CSU to implement new IT service for students
Alexander Derbas, Contributor
A new resource has been unveiled for students that would enable them to repair certain electronics at cost at Capilano University’s North Vancouver campus. On Sept. 7, 2018, the Personal Electronics Repair Service (PERS) was approved for funding by the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) board’s majority.
PERS promises to bring students a cost-friendly solution to rival electronics repair rates offered by competing businesses in the Lower Mainland. “The PERS program was created to assist students in their success by providing a repair service with little to no additional costs on top of the initial fee of $0.57 per credit, up to a maximum of 15 credits,” said Dilnavaz Dhillon, senator of CapU and CSU vice president finance and services.
PERS was designed to ensure CapU students will pay solely for the price of the damaged or defective parts (plus shipping and taxes) to repair a device, without profit to PERS itself. Labour costs relating to diagnosis and repair will not be included, affording students a much lower price.
PERS will be available around mid-October, once all necessary tools arrive and the preparations are complete. By comparison, Apple would typically charge roughly $300 for an iPhone screen replacement, unless AppleCare+ was purchased beforehand.
The launch in mid-October is a limited trial run – however, the formal opening of the service is scheduled to unfold sometime in January of 2019. IT’s goal is to offer the program to students Monday through Thursday. The proposed schedule roughly aligns with the current operational hours for CapU’s IT services. PERS will also likely operate alongside traditional IT services in the Member Centre located in the Library.
Technical services offered to students will include screen replacements for laptops, MacBooks, iPhones and Android devices. Additionally, diagnostic and repair services will cover data recovery for laptops, desktop PCs, MacBooks, iPhones and Android phones, as well as iPad and Android tablets.
Although there is an IT department at CapU, no electronics repair services are currently provided. Given that technology has become fundamental to student success in the classroom and the workplace, this is an important step forward for the University.
“The hope is that the students will not need to pay any additional costs towards basic repairs, and anything needing to be ordered specifically for the repair will just be charged at cost – labour will always be free,” said Dhillon.
The PERS program is a welcome addition to the many services already provided on campus to further student satisfaction, and to create a more comfortable, affordable, and accessible student life. PERS gives CapU students the ability to repair their devices easily and ensure that their coursework will not suffer at the hands of a broken or malfunctioning device.