Microsoft Campus Agreement General Questions
What is the MSCA?
The Microsoft Campus Agreement (MSCA) is a software licensing agreement between The University of Texas System and Microsoft, Corp. For a flat per-user rate, we have purchased licensing coverage for every student, faculty, and staff employee in the UT System. Covered products include Microsoft Office, Windows desktop operating system upgrades, client access license (CALs) for certain Microsoft server products, and certain server licenses.
For more details on the actual agreement and terms, please see Microsoft's Campus Agreement page.
What are the benefits of the MSCA?
The Campus Agreement (CA) provides several key benefits for The University of Texas System and its affiliates (students, faculty, and staff). First and foremost, the CA provides affiliates the use of the covered set of products. We are able to distribute this set of products to all institutional computers, to students for use at home, and to faculty and staff for use at home provided they also use the products on university desktop resources at work.
Second, we are provided access to the most popular Microsoft desktop products, including operating systems, productivity tools, and specific server licenses. These are available to all computer users in The UT System, who will be able to upgrade to the latest versions at no additional cost throughout the life of the Agreement.
Further, the CA gives us the opportunity to provide all students with the complete and most current set of often-used software products. The CA gives The University of Texas System a competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining students, as the software tools they most often need (and usually buy on their own) are now available to them at minimal media costs by attending our schools. Having a recommended set of tools available to faculty and students gives us a tremendous advantage in improving the ability of information technology to advance the teaching and learning process.
What products are covered under the agreement?
For a complete list of products, please review our Microsoft Campus Agreement Webpages.
How long is the contract going to last?
The current Microsoft Campus Agreement is in effect from September 1, 2008 through August 31, 2013. The Microsoft Academic Select Agreement is in effect for three years ending August 31, 2011.
How is this being paid for?
Licensing fees for the Microsoft Campus Agreement are paid for by The University of Texas System and by UT System peer institutions. At UT Austin, student ITAC fees cover the student portion of the MSCA.
What kinds of support will be available for use of MS products?
The Microsoft Campus Agreement does not include a support program. Contact your local computing services division to obtain any technical assistance. Alternatively, the Microsoft Help and Support site also provides some free technical assistance.
UT Austin students, faculty, and staff should contact the ITS Help Desk for support.
Will new versions of Office and Windows Operating System be covered under the Campus Agreement?
The Microsoft Campus Agreement provides right-to-use licensing for the most recent versions of all covered products.
However, products available to students are limited to the availability of software available through Microsoft Student Fulfillment. Student Media for new products typically does not become available until several months after the release of a new product.
What impact does this have on products from other vendors?
Absolutely none. This contract makes no grant of exclusivity to Microsoft. Faculty, staff, students, and departments remain fully empowered to decide which products best meet their needs. This program simply makes a set of commonly-used products available.
Will the University continue to evaluate products from other companies?
Absolutely! Microsoft products are only a subset of the software applications reviewed, supported, and distributed within The University of Texas System. We will continue to maintain many other site-licenses for a variety of purposes, and will continue to evaluate and deploy new products that may be of value to us, and support them as viewed necessary by the university community.
In the essential desktop suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, etc.), Microsoft software, as stated above, will become our primarily distributed and supported products. Expect to see these core Microsoft products listed quite prominently in terms of local support and availability, due to the MSCA, but UTS will continue to review and provide information to users on many, many other products from several vendors.
How can departments obtain products not covered under the MSCA?
Departments can purchase most Microsoft titles at discounted prices under the Microsoft Select Program.
Each year, as the Microsoft Campus Agreement is renewed, SDS will provide University departments the opportunity to add products to the next year's MSCA subscription. Departments will be responsible for paying to have products added.
As this is a volume licensing program, products must be added for an entire UNIT such as a department, college, administrative unit or an entire institution. Please see the MS Licensing News page for more information.
How can students obtain products not covered under the MSCA?
Students may purchase other products not available via the Campus Agreement (MSCA) from a MS Authorized Education Reseller. This means you will be purchasing the full package product (shrink-wrapped package) at an academically reduced price.
The UT Austin Campus Computer Store has agreed to make such items available for purchase, but typically will not maintain them in stock. You will need to contact the Campus Computer Store in advance to obtain pricing information for any such products and request that the item be special ordered for you.
