those developments. High-tech language is one source of confusion. Another is the failure to create clear distinctions among the costs for building infrastructure, systems, hardware, training and personnel. Inadequate planning and imprecise terminology contribute to ad hoc patterns for matching revenues with components of technology.