USA Today offers free e-Edition

USA Today is moving from the newsstand to your computer.

IU students can now access the new e-Edition of USA Today right from their computers. The e-Edition will not only include everything that the print version contains, it will also have added bonuses such as games and polls.

The e-Edition will be free to students, faculty and staff, according to an IU press release.

The IU Student Association does not pay for the e-Edition like it does for the paper edition, said Ratona Harr, the USA Today national accounts director for higher education. Neil Kelty, the IU Student Association director of new media and technology, worked with USA Today on the project.

“IUSA is contributing absolutely nothing,” Kelty said. “It’s a pilot program with USA Today.”

Kelty said IU was probably chosen as a pilot school because it has such a good relationship with the paper.

IU is already part of a readership program that gives students access to free editions of USA Today and The New York Times. Kelty said the program started a couple of years ago and has been successful at IU.

“It’s a program designed to enhance the learning environment on campus by providing students access to news and information,” Harr said.

IU is one of four pilot schools to receive the e-Edition of USA Today, including Georgia Tech, Penn State and University of Missouri, Harr said.

"We’re just trying to explore different platforms for delivering our product,” Harr said.
She said it’s still in a testing stage.

Although students can get a hard copy of the newspaper for free, Harr said IUSA pays for all the newspapers except those left on the newsstand.

To access the e-Edition, Kelty said that students must have access to a computer and must be connected to the IU network. Therefore students wishing to read the paper off campus must either pick up a print version or print out the e-Edition.
Junior Alex Ruff said although he’s not ruling out using the e-Edition, he prefers the hard copy.

Ruff said he can’t go on the computer while he’s working at the Eigenmann center desk, so the print version is his
best option.

Those students who prefer the print version of the paper will still be able to access it in that form, in addition to being able to access it online.

“I feel like the more options students have, maybe the more informed they’ll be,” Ruff said.