Pick-A-Prof.com is no longer free for students.

About a week and a half ago, the Web site began charging OU students $5 per semester because UOSA hadn't paid for the service in two years, said Chelsea Render, UOSA president and international business and marketing senior.

Pick-A-Prof



o OU students must now pay $5 per semester to use Pick-A-Prof's online professor evaluation and course support services.

Source: Karen Bragg, director of university relations for Pick-A-Prof, and Chelsea Render, UOSA president

Render said UOSA signed a three-year contract April 1, 2003, to pay $8,000 per year for Pick-A-Prof.

The past two UOSA administrations never received invoices and didn't realize the site would have to begin charging students.

"Our contract, I don't even know if it's even valid anymore," Render said.

OU students must pay the $5 fee when they register online and will receive a $5 gift certificate to online store eCampus to offset the cost, said Karen Bragg, director of university relations for Pick-A-Prof.

Bragg said the fees began because many OU students were using the site's professor evaluation and class support services.

The $5 fee will cover the costs of obtaining grade histories and running checks on the data, screening each evaluation for inappropriate material and administering the schedule planner, textbook exchange and study-buddy chat rooms.

"We just had so many students using the site and using it so frequently," Bragg said.

Most of the 121 schools that use Pick-A-Prof still provide the service free to students, Bragg said.

Render, who headed a task force last year to explore ways to use Pick-A-Prof more effectively, said she hopes UOSA can come up with a way to give students a free professor-evaluation service. She said options include staying with Pick-A-Prof, choosing a similar service or creating an in-house program tailored to OU's needs.

"We'll probably have to form another task force to figure out what students would like to do," Render said.

Some who have used the site in the past said they don't think students will continue to use a service they have to pay for.

"I think there'll be a lot fewer students using it, definitely," said Nathan Wiles, microbiology senior.

Josh Myers, construction science senior, said he thinks students will ask friends for suggestions now that they can't turn to the Internet for free advice on which professors to choose.

"I doubt very many new students would start using it if it costs money," he said. "Word of mouth still works."

Render said although the problem was just discovered recently, she hopes UOSA can come up with a solution soon.

"Our ultimate goal is to provide the best service for the least amount possible," she said.
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