NC Community College Waives Tech Fees for Fall

Raleigh, NC-based Wake Tech Community College students won't be paying the typical extra fees this fall. Under the college's "No Fee Fall" deal, the school will be waiving its technology, student activity and campus access fees. The savings for full-time students will be about $96, or 15 percent of the usual Wake Tech costs. The college has 74,000 students each year.

As part of the college's reopening plans, the school has canceled all on-campus events and activities. Also, cafeterias, gyms and other gathering places will remain closed, and fall sports are being canceled.

The college is using CARES Act funds to make scholarships available to students who need help buying a laptop or covering internet access expenses for remote learning.

"We know a lot of our students are going through a tough time right now," said Brian Gann, vice president of enrollment and student services, in a statement. "Some have had job loss or a reduction in hours, and this initiative is a way to take a little bit of that burden off of our students and try to help them enroll and stay successful."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • close-up illustration of a hand signing a legislative document

    California Passes AI Safety Legislation, Awaits Governor's Signature

    California lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new restrictions on AI technologies, potentially setting a national precedent for regulating the rapidly evolving field. The legislation, known as S.B. 1047, now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it into law.

  • illustration of a VPN network with interconnected nodes and lines forming a minimalist network structure

    Report: Increasing Number of Vulnerabilities in OpenVPN

    OpenVPN, a popular open source virtual private network (VPN) system integrated into millions of routers, firmware, PCs, mobile devices and other smart devices, is leaving users open to a growing list of threats, according to a new report from Microsoft.

  • interconnected cubes and circles arranged in a grid-like structure

    Hugging Face Gradio 5 Offers AI-Powered App Creation and Enhanced Security

    Hugging Face has released version 5 of its Gradio open source platform for building machine learning (ML) applications. The update introduces a suite of features focused on expanding access to AI, including a novel AI-powered app creation tool, enhanced web development capabilities, and bolstered security measures.