All Washington University undergraduate students will have an online subscription to The New York Times this year via the Collegiate Readership Program, sponsored by Student Union (SU).

In addition to the Times subscription, the program also provides students with access to printed copies of The New York Times, USA Today and St. Louis Post Dispatch at Bear’s Den, The Village, Tisch Commons and the Fun Room, located on the second floor of the Danforth University Center.

According to Vice President of Finance for Student Union and online initiative founder Shelly Gupta, the idea behind the program is to keep students updated on current events.

“The goal is to get the news and the latest information about what’s happening around us to students in an easy, accessible and free way,” Gupta said.

Previously, SU provided physical papers. New this year is the online subscription to The New York Times and access to the Times’ Educational Resource website. SU Vice President of Public Relations Rory Mather hopes professors will take advantage of the new educational resources available.

“Ultimately, we decided on The New York Times. The New York Times has been the most popular publication that we provided physically,” Mather said. “So we had a conversation with them and cut a great deal.”

The total cost of the subscription program will depend on how many students participate.

“We pay for online access for all undergrads for The New York Times. And that’s a flat fee of around $30,000,” Gupta said. “ And our second piece is the physical paper, what you see around campus. We get charged per copy per day for the entire year, so it could be that no one picks up a paper and it costs us zero dollars or that all the papers get picked up and it costs us $30,000. Our range is ten to 15 thousand dollars.”

SU hopes that cutting down on the number of physical papers will curb the added cost of providing online access.

“We are hoping the cost will be less than it has been in the past because we’re cutting down on the variability of the paper copies. There’s only five locations around campus instead of what we had before, which was about 12 at one point.” Gupta said.

Because money for the program comes from the student activities fee, Gupta hopes will encourage students to take advantage of the program.

“What we want students to know is that they have this access and that it’s paid for,” Gupta said. “If you’re paying tuition here, then you’re paying the student activities fee.”

Freshman Fadel Alkilani believes the online subscription will help him with his schoolwork and staying up to date with the news.

“I think the student activities fee is being put to good use because it’s important to keep up with the news and a New York Times subscription allows you to get accurate information whenever you need it and you can use it to source articles for assignments,” Alkilani said.

The program covers the subscription costs for 7,000 students.

“[Our goal as SU is] making sure the word gets out there and that people understand that we at Wash. U. are more than just Wash. U.,” Mather said. “We are part of a university that creates leaders for the world, and that we should be up to date on the news, especially when we are the ones who will be making change.”

Editor’s Note: Rory Mather is a news reporter for Student Life.