The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides over $300 billion in potential funding for states and state-related programs. For two of the funding areas alone, Education and Training will receive $98.35 billion and Science and Technology will receive $6.83 billion in stimulus funds. In order to deliver its required services and address the unprecedented fiscal crisis, states need to access, utilize, and account for stimulus funding as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
If your educational institution receives money, you need to be prepared how to use it. As David Quam, Director of Federal Relations for the National Governors Association, put it, “The theme is, you better spend it like your mother is watching. Better do it wisely.”
One of the most proactive approaches educational institutions can take nowadays with their stimulus money is to use it on technology that will in the long term save money and in the short term increase learning, effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity – in other words, spend part of your stimulus funding on creating state-of-the-art video conferencing capabilities within your institution. Video conferencing can be used across the board for such educational initiatives as distance learning, administrative meetings and seminars, and virtual collaboration. Or it can be used for virtual fieldtrips, recording and archiving of classroom sessions, and recruiting for soon-to-be graduates. Whichever way you look at it, spending the money today on video conferencing will save you money going forward – money that you can allocate for other critical initiatives within your educational institution.
