As courses move from classrooms to chatrooms and students are asked to leave campus, several resources have become available to students.
Both local and multinational businesses are offering specials to aid in students’ transitions from campus to online and remote learning. The Daily Texan put them all in one place for a quick and easy guide to finding them during this situation.
U-Haul is giving students a free month of storage. In order to redeem it, students should contact any store owned and operated by U-Haul, with their student ID on hand. This special only applies to new U-Haul customers.
The University Co-op
The University Co-op has partnered with online textbook provider VitalSource to give students free access to course materials. To access textbooks, students can go to bookshelf.vitalsource.com and sign up with their @utexas.edu email.
For students who do not have the reliable broadband connection at home necessary for online classes, Charter Communications is offering 60 days of free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi to households with K-12 and/or college students. Students should call 1-844-488-8395 to schedule an installation. Spectrum is also waiving installation fees.
Adobe is giving students free at-home access to Creative Cloud. The process is a little tricky — an IT admin needs to file an application for the whole campus. The temporary license to Creative Cloud will be available until May.
If you are already an AT&T customer, there are some added benefits to your plan. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the company is lifting caps on broadband usage and not charging overage fees, as well as not terminating the plans of customers who are unable to pay their wireless, home phone or broadband bill due to the pandemic. They are also waiving late fees for these payments.
For students who previously used various food pantries on and around campus and can no longer access them, the Central Texas Food Bank has got them covered. There are several locations near campus where students can find hot meals and groceries if they are living off campus. The food bank’s location finder can help decide which distribution point is best to visit.
Austin Students Mutual Aid Spreadsheet
For other kinds of services, such as transportation or moving help, students have created a resource for each other. The Austin Students Mutual Aid Spreadsheet is a space for “students, staff and faculty to support one another,” and students interested in offering aid to others can list their various offers and services within the spreadsheet.
