Many college students struggle financially due to reasons such as expensive tuition and housing costs. They shouldn’t also have to worry about affording external platforms to complete assignments for classes they are already paying to take. 

UT should cover the costs of external platforms students may be assigned to use for class-related work, so students can learn without extra financial barriers. 

Lack of timely access to external platforms can hurt students’ abilities to learn properly. Students may even decide not to register for certain courses when they consider these external platform costs, leading them to miss out on what these classes have to offer. Additionally, it could lead students to fall behind in regards to their degree plans because they may postpone taking certain classes.                 

No student should ever have to worry about getting off track in their degree plan, failing or falling behind in a class because they cannot afford access to required external platforms. Students should be able to take whichever classes they need, and they should have easy access to the external platforms that come along. 

Public health sophomore Angel Hernandez shared that he had to pay to do his assignments through Quest and ALEKS. He believes that students should not have to pay to work on assignments. 

“I think (UT) should set aside a portion of (their money) for students because, honestly, these (external platforms) are good, but it just comes out of our pockets, which to me doesn’t make a lot of sense, to pay to do my own homework to even pass the class (or) do well in the class.” Hernandez said.

Because students already pay tuition to take classes, UT should cover the costs of any assigned external platforms students may need to complete their assignments. The cost of class assignments should be included in what you pay for the course. 

UT has the necessary means to help students with these expenses. It should set aside a portion of its money for external platforms that students are assigned to use. Professors can let the University know if their classes require the purchasing of any external platforms. When professors instruct students to use these platforms, students should be given accounts associated with their UT email address and access codes that are already paid for so they can do their work. 

“Most universities do pay for some key software packages and online tools that are required for courses at their respective institutions. For example, here at UT, students do not pay extra for Zoom or for many packages that are incorporated into Canvas. However, there are a few packages and tools that are the responsibility of students to pay for …” said Shilpa Bakre, executive director of communications and marketing at the Cockrell School of Engineering in an emailed statement. 

While covering the costs of some tools and packages is helpful, the costs of external platforms, such as ALEKS, are still posing financial barriers to students and hindering their learning.

Students should not have to pay an additional fee just to be able to complete their assignments when they are already paying a hefty amount in tuition. They should be able to participate in anything that classes have to offer without any extra concerns. However, this proves difficult when not all students have easy access to external platforms for classes. The University should make learning more accessible by covering the costs of external platforms for its students.  

Kamal is an international relations and global studies and economics junior from Irving, Texas.