- By Gabriel Gaetano

The University of Massachusetts began the new year right by providing savings on computers for UMass Boston's faculty, staff, and students in a program that impacts all five campuses. The program uses the buying power of the university system to get the best price on quality products, and when possible, allows faculty, staff, and students to acquire these products at the same price. Dell, Gateway, and Apple are the first three vendors to participate.

Richard Eckhouse, a faculty member with the Math and Computer Science Department, was one of the many who took advantage of the offer during the U$ave winter pc program, which ran from December 8, 2002 through January 17, 2003. He was pleased to find he saved $700 when replacing his existing machine out of necessity. "What great timing," Eckhouse said. "I suddenly needed a replacement, and when I used the negotiated prices offered in the U$ave program, I found savings that the salesperson from the same company couldn't offer me directly."

The university system demonstrated the benefits of its buying power this past August when the UMass Boston and UMass Lowell campuses collaborated on a desktop computer purchase. The two campuses shared savings of approximately $440,000 when they purchased eleven hundred Dell computers.

The U$ave committee plans on holding savings program events for the university community during the spring, summer, fall, and winter and will list the upcoming schedule on the U$ave website. Current plans for the program involve extending its scope to include other possible products such as printers, toner cartridges, and data projects. These future U$ave programs will provide significant discounts on products purchased in volume.

IT professionals at all campuses collaborate to combine buying power and budgetary expense, working hard to bring quality educational resources to our campuses while saving limited financial resources. Visit www.usave.umassp.edu for complete information on the program.