v
More college students rely
exclusively on cell phones
by Brenda Rios
Knight Ridder Newspapers
When Michigan State University junior Joe Romo lived
'l4 1e
in an East Lansing house with four roommates last year,
he realized no one ever used the home phone because
I:I()
everyone had their own cellular phones.
This year, Romo and his roommates have joined the
"f
growing ranks of college students who have abandoned
a wired home phone to save themselves money, confu
sion and hassles.
"The home line is an extra cost we don't really need,"
said Romo, a 20-year-old graphic design student from
1() Trenton, Mich.
Romo figures he saves about $l2 a month by not hav
"ing a phone line at home. And that doesn't include his
ri;
savings in long-distance charges, which can vary depend
ing on how many calls are made.
Like with many wireless phone plans on the market,
Romo's service, which is part of his parents' family plan,
' I includes long-distance calls.
' The Federal Communications Commission reports that
'''"'nationwide, 61 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds carry cel
' lular phones.
(1') Because so many college-aged people have cellular
phones, not having a home phone line makes sense.
l ull But colleges that make money from students using
'""' phones in their dorm rooms are feeling the pinch.
I I" Both MSU and the University of Michigan say they
'have seen a significant drop in phone use in the dorms
largely as a result of increased use of cell phones. Nei
, lei;ther university would say how much money they've lost
'i. ll ;as a result of the drop in calls from dorm phones.
;‘,' , l Both universities include local phone service with cost
of room and board at the dorms. MSU charges 7 cents
per minute for long-distance calls, while U-M charges 6
or 7 cents a minute, depending on the time of day.
1. Tom Koch, MSU housing administrator, said 90 per-
~ cent of students on campus were using the university's
, [(Along-distance service 10 years ago. As of 2001, about 35
[l b percent of the students who live on campus were using
the service, he said.
,„ n Meanwhile, students at U-M's campus used nearly 43
, x ,percent fewer long-distance minutes last year. From July
H2OOO to June 2001, students living in the dorms used 11.9
long-distance minutes. The following year, they
,used 6.8 million minutes.
(1, "We expect this sort of trend to continue," said Andy
Palms, director of information technology at U-M, in Ann
I ., j ,Arbor. A university survey found that 70 percent of stu
, , ;; dents had mobile phones, he said.
Palms said the university might consider removing
,phones from dorm rooms in the future if the rate of cell
)i . i phone use rises and the technology for mobile 911 ser
vice is perfected.
Koch said an agreement with AT&T Corp. prevents
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him from saying how much the university makes on stu
dents' long-distance calls. AT&T provides the service, but
gives the university a commission for the calls. That com
mission is used to keep room and board rates down, Koch
said.
AT&T spokesman Mike Pruyn said the company
launched unlimited long-distance plans to keep custom
ers from dropping their home phones in favor of cell
phones. Pruyn said AT&T, which also has contracts with
Michigan Technological University in Houghton and
Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, has
seen a drop in long-distance use by college students, but
he didn't have exact numbers.
Other schools across the country have lost hundreds
of thousands of dollars from students who are turning
away from campus phones and reaching for their cell
phones instead.
The University of California-Santa Barbara lost
$500,000 in the last two years. Billing for campus calls
at the University of Rhode Island dropped from $BOO,OOO
a year five years ago to just $lOO,OOO in the 2001-02
school year, according to the Washington Post.
But cost is just one reason students are getting rid of tra
ditional phone service at home, students say.
For students who change dorms or apartments every
year, it's more convenient to have just one phone number
they can keep from their first day as a freshman until the
day they graduate.
"Having to change your number every year can be an
noying to students," said Michelle Gilbert, a Verizon
Wireless spokeswoman.
Gilbert said that using a wireless phone allows stu
dents to rid themselves of the hassles of dividing up phone
bills and waiting for roommates to get off the phone.
"Some of these things make it more viable for students
than other people," Gilbert said.
But the number of people in all age groups going wire
less is growing nationally. The FCC estimates that 3 per
cent to 5 percent of the country's 129 million wireless
subscribers use cell phones as their main or only phone.
Kimberly Lott, who manages eight Sprint PCS stores,
including one near Ann Arbor, said that she began to see
students relying more heavily on cell phones about four
years ago when rates began dropping.
lott said usually she begins to see college students and
their parents coming into stores in August just before the
school year st4rts.
"They typically sign up for a family plan, which is more
economical," loft said.
Family plans, which usually start around $5O for at
least two phones, allow parents to have one calling plan
for parents and children.
Parents can get their college children numbers local
numbers so they can avoid paying long-distance calls to
keep in touch, lott said. lott and Gilbert said students will
generally buy plans that cost about $35 to $4O a month.
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